Goldie Hawn Recommends Kids Take a ‘Brain Break’

After more than five decades delighting TV audiences and moviegoers—with highlights that include Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, Shampoo, Private Benjamin, and Overboard — Goldie Hawn is a Hollywood legend and one of today’s most beloved actresses. And now she wants to help kids cope during this coronavirus pandemic.

Goldie Hawn Reaches Out To Help Kids

The Academy Award-winning actress recently posted a video on her Instagram account recommending mediation and “brain breaks” for children as a way to help them get through this dark time a little easier.

She writes, “brain breaks and meditation truly have a positive effect on our neurobiology. I’m not an expert but I know enough not to be dangerous.”

In the video, Hawn explains how 20 years ago, by working with neuroscientists, she created Mindup, a nonprofit designed for children to better manage their emotions.

“What we teach our children in the classroom is how to self-regulate, and what they learn is how their brains work,” Hawn explains. “What happens to the children is they begin to regulate their negative emotion.”

Mindup is all about positive psychology and optimism. Hawn notes by taking moments to rest the brain, it has a neurological correlation and the brain changes.

“What that can do is it actually can make decisions, analyze better, and actually access levels of happiness which kind of lives in the left lobe of the brain,” she explains. “So, what we do is we quiet our minds. We get that ‘barking dog’ … and get him back in the dog house and get calm. That’s the one time that the pre-frontal cortex can think.”

When you consciously breathe and take these “brain breaks,” you are resting your brain and accessing a better way of thinking, she shares.

“We’re living today with uncertainty, fear, anger, reactivity, and we don’t know how to manage our emotions,” Hawn says. “As a family, it’s a really good thing to have your moments of meditation or as we call it, a ‘brain break’ throughout the day as it will serve you in such a way that you just won’t believe it. The brain is the thing.”

Hawn invites fans to learn more about the Mindup program at  @mindup (and @mindupuk for those in the UK). You can watch her entire video message below.