The Art of Stillness | Kids Yoga Stories

Please welcome our guest writer today, Agaia Trottier, who is a a globe-trotting marine biologist turned children’s yoga teacher and author. Born in Belgium, she lived, studied, and worked across the U.S., U.K., and Sweden—and now lives in a quiet corner of New Brunswick, Canada. Whether she’s teaching yoga, writing books, or helping children connect with themselves and the natural world, she believes that every small gesture can spark big inner change.

In a world filled with busy schedules and constant stimulation, helping children find moments of stillness has become more important than ever. But what happens when traditional approaches just aren’t working?

From the moment she was born, my eldest daughter was deeply sensitive and perceptive—unusually alert and aware of her surroundings in a way that felt beyond her years. When we moved overseas from Sweden to Canada, she was nearly four years old. Although she had been looking forward to the adventure, the transition proved incredibly challenging.

She began expressing a constant feeling that something was missing, often describing a sense of longing that would surface in aggressive behavior toward her younger sister. I tried implementing structured routines, took courses in child psychology, and read countless books—but nothing truly helped until I discovered she was what experts call an “integrity child”—one who is particularly sensitive to change, noise, and being misunderstood.

When a distant family member passed away, her anxiety escalated. She couldn’t fall asleep, caught in the same cycle of insomnia I’d struggled with myself. That’s when I turned to what I’d learned in yoga teacher training about Yoga Nidra and began exploring visualizations for children. Most recordings I found were too short or focused heavily on breath awareness that made her fidget, but she became completely absorbed in story-rich visualizations.

So I began creating my own. Soon both my daughters were requesting specific stories, and I started writing them down to remember the details. Visualization helped my eldest transition to sleep with much more ease, and for my youngest, it became a powerful tool to overcome her fear of being in the spotlight. Through consistent practice, she went from shying away from attention to confidently participating in spelling bees and even qualifying for the provincial level.

This transformation shows neuroplasticity in action—the brain’s ability to rewire itself through repeated, compassionate experiences. Visualization becomes a tool for rewiring fear into courage, restlessness into stillness, and anxiety into emotional grounding.

The Power of a Wish (Sankalpa)

When working with children on visualization, starting with what you can call a “wish”—a positive intention—creates the foundation for stillness and focus. Derived from the Yoga Nidra tradition of sankalpa, this practice offers children a simple way to plant seeds for positive change.

Using the term “wish” rather than “resolution” makes it more playful and emotionally resonant for children. A wish captures their imagination while helping them connect with their inner desires—like making a wish on a shooting star.

Here’s how you can guide a child in setting a wish:

Create a safe space: Choose a quiet, cozy environment where the child feels relaxed and secure.
Introduce the idea: Explain that a wish is like planting a seed in their heart that can grow stronger with practice.
Keep it positive and personal: Wishes can be general (“I feel calm and safe.”) or specific (“I wish to feel brave when I speak in class.”).
Encourage consistency: Help them maintain the same wish over multiple sessions rather than changing it each time.
Visualize success: Ask them to picture how it would feel when the wish comes true.

This consistency strengthens their focus and gradually builds confidence as they begin to notice internal shifts. Once children have their wish, you can create the conditions for stillness and meaningful practice.

6 Practical Tips for Facilitating Stillness with Children

1. Give Children Agency

Before beginning any visualization or meditation, make sure children understand what it is and why it might help them. Consent and genuine curiosity make all the difference. Use examples that fascinate your students—like stars, athletes, or characters they admire—to spark their imagination and make the practice feel exciting and meaningful.

2. Use Routine Wisely

Establish a regular rhythm that children can anticipate, whether it’s a morning moment of quiet or an evening ritual before bed. Predictable routines help children feel safe and ready to engage with stillness practices. When children know what to expect, their nervous systems can settle more easily into the calm state needed for visualization work.

3. Adapt Timing to the Topic

For intense topics like grief, fear, or self-worth, offer visualizations earlier in the day, when there’s more natural light and room for follow-up conversations. Save lighter, more peaceful themes for bedtime routines. This thoughtful timing ensures children have appropriate support for processing difficult emotions while using gentler practices to ease into sleep.

4. Integrate Creativity

Invite children to draw their experience the next day, talk about what they visualized, or act it out through play. Creative expression helps anchor the visualization in their daily life and supports different learning styles. Some children connect through imagination and storytelling, others through sensory or physical experiences. You can create accompanying workbooks with follow-up questions, drawing prompts, and inspiration for creative activities and yoga-based games.

5. Go at Their Pace

Don’t rush the process. If a child resists stillness one day, that’s perfectly okay. Let their nervous system lead the way. Some days, they might need more movement; other days, they’ll naturally gravitate toward quiet. Trust that children intuitively know what they need. Your role is to provide gentle guidance without forcing outcomes.

6. Model Your Own Practice

Set your own wish alongside your students and participate in the visualization together. This models emotional intention and turns the practice into a moment of connection rather than something being done “to” them. When children see you engaging authentically with the practice, they’re more likely to feel safe exploring their own inner landscape.

Discovering the Magic in Quiet Moments

Stillness isn’t about silence or perfection—it’s about presence and being with ourselves in a calm, compassionate way. When you give children tools to access this space through visualization and wish-setting, you help them build lifelong skills in emotional regulation, focus, and self-trust.

These practices don’t require fancy equipment or long hours. Just a few minutes of shared stillness can plant seeds for resilience while nurturing connection between you and the children in your care.

Help children discover that the quiet within them isn’t empty—it’s full of magic waiting to be explored.

Illustration from *Spring Blossom Adventures* by A.J. Trottier

About the Author

A.J. Trottier writes books to inspire mindfulness and self-confidence in children. Holding a bachelor’s degree in marine biology and a master’s in ethology (the study of animal behavior), she blends her love for nature with her expertise in children’s yoga to offer families practical tools for nurturing inner balance and fostering confidence.

Her stories align with values of love, respect, and ecological awareness, often drawing inspiration from nature’s rhythms. She began reimagining classic tales after seeing their transformative impact on her own daughters, eager to share empowering, modern versions that encourage courage and consciousness.

Her book Spring Blossom Adventures — Guided Visualizations and Meditations Inspired by Taoist Philosophy features guided meditations that blend Taoist wisdom with science, taking children on journeys through bamboo groves, rainforests, and diverse ecosystems where they meet animals that embody emotional intelligence and natural rhythms.

To explore A.J.’s complete collection of mindful children’s books, visit her author page here.