My Feeling Balloon — Guided Imageries For Kids

Feelings that go unnamed tend to build pressure in the body. I designed this guided imagery for kids and the kid inside you! It teaches emotional literacy, feeling regulation, and provides a light-hearted path to identify and process emotions. It makes emotional regulation a game for your children, students or inner child! As your breath slows, your body gets the message that it's safe to let the feeling move rather than lodge. This practice is part of Relational Trauma Repair (RTR), Dr. Tian Dayton's embodied, experiential healing model. Music by Philippe Treuille.

Transcript

And welcome to Guided Imageries for Kids. I am so glad that you are here, That you are taking some time so we can be together. And we can spend this time just exploring all the beautiful and wonderful things inside of you. This time is just for you. Just for you. To be yourself, Because who you are is special. And wonderful. You don't have to be anyone else, Just be you. There is so much inside of you, So much to explore. So much to get to know. Are you ready to play a little while? I can make my feelings any size I want them to be. So let's have some fun and make feeling bodies and feeling faces. Can you make an angry face and an angry body? Go ahead, Give it a try. Great! Angry. Angry. Now shake it off. Now can you make your body really angry? Make a big angry sound? All the angry statues. Great, Shake it off. Just breathe out all of that anger. And breathe in fresh air. Breathe anger up. Breathe easy energy in. Now, Can you make a sad body? Let your body move around like you are so sad. And let your face look so sad. No. Make it just a teeny bit sad. Make a teeny sad face and a teeny sad body. And now. . . Medium set. Just be sort of sad. Medium sad face. Medium sad body. Great, Now shake it off. Shake it off. Next, Can you make a frustrated feeling statue? Let your face look very, Very frustrated. And make your body very, Very frustrated. Frustrated. Shake it off, Just shake it off. Now let's make a happy body and a happy face. There you go. Move or dance around the room. Any way you want to have your happy body and your happy face any way you want. Good. Now shake that off. Take it off. Next, We're going to lie down on the floor and just relax. We're going to make a relaxed body. I have so much going on inside of me that no one even sees. But I see it. Inside of me there is so much room. I have room for lots of feelings. I feel my feelings in my mind. And I feel them in my heart. And in my body, Too, I feel them. I feel them all over. Sometimes I want to hide my feelings so no one will see them. And sometimes I want to let them out so everyone will see them. And sometimes I am just somewhere in the middle. My feelings are just my feelings. Everyone has feelings. When I learn to give myself some space to feel my feelings. And just let them come and go. Then I can make friends with them. I have a feeling I don't want anymore. I can play this little game. I will picture myself blowing it into a balloon. And now tie the balloon tight. And now let it go. And watch as it floats away. Higher. I am. I will see my feeling balloon sail past the clouds. Up, Up, Up into the blue sky. And way away till I can't even see it anymore. I don't need to keep any thoughts or feelings in me that I want to let go of. I can breathe love into myself. And peacefulness. And happiness. Let's try it together. Pretend that you have a feeling you want to let go of. Okay, Now pretend it is getting sort of big. Pretend it's getting really big. Now give yourself some space just to feel it. Inside of your mind there is a part of you that sees what is there. Let that part of you just look at the feeling getting bigger. Does it have a name do you think? Is it happy, Frustrated, Sad, Angry? Whatever it is, Just watch it inside of you. If you want to say something about it, Go ahead. Say what you feel and see in your mind in a few words or lots of words. You can say it to yourself or you can say it out loud. Okay, Now you've talked about what you're feeling. Good. Now just breathe it out. Watch as your feelings come and go. If there is another feeling inside of you, Just play your balloon game with me. If it's a feeling you don't want, Picture yourself with those feelings. Go ahead. Feel them breathe in a blue balloon. All the feelings you don't want to keep inside of you. And this time, We'll. . . All gone. The feelings just go back up into the air. Let them go. One thing more we're going to do with our feeling balloon. We're gonna blow all the feelings we don't want into our balloon. Blow them in, Blow them in, Blow them in. That's it. Fill the balloon up with all the feelings you don't want. And now just let all the air go out of the balloon and let the balloon spin all around you. And all the feelings go away. Whenever you feel things you don't want to keep inside of you, Remember your balloon cane. Just feel your balloon. With all the feelings you want to look at and watch the balloon float up and up into the air. Or let the balloon go. Or have it. You don't have to keep anything inside of you. You don't want to keep inside of you. You can feel it and give it space. You can talk about it. Or you can let it go and float far, Far away. Breathe in and out. And as you breathe in, Remember to bring in that beautiful, Peaceful feeling. And breathe out anything you don't want to keep inside of you. Just enjoy that feeling of peace and know that it is there inside of you for you to have anytime you want it. It is your peace. Breathe in and out. Now let your hands and feet wiggle a little. Now your arms and legs can move. And slowly, Whenever you feel ready, Open your eyes. That was fun. Let's do one more feeling statue before you go. How about one about joy? Fill your body with joy. Fill your face with joy. And make a joy-feeling statue. That's it. Let it go. Thank you for being here with me and thank yourself for doing such good work. Bye. Come again soon.