Ultimate Mindfulness And Meditation Guide To Hong Kong

MindSpace: Mindfulness Coach For Children, Teenagers & Adults

MindSpace's Ashima Sharma is a certified mindfulness coach for children, teenagers and adults and a member of the Hong Kong Mindfulness Teachers network. With more than 12 years of experience, the chartered clinical psychologist has worked in multi speciality hospitals, outpatient psychiatric and child care departments as well as primary and secondary schools in India and Hong Kong. She uses evidence-based solutions to equip her clients with lifelong tools to Reboot, Reflect and Revive..

Mindfulness is a way of paying attention to things as they happen in the present moment, bringing awareness to your experiences in the best way you can. It calms your mind and creates some space. From stressful thoughts about the past and the future to letting go of routines, habits, and behaviors that aren't serving you well, mindfulness is the ability to respond to our life mindfully instead of reacting to it.

MindSpace, House 182, Boulevard Du Lac, The Beverly Hills, Tai Po, Hong Kong, mindspace@ashima.hk, https://mindspace.ashima.hk/

Meditation Classes For Adults & Kids

Learning the art of meditation takes practice. Alive Wellness continues to be a go-to for meditation beginners to advanced. They also offer meditation classes for children, among many other unique courses. For children experiencing anxiety or having trouble focusing, Red Door is a great option to explore. This age-specific program makes learning fun as mindfulness is taught through short meditations and breath work, games, and stories around a theme each lesson. Sign up for the Red Door Studios email list and you will get a weekly burst of inspiration for unique ways to experience the world of mindfulness, meditation, gong baths, and power naps. They also have a family gong - which the team from Little Steps is super keen to try soon! Balance Health offers mindfulness classes for teens in Hong Kong. For adults looking to take their meditation up a notch, you can visit a 10-day silent meditation right here in Hong Kong at Vipassana. We also must mention Mindful Wing Chun, which combines meditation with Kung Fu - it's impressive to watch their kids' classes, and they cater to teens and adults too. Exhale is Hong Kong's premium meditation studio, and you can also book private family and kids classes here. Want something different - try Float On, which is float therapy - click here to get the scoop.  For busy moms and dads looking to understand mindfulness and meditation in an online format, we recommend Siddhartha's Online Eight Week Mindfulness Course.  This course includes reading materials and daily meditations as well as weekly habit releases developed by Mindfulness Trainer - Ber!

Meditation And Mindfulness Classes For Kids

• Alive Wellness, www.alivewellness.hk/mindfulness-meditation-for-kids
• Red Door, reddoor.hk

Meditation And Mindfulness Classes For Teenagers:

• Balance Health, www.balancehealth.com.hk/mindfulness-for-teens

Meditation Studios And Centers:

• Red Doors Studio, www.red-doors.com *Family Gong Baths
• Mindful Ocean, https://www.mindfulocean.com/
• Ananda Marga Meditation Centre, meditationcentre.hk
• Silent Meditation: Vipassana, www.dhamma.org/en/index
• Float Therapy Float On, www.floatonhk.com

MEDITATION APPS AND VIDEO RESOURCES FOR KIDS:

Another option for getting kids into meditation and mindfulness is to introduce them to apps, videos, and other online resources that can be accessed from home and via a phone or tablet.  Apps are particularly helpful for kids with anxiety as they offer habit-forming tools for creative breathing concepts that kids can relate to and stories and tools that help them navigate negative thinking, difficult social situations, and day-to-day anxiety.  For little ones (ages 2-5), Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame is an app that helps parents help their kids with self-control (a tough one at that age) and problem-solving. Headspace is a leader in the world of guided meditation and has an entire kids section and offerings for all ages. Calm is also a very popular app that expands to offer meditation as well as overall mindfulness exercises for all ages (including kids).  It also has sleep stories (which are typically narrated by famous voices) as well as targeted meditations for managing stress, happiness, gratitude, self-esteem, forgiveness, and many others. Smiling Mind was developed in Australia and now has over 4 million people using its app, which curates meditations for adults, kids, and the classroom too.  Positive Penguin is a resilience-building app for kids that helps children with naming their emotions and a very visual way as well as offers 5-minute meditations.  It is a great app for kids to use for sorting through problems and thoughts.  For kids that need a bit of calm downtime to get their thoughts together, Calm Counter is an option (great for mom and down too). Another favorite for emotion-naming (a hard one for many children and adults) - the Emotionary app allows for parents and kids to really pinpoint feelings.

Mindfulness And Meditation Apps:

• Calm, apps.apple.com/us/app/calm-com/
• Headspace, apps.apple.com/us/app/headspace-meditation-sleep/
• Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame, apps.apple.com/us/app/breathe-think-do-with-sesame/
• Smiling Mind, apps.apple.com/us/app/smiling-mind/

Naming And Understanding Emotions Apps:

• Positive Penguin, apps.apple.com/us/app/positive-penguins/
• Calm Counter, apps.apple.com/us/app/calm-counter-social-story-anger-management-tool/
• Emotionary, apps.apple.com/us/app/emotionary-by-funny-feelings/

Stories And Other Mindfulness Apps For Kids And Teens:

• Chill Outz, apps.apple.com/us/app/chill-outz/
• Sleepfulness, apps.apple.com/us/app/sleepfulness/ (for mom and dad!)

Yoga Apps For Kids:

• Super Stretch, apps.apple.com/us/app/super-stretch-yoga/

Calming And Relaxing Music For Kids + Ambient Sounds:

• Relax Melodies, apps.apple.com/us/app/relax-melodies-sleep-sounds-white-noise-fan/
• Ambi Pro, apps.apple.com/us/app/ambi-pro/

MEDITATION AND MINDFULNESS BOOKS FOR KIDS:

There are some fabulous and very visual books for kids to explore mindfulness and anxiety relief techniques.  Below is a list of some of our favorite books for teaching mindfulness and meditation as well as a few for kids to get reassurance and tools related to anxiety and worries. Mandala coloring is another wonderful option to engage with your child through art therapy.  There are some gorgeous mandala coloring books at bookstores around Hong Kong.

Meditation And Mindfulness Books For Kids:

• Peaceful Piggy Meditation, link
• A Handful Of Quiet, link
• Meditation Is An Open Sky, link
• Puppy Mind, link
• Mindful Monkey, Happy Panda, link
• The Lemonade Hurricane, link

For Kids Worries, Anxiety, Separation Anxiety:

• Hey Warrior, link
• The Kissing Hand, link

JOURNALS FOR KIDS + PARENT/CHILD JOURNALS:

A fun way to connect with kids is sharing a journal!  There are journals for parents and their sons and daughters - 2 of our favorites are below.  If writing is not your thing, there are also art journals kids and parents can share.   For younger kids, we love the Me - Compendium which allows youngsters to express themselves via prompts and color.  Gratitude Journals are a great way to start and end the days and there are dedicated journals for kids as well as shared family gratitude journals.

Gratitude Journals For Kids:

• 5-Minute Journals For Kids, www.intelligentchange.com/products/the-five-minute-journal-for-kids
• The 3 Minute Gratitude Journal for Kids, www.amazon.com/Minute-Gratitude-Journal-Kids
• Today Is Great, www.amazon.com/Today-Great-Daily-Gratitude-Journal/dp/1641528826
• Family Gratitude Journals, www.amazon.com/Family-Gratitude-Journal (parents/kids)
• Grateful Together, www.amazon.com/Grateful-Together-Gratitude (parents/kids)

Journals For Parents + Kids:

• Just Us Girls, www.amazon.com/Just-Us-Girls-Journal-Daughters/dp/1641527587
• Just Between Us - Daughters/Moms, www.amazon.com/Just-Between-Us-Daughter-No-Stress
• Between Mom And Me, www.amazon.com/Between-Mom-Me-Mother-Journal
• Mom And Me Art Journal, www.amazon.com/Mom-Me-Journal-Side-Side
• Color With Mom, www.amazon.com/Color-Mom-Coloring-Book-Share

Kids Journals:

• Me Compendium, www.amazon.com/Me-Compendium-Fill-Journal-Society
• Time Capsule, www.amazon.com/Time-Capsule-seriously-awesome-journal

Creative Writing, Drawing, and Journaling Prompts For Kids:

• Write My Story Journal, www.penguinrandomhouse.com
• I Love Science, www.amazon.com/Love-Science-Journal-Self-Discovery-Ideas
• Choose Kind, www.amazon.com/Choose-Kind-Journal-Wonderful-Wonder
• Journal Sparks, www.amazon.com/Journal-Sparks-Creativity
• I Am A Leader, www.amazon.com/AM-LEADER-90-Day-Leadership

Journals For Teenagers:

• The Severed Moon, www.grishaverse.com/books/severed-moon/ 
• Slay Those Dragons, www.amazon.com/Slay-Those-Dragons-Journal-Writing
• I Guess I'll Write It Down, www.amazon.com/Guess-Ill-Write-Down
• My Dear Teen Self, www.amazon.com/My-Dear-Teen-Self-scenarios
• Start Where You Are, www.amazon.com/Start-Where-You-Are-Self-Exploration

YOGA FOR KIDS AND TEENS IN HONG KONG

Stretch, rattle, and pose! Yoga is for everyone, so let the littles explore the mat! Yoga teaches kids confidence, flexibility, strength, and so much more. Classes introduce the basic poses of yoga through games and fun activities and encourage children to work with their breath and mind as well. Lucky for us, there are some fabulous yoga studios and kids yoga teachers in Hong Kong!

5 Best Yoga Classes For Kids And Teens In Hong Kong, Click here

WELLNESS EVENTS AND RETREATS IN HONG KONG:

Wellness Events In Hong Kong: Watch this space

• Garden Gathering, www.thegardengathering.com