The Koeppen Method Can Help Children Relax

Children, just like adults, can suffer from anxiety or stress in everyday life. They also experience difficult situations that can lead to anxiety, restlessness and anger. Relaxation exercises are incredibly useful and beneficial for children for many reasons. Today we are going to talk about one of the easiest ways to help children relax: the Koeppen method.

The method is based on the very real relationship between physical and mental stress. If you relax in your body, you can also reduce your anxiety. This method uses some simple visualizing exercises during which you can guide your children so that they can tense and relax in different muscle groups. You should repeat each exercise two to four times.

The Koeppen method’s initial relaxation exercises

1. The lemon, an exercise for relaxing the hands and arms

“Imagine you are holding a lemon in your left hand. You have to squeeze it hard to get all the juice out. Squeeze it hard. Notice how your hand and arm tense when you squeeze it. Release now and release the lemon. Feel how your hand and arm relax. Did you notice the difference? ”

2. The lazy cat to relax in arms and shoulders

“Imagine that you are a very lazy cat who wants to stretch. Extend your arms in front of you. Lift them over your head and back. Do you feel your shoulders stretching? Now lower your arms to your sides and feel your shoulders and arms relax. ”

3. The turtle, to relax the shoulders and neck

“Now you are a turtle sitting on a rock, satisfied and happy. Suddenly you feel in danger. You have to hide! Pull your head back into the shell and pull your shoulders up towards your ears. When the danger is over, you can get out of the shell again. Take your head out and feel your shoulders and neck relax. ”

4. A chewing gum to relax the jaw

You have a very large chewing gum in your mouth. You want to chew it but you have to use every muscle in your jaw to do it. Bite hard and chew it. Now you can stop chewing. Feel how your muscles relax. ”

More relaxation exercises from the Koeppen method

5. The fly, to relax the face, nose and forehead

“You have a very annoying fly on your nose. You want to wave it away, but you can not use your hands. Try to wrinkle your nose as much as you can. Do you notice how your cheeks and lips tighten and tense? Now that you have scared away the fly, you can completely relax your face. ”

6. The elephant, to relax the stomach

“You lie quietly and rest in the grass. Suddenly you see an elephant coming running towards you. There is no time to escape and the only solution is to tighten your stomach as hard as a rock. The elephant has now gone in a different direction, which means you can relax again. ”

7. The fence, to relax the stomach and back

“As you walk through the forest, you see a beautiful place you want to go to, but you have to get through a fence with very narrow spaces between the slats. To do this, you need to pull your stomach in as much as you can towards your back. Once you have come through the fence, you can once again relax your stomach. ”

Clay, to relax the feet and legs

“You walk through a jungle when you see a mud puddle and decide you want to put your feet in it. To do this, you need to push the clay down as hard as you can with your legs. Now get out of the mud puddle and relax your legs and feet. ”

Advantages of the Koeppen method

With these exercises, your children can discover and interact with their own bodies. They also get the chance to get to know how their body feels when they are tense, and identify this when they tense for various reasons in everyday life. In addition, they learn that they can reduce anxiety or nervousness by relaxing their muscles.

This is not something you should only do once, but rather it should be a continuous practice and habit. You need to do this regularly, at least once a day, to relax and improve your concentration, focus and sleep quality.

In the same way, the exercises will improve your children’s emotional intelligence, as they will make it easier for them to understand and manage their emotions.