Mindfulness for Teens: How It Works, Benefits, & 11 Exercises to Try

Benefits of Practicing Mindfulness For Teens

Mindfulness can help people become more aware of their thoughts and emotions, and that increased insight can open doors to new choices. A centerpiece of mindfulness is observing the present without judgment—learning to meet oneself without judgment can build compassion and kindness.

In today’s world of fast-moving media, concentration can be difficult. Many mindfulness activities encourage sustained focus, which can assist in developing this skill.

Research has shown the following benefits of mindfulness for teens:^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7}

• Increases optimism
• Improves social behaviors
• Improvements in attention
• Improves self-control
• Reduces bullying
• Decreases teen stressors and teen anxiety
• Improves compassion toward oneself
• Improves emotion regulation
• Improves school behavior

11 Mindful Activities for Teens

Mindfulness activities that resonate with your needs can be done on a daily basis. It’s OK to start being mindful by trying a variety of techniques to see which ones fit. Different activities may also have different benefits; some may encourage relaxation, while others may encourage awareness. Mindfulness for teens can be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual.

Here are 11 mindful activities for teens:

1. Deep Breathing

Breathwork is a classic mindfulness activity, which typically refers to purposefully manipulating the breath while mindfully focusing on it. This particular activity refers to deep, slow breaths (sometimes called belly breaths) that use the diaphragm. This encourages your body to relax.

2. Paced Breathing (e.g., Inhale 5, Exhale 7)

An additional type of breathwork is paced breathing, where the length of the inhales and exhales are purposefully manipulated. It can be helpful to have a longer exhale than inhale, because our heart rate slightly slows during the exhale. Try inhaling to a count of 5, and exhaling to a count of 7. Use the skills from the previous activities (deep breathing) so your breaths are diaphragmatic.

3. Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation refers to tensing and releasing specific muscle groups. For example, scrunch your shoulders up to your ears; bring as much tension as possible to your neck and shoulders. Slowly count to three and release all that tension. Now continue that with all muscle groups, including your hands, arms, chest, and stomach. You can do larger or smaller muscle groups depending on your preferences.

4. Meditation

There are many types of meditation, which typically involve keeping one physical position and paying attention to one thing, like your breathing, a mantra, or physical sensations. When your mind wanders—and it will—nonjudgmentally bring it back to that point of attention. Meditating can be uncomfortable at first, and may not be appropriate for ages. If it feels too uncomfortable, it’s OK to use other mindfulness activities.

5. Grounding With 5-4-3-2-1

The 5-4-3-2-1 exercise brings teens, or people of any age, back to the present moment through all of their senses.

Notice and say out loud or internally:

• 5 things you can see (pick a color, for example, 5 blue things)
• 4 sensations you can feel (e.g., your back against the chair, cool air on your hands)
• 3 sounds you can hear
• 2 things you can smell (it’s OK to actively smell things, like the laundry detergent on your clothes)
• 1 thing you can taste

6. Body Scan

Completing a body scan is another simple mindfulness activity. Bring your attention to various parts of your body, perhaps spending 10-30 seconds on each part (e.g., toes, bottoms of feet, tops of feet). Notice any and all physical sensations: warmth, coolness, tension, tingling, pressure, pain, or textures. There are many guided body scans to help facilitate this as well.

7. Journaling

Journaling can absolutely be mindful, especially when it is given full attention without judgment. Journaling can be done as a “free write,” where you write whatever comes to mind without editing or censoring. Prompts can also be used to guide the writing toward specific topics.

8. Movement/Exercise

The repetitive movements of exercise can become meditative when given one’s full attention. Really any physical activity can become a mindfulness activity when approached with the attitude of mindfulness. Take a mindful walk and notice everything around you: sounds, the temperature, how it feels to walk, bodily sensations, nature, and sights of the area.

9. Coloring

An approachable mindfulness activity is coloring. Coloring can bring a sense of creativity and playfulness to mindfulness. To make this a mindful activity, give your full attention to the coloring. When the mind wanders, gently and nonjudgmentally bring it back to the coloring.

10. Listen to Music

Listen to a favorite song with your full attention. You can close their eyes and listen to everything. You should try to notice how the music makes you feel as well.

11. Mindful Eating

For a bite-sized mindfulness activity, try eating a piece of fruit or a candy mindfully. Use a clementine as a starting point; notice the color and texture of the fruit; peel it slowly; notice the smell. Take one bite and slowly examine what it’s like to eat it.

How to Stick to a Mindfulness Practice

Mindfulness is most effective when it is practiced regularly. Sometimes it can feel like a lot of work to attach yourself to a new habit. To do this, you may need to identify the type of mindfulness that you enjoy, and figure out how to make it sustainable for yourself. As a beginner to mindfulness, this may mean experimenting with different approaches.

Here are eight ways teens can keep up with mindfulness practices:

1. Find something you enjoy: if you enjoy the practice itself, it’s much easier to return to it. If one mindfulness activity does not resonate, that is OK! Try another and find something you like.
2. Keep it manageable: if the mindfulness practice is too long or onerous, pare it down. It is OK if it’s only 1, 2, or 5 minutes! While 20 minutes of meditation is wonderful, so is 5 minutes of coloring per day. Start small and allow the mindfulness practice to grow organically.
3. Pair it with an existing habit: habit researchers have discovered that a habit can be reinforced by pairing it with an existing habit. For example, if you brush your teeth every morning, do your mindfulness right after. Or if you always read before bed, do some mindful breathing right before.⁸
4. Create a reward for the habit: you can positively reinforce the habit by creating some sort of reward.⁸ The reward has to be motivating to you—maybe you can use a habit-tracker app, where you can check off your successes. Maybe you want to get a Starbucks drink every time you complete your mindfulness habit.
5. Find the right time of day: some of us are morning people, and some of us are night owls. This is fine! Use this knowledge to complete your mindfulness activity at the time of the day where your energy is right. For example, if you’re too tired in the morning, don’t do it then.
6. Find a friend: having some companionship and accountability can help you dedicate yourself to a mindfulness habit. Find someone to partner with to make it more fun!
7. Create a menu for yourself: if you are having a hard time sticking to the same habit every day, try switching it up. Create a menu of mindfulness activities. It can be as short or as long as you’d like, but give yourself permission to try different things.
8. Set up a reminder or alarm: use your phone or a smart speaker to set up a reminder for the time you determined as a good fit for you.

Final Thoughts

Mindful activities can be a wonderful tool to help teens manage their emotions and the stressful, chaotic nature of their lives. Luckily, there are many tools for mindfulness so that everyone can find something that is appropriate for them.