How to meditate during a crisis: Mastering The 10 breath cool down

When my son was 3,  I began teaching him the "10 breath cool down."  It's a technique for introducing self-awareness, emotional awareness and mindfulness through the practice of breathing and stillness.   Durring a lull in our busy play or interaction we would practice sitting together and breathing, taking 10 deep breaths and not moving. 
Simply counting to 10 as we breathed in through our nose and out through our mouths, slowly, quietly, and rhythmically. We would say to ourselves, "I'm o.k. I'm calming down." I would explain that we can use these 10 breaths when we started feeling frustrated, angry, sad, scarred or if we fell and got hurt.  

We spoke of learning to feel anger coming on like an approaching storm.  What's it like before it rains? He would say it gets windy, there's lightening or thunder in the distance, dark clouds appear.  What's it like when you start to feel angry? I  feel hot, my voice gets louder, I might clinch my teeth or fists or want to stomp and shout.  We would pretend that the kid Hulk is coming.  The great green incredible Mr. Hyde of anger that lives within us and emerges during times of stress and pain.  Can we feel the change beginning? Can we breathe it away? Inhale calm, exhale peace, anger is not the way, panic is not the way. 

 We would pretend to be a mini mountain, sitting high above the storm clouds.  We would sit and breath until the storm had passed and we knew that the kid Hulk would not be making an appearance.  I remember a day when he was 5 or 6 and he dropped some legos and he just stood there, looked at them and took a long slow deliberate breath.  I was amazed. He was beginning to understand.   Another time he had a particularly bad bike wreck and skinned his face up to the edge of his helmet, his hands and knees. There was pain, and blood and fear and for a moment he began to panic.  I told him it's o.k. to cry but lets breathe through the pain, breathe and know that it's going to be o.k. He calmed himself down and I calmed with him.  He's learning to take breaks when his lego projects fall apart or aren't coming together as planned and now if he hears me grumble or bark at my computer he reminds me to breath, to take a break, to do my 10 breath cool down.  The last time that happened I was so angry that I lost all the data on a graphic design project I'd spent all day developing. He reminded me to to the 10 breath cool down and at first I had to bite my lip because I wanted to say not now, I'm really mad, grown up mad, I was justified and then I looked at him smiling calmly.  "You are right. Come over here." I closed the lap top and he climbed into my lap and we sat there and breathed together until my anger shifted to frustration, and my frustration diminished to annoyance, and then my annoyance transformed to disappointment and the disappointment became acceptance and the acceptance became calmness. He gave me a hug and I thanked him.  The student had become the master.  By teaching my son how to calm down and not act like a wild caveman a lesson was returned to me, one that may have added years to my life.  

Here are some resources for teaching children and yourself mindfulness...

Buddhist Geeks podcast
yogajournal.com
http://www.mindfuleducation.org