These days, it feels like we could all use some emotional support. Back breathing is the perfect partner pose to help foster empathy and compassion for others.

 

To introduce back breathing, it is important to first feel it on your own. Start in child’s pose, resting hands on stacked fists. Practice breathing into the back, feeling the ribs expand to the ceiling. Inhale and exhale focusing on inflating the back. From this pose, it is almost impossible to breath into the chest or stomach.

 

In the classroom setting, I would recommend using this activity only after students have built community and trust. Since back breathing feels slightly more intimate than some other partner poses, try using back drawing first to become comfortable with appropriate touch.

 

During back breathing, the partner gently places open hands on the other’s back. I find it helpful to discuss appropriate pressure. Too light and the effect is lost. Too heavy and breathing feels restricted.

 

 

While the physical touch is an important component of back breathing, the act of synchronizing breath can have a tremendous impact on building positive relationships. That being said, I always make this activity optional. Students that do not wish to be touched can join a group and use a breathing ball to match breath. Also, back to back breathing is an option that offers a different type of touch that may seem more accessible.

 

 

Afterwards, have students switch roles so that they can experience giving and receiving. This is an excellent way to physically experience support. The idea of “supporting one another” can sometimes seem abstract to young children, so having a direct experience can go along way. You can experience support in an active posture like partner pull, but this is great way to experience support in a more passive, relaxed state.

 

As students become comfortable, there is also an opportunity to discuss anatomy. Move hands from low back, mid-back, and upper back with the directive to “breathe into the hands”. It is amazing how much surface area the lungs take up in the chest and how, with concentration, you can activate the breath in certain areas.

 

This is also an activity that I use at home with my young children as well. I love back breathing with my boys before bedtime. As I place my hands on my son’s lower back, we begin to sync long, slow breaths. I even will sometimes use verbals cues like, “inhale… exhale”. This strategy is a quick and effective way to connect non-verbally and slow down the body for sleep.

 

 

Have you tried back breathing? Would you use it in your classroom? Give it a try with a family member and let us know how it goes. Post a comment!

 

Be Well,

 

Stephanie Kennelly

People will often ask me, I want to implement Yoga Calm… but where do I start? At the center of our Yoga Calm implementation is the Hoberman Sphere . If nothing else, teaching students to breathe, and providing the Hoberman Sphere as a concrete visual, can be a game changer.

Here is my step by step guide about implementing (and growing) a student led breathing ball routine.

Step 1- Teacher Models
At the beginning of the year I started by modeling breathing with the Hoberman Sphere. Inhale open, exhale close, One. Inhale open, exhale close, Two. We say that you need 5-10 breaths to transition from the sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic nervous system.

Step 2- Student Leaders
Then, a student stepped into the role of the breathing leader and manipulated the sphere. Shortly thereafter, another student became the “counter”. The counter chooses the number of breaths (between 5-10) and also keeps count.

 

Step 3- The Chime
Next, we introduced the chime. A student rings the chime to begin the breathing routine. It takes about 20 seconds for the ring to stop, so it is a good way to settle into our bodies before the breathing ball begins.

Step 4- Glitter Jar
For awhile, we had these three roles. Then, I introduced my glitter jar. I described it as a metaphor for your body (or even for the classroom) when things are crazy and confusing and tense. A student made the observation of, “When you stop shaking the jar, its like ringing the chime! Can I shake the jar before the chime ringer does their job?” Sure. Now there were four!

Step 5- Compliments
As it happens mid year, many of our routines were needing a pick me up! That is when I introduced compliments. After the breathing routine, the class would raise their hand to offer a compliment for each breathing leader. It not only served as a bucket filler, but also a good reminder of our purpose. Compliments like, “You spoke with a firm but calming voice” and “You stayed grounded the entire time” made all of us smile!

But… then one day a breathing leader said, “You know, we all get compliments, but what about the rest of the class? Can I give them a compliment?” Sure. So, after the leader received a compliment they turned around and gave a compliment to someone else! (incase you are keeping score, that is eight compliments)

Step 6- Intentions
Whew. But there’s more. Recently a student said, “I would like to give an intention to the class after we breathe. Something that they can think about.” Sure! Most students use our intention wall as inspiration, but some have been creating their own lately. See this post  for more information on my wall and this post  for more information on writing an intention.

So, in total… that is five breathing leaders. You are probably thinking, this is crazy Stephanie. Remember though, this routine developed organically, mostly driven by the students, and started with me simply taking five breaths with the Hoberman Sphere.

So, why did it grow? It grew because the students see value in the practice. They see value in taking two minutes for breathing. They see value in being involved in the community and being a leader.

The reason that this works is two fold. It is a daily routine that happens every day. It is a gift we give them. Time to slow down and feel the effects of breath. Also, it serves as a “as needed” intervention. The students will say, “We need to breathe” and request the routine.

I have attached a video  of the routine. It is 2 minutes and 22 seconds. It is about 1 minute of breathing and about 1 minute of compliments. This video was taken at the end of morning meeting right before physical education. The students were going to start roller blading… a very exciting time for our school! I was amazed that the nervous, excited energy from minutes before completely changed with the muscle memory of this routine. Note: One of my favorite parts of the video you can’t really hear. The compliment for the affirmation, “I trust myself” is, “I like how you chose I trust myself because we are going rollerblading and it takes some balance and trust to do that”.

 

Have you used a breathing routine? How have your students responded? Leave a comment!
Educating Heart, Mind and Body,
Stephanie Kennelly

As a school counselor, I have many experiences with students dealing with angry feelings. Feeling anger, frustration, and nervousness is normal but as kids, teens, (and adults for that matter!) grow, it is important to learn what to do with all those uncomfortable feelings!

According to a recent article in Huffington post, stress is responsible for 90% of doctor visits in adults. Stress! And not being able to deal with it!

I love being able to teach kids about calming their bodies and reducing their uncomfortable feelings and stress. A couple years ago I found these active calming techniques from Conscious Discipline. This breathe work provides an easy and fun way to remember how to calm down. Also, I have found that these breathing strategies connect perfectly with the Yoga Calm curriculum.

I began by teaching this to a few individuals, but then decided to expand these tools to whole classes by teaching a lesson on it, adding more posters in classrooms, and “teaching” the strategies at a staff meeting to help the strategies become more universal language.

During our classroom lesson, a student who had been practicing these strategies already, took a leadership role in our lesson by helping to model and teach the class! He was able to have a positive light in the classroom and felt more comfortable choosing to use “drain” when his peers were doing the same. In this releasing breath, the “shhh” sound is similar to Yoga Calm’s active volcano.

Although the “pretzel” may be the trickiest, it also seems to be the favorite! Kids remember these years later! The cross-body is similar to Yoga Calm’s Eagle pose.

Plus, when it becomes the norm in a classroom to practice calming down before reacting or experiencing too intense of emotions, students begin to encourage each other!

Here is the “Balloon”. The releasing breath, with pursed lips, is similar to Yoga Calm’s pinwheel breathing.

   

And Star!

But still, for the kid who doesn’t like to draw attention or the times when it remaining calm needs to be done discretely, we learned simply to firmly pull on your chair seat and let go feeling the calm release in your fingers, body, and breathing.

   

     

A parent recently told me, “I love to hear this is being taught. As you know, this kind of practice is so critical but not easily learned through a parent. ‘He’ is resistant when it comes from my mouth. It’s so great that it is becoming part of education. It’s received so much better when it’s others telling him to breath through emotions.”

In the midst of testing and standards and making sure our students are “on target” and not falling behind, when you teach the whole child, you are truly giving a gift! Keep it up, dear educators! Small actions and habits are making big results for our kids!

What calming strategies work best for your students? Do you have a calming area in your classrooms or strategies that your students are encouraged to use? Leave a comment!

Readers,

We at 1000-Petals are featuring different writers on the blog. This week, school counselor, Kaylee Holzwart, is sharing her perspective. If you have a story to share, please email stephanie@1000-petals.com. Guest writers will be offered a discount on merchandise from our store. We hope to hear from you soon!

Educating heart, mind and body,
Stephanie Kennelly

Kaylee Holzwart: Co-Creator at in*SPIRE Habits & Professional School Counselor
We aim to support and empower educators to be their best
in order to serve at their best. Inspiring greatness, one habit at a time.
www.inspirehabits.com She can be reached at hello@inspirehabits.com.
Get more free resources, lessons, and tools here: www.inspirehabits.com/freeresources

I introduced pinwheel breathing  the first week of school, but I thought that this week would be a wonderful time to circle back and go deep. Coming off of fall break and going into Halloween week… there can be some anxious energy.

Pinwheel breathing is about a long steady exhale. It is a releasing breath that helps regulate the nervous system and calm anxieties. The pinwheel serves as a focal point, which increases focus and can be effective when used before testing or other activities that require intense concentration.

From a science perspective, you can visually experience the transfer of your energy (breath) to create motion energy (pinwheel). No breath, no energy. I liked this connection and wanted to explore more…

I set out the week with a sense of purpose…wind energy! Like anything, once I set that intention, it began springing up all around me! Warning—- it’s a little pinwheel-tastic. Hopefully you can use at least one of these ideas to make pinwheel breathing connections.

1. Building Background

I first began by building background about wind energy. Students wrestled with the real-world pros and cons that face our political and industrial leaders.

Next, I shared a real world example and read aloud the inspirational story of William Kamkwamba. William engineered a windmill to save his African village. See his Ted Talk  and read more about his biography.

2. Field Trips

Reading about wind is great… but I wanted students to experience the power of wind first hand!

We visited Dodge Nature’s electricity turbine and windmill water pump. We then went inside the schoolhouse and built circuits to power turbine models. Is there a wind turbine in your neighborhood?

 

     

Just as luck would have it, we also had a scheduled trip to the science museum….. and guess what we found there?

     

 

3. Engineering

I brought back all of our experiences to the classroom and let the students apply their knowledge. I provided an assortment of supplies and challenged them to build a device that could gain motion energy from their breath.

   

 

Finally, a program called Pinwheels for Peace  provides a lesson plan and pinwheel template for students to create their own pinwheel. I love this social emotional connection and it compliments the Yoga Calm curriculum. Bonus- students get to take home their very own, calm inspired, pinwheel!

Whew. I know. It’s a lot. I tried to warn you! I tied up this wind inspired package with a big bow of… breath. Your breath is your energy. Without it, you can’t move forward. Just like the pinwheel.

Please leave a comment on what you have tried with pinwheel breathing!
Educating Heart, Mind and Body,
Stephanie Kennelly

Personal Development…In the 90’s we were “Awaking the Giant Within” during Tony Robbins infomercials. Through the 2000’s we cried with Oprah and the “Secret”. Today you are maybe diving down the rabbit hole of ClassDojo YouTube videos. Regardless, the conversation of personal development for children has come to the forefront of education.

Carol Dweck and her research on growth and fixed mindset is a TED TALK worth visiting.

To summarize the big ideas- the brain is a muscle that can continually grow and develop by taking on, and accomplishing, challenging tasks. Our school has even created a growth mindset bulletin board suggesting positive self talk to replace the negative fixed mindset self talk.

Dwek describes a growth mindset as “the power of yet”. You can’t do something… yet. But, you have the power to change. That power is inside of you. Hmm… this is beginning to sound familiar.

So, I asked myself- how does this related to Yoga Calm? I believe that if students are going to cognitively commit to intellectual growth (I can become a better reader) or social growth (I can become a better friend) they first need to commit to emotional growth (I can become a better person). So, what does this look like?

I have been teaching my students woodchopper (see attached lesson plan). Woodchopper is a releasing breath. I talked in my last post about volcano breath, which is a calming breath that takes in the good intention/heart thought. Woodchopper is a breathing exercise that allows students to let go of the negative. Like spring cleaning your closet- you can’t let in the new summery blouses and sandals without getting rid of some of the out dated boots and pilled sweaters.

We worked together to develop an anchor chart of things that we want to bring into our selves for self improvement and what we would have to let go of to create that space. Inhale the positive, exhale (huh) the negative.

Note: If you read the lesson plan you’ll see that woodchopper asks for students to make an audible HUH when they swing forward. Be forewarned- the first dozen times you ask students to do this, they will laugh and giggle. It is a funny, slightly uncomfortable, feeling that many of them have never let themselves express. One of my students even expressed it as, “It is like hitting someone in football, except you don’t have to hit anyone”. There is a real release happening and laughing can be an instinctual reaction to this emotion. Let’s face it…if we want to teach self-regulation when need to have the students practice going from 0-60 and 60-0.

I feel like this step is really “priming the pump” for the growth mindset. Bringing in what serves you and letting out what doesn’t- gets you emotionally prepared to do hard things.

 

Woodchopper anecdote: It was the end of the day, a time when craziness inside begins to stir, and two boys were rough-housing as they were stacking their chairs. I gave them the raised eye brows look and one caught my gaze and said, “I breathe in calm, I breathe out silly” as he did a woodchopper breath. He looked at me and smiled, knowing he was being somewhat cheeky… but the thing is—it worked. It calmed him down. Lawsiwesabre Furthermore, he had the ability to recognize his state and self regulate.

After breathing in the positive and releasing the negative, cue students back into mountain pose to reflect on a growth mindset. What does this look like in your life? Visualize and take in the YET.

Use woodchopper to emotionally prepare. Taking in the positive and releasing the negative is the first step in being able to develop a growth mindset. In knowing that you are not a fixed point in the universe. You are continually growing and changing and that ultimately, you are in control of that trajectory.

Please comment about your experiences with Growth Mindset!

Educating Heart, Mind and Body,
Stephanie Kennelly