Quick: what does "meditating" look like? Sit in the lotus position. Close your eyes. Focus on your breath. Clear your mind. Let your thoughts pass by like cars on the interstate, never stopping one to focus on it. Do this for 20 minutes.
Many of us who have tried this version of meditation have found it hard. Tejal V. Patel agrees; she calls this version of meditation "the CrossFit of meditation." Ms. Patel wrote a guide for teaching children to meditate, Meditation for Kids: 40 Activities to Manage Emotions, Ease Anxiety, and Stay Focused. Her brilliant suggestions for learning meditation involves the use of props -- body movement, storytelling, smelling a fragrance to learn how to breathe in and out.
Have you noticed that a yoga class always ends with a short meditation? It usually feels like an afterthought, but Ms. Patel points out that the yoga is actually the method to prime our brains for meditation. To quiet our minds, we must move the frantic energy out of our bodies through motion -- and yoga poses are designed to do just that.
A few more:
How moving in synchrony with another person improves your self-esteem
I never would have guessed that Americans were introduced to yoga as early as the 1893 Chicago World's Fair