Rootsupjulie

🌿 Preventative Care for Big Emotions Starts Early

What if we didn’t wait for overwhelm to teach regulation?

We believe in giving children tools before the moment gets big. Through simple, body-based practices, like breathing, movement, mindfulness, and guided imagery, children begin to recognize what’s happening inside them and learn how to gently come back to balance.

But they don’t do it alone.

Co-regulation is where it begins.
A steady adult. A calm presence. A shared breath.

When we slow down together, children’s nervous systems learn:
✨ “I am safe.”
✨ “I can handle this.”
✨ “I’m not alone.”

Over time, these shared moments become internal tools they carry with them.

This isn’t about fixing behavior.
It’s about building lifelong capacity.

Small practices. Repeated often.
Rooted in connection. 🌱

🌱I had the honor of leading a Roots Up training at and wow.

💛Being invited into a big-hearted caregiving community is such a privilege. These are the people holding children through big feelings, transitions, noise, learning, and growth every single day.

🌱What stood out most wasn’t something flashy or complicated. It was simple.
When we went around the circle and shared one strategy we can (or already do) to support co-regulation, one teacher said:
“We take one minute of quiet before lunch to set the tone for mealtime.”

💛One minute.
No big curriculum.
No elaborate setup.
Just a shared pause.
And that’s co-regulation.

🌱Before we ask children to sit, eat, transition, or use their “inside voices,” we help their nervous systems settle. We lend them our steadiness. We create a cue of safety.

💛In a culture that celebrates go-go-go and more-more-more, one minute of stillness is radical.

🌱We talked about how 1–5 minute resets sprinkled throughout the day are often more regulating than a single 20-minute practice once in a while. Nervous systems respond to consistency. To rhythm. To predictable pauses.

💛Regulation isn’t built in big moments.
It’s built in tiny, repeatable ones.

And sometimes, it’s as simple as sixty shared seconds before lunch. 💛

Grateful for the opportunity to spend time with the incredible staff at 💛

✨I had the privilege of leading a training for some of their team, where we explored gentle, nervous-system-informed tools to support emotional regulation, co-regulation, and connection, for both children and the adults who care for them.

✨I’m especially grateful that their entire staff will now have access to the Roots Up video library, and that families will be able to bring these tools home through tablets available for parents to borrow.

✨This means children and caregivers can practice calming strategies together, in real time, in real life, when they need them most.

✨This is the heart of the work: accessible tools, supported caregivers, and children who feel safer, seen, and at home in their bodies and minds.

✨So much gratitude to the compassionate team at the Center for Grieving Children for your trust, your openness, and your commitment to nurturing healing, resilience, and hope in our community. 🌱