Breathing in the Classroom

We all live in a fast paced, stress filled environment. Stressful news get to us in too many ways, from word of mouth, television, radio, and the web. Stress is a human created illness which, although part of life, does not adjusts to our system. Our body is not made for that kind of excessively and continuous rat race our daily lives have become. Unfortunately, its effects touch everyone including our children. Yes, our children. Parents, educators and the society as a whole have witnessed the results; mental health decay, erratic behavior, frustration, lack of concentration, lack of compassion, intolerance, and excessive violence. If we add to that all the academic demands and alleged high standards requirements, our children are indeed left behind.

Back in my college days, I remember this professor who used to say: “It takes ten a day to release your tensions. Simply breath.” I didn’t get the idea at that time because I had my own stressful turmoil to deal with but his words certainly stuck to my mind. Many years went by before I saw myself in front of a classroom with thirty something faces anxiously staring at me. It took me to be there to suddenly understand what my former professor was trying to convey. As a teacher now, I was experiencing first hand the struggles and pressures my too young to be stressed students were going through. As an inexpensive cure, I chose to breath. Amazingly it worked. I have been teaching for nineteen years now and there is no class if we don’t mindfully breath first.

Mindful breathing induces to a state of calmness and releases stress levels. It relaxes the mind and frees from negative feelings, thus building positive emotions. When focused on breathing the capacity to concentrate improves, harmonizing body and mind. Ultimately, this is what every educator wants in the classroom; a group of creative and centered bodies and minds.

Through the years, I have had to incorporate some other strategies like the mirror game to boost self esteem or the celebrated phrase ‘all we need is love”, as a started to discuss compassion. Truth is stress has increased and no one seems to pay attention to the disastrous effects it is causing in our younger generations.

If you are an educator who truly wants to make a difference, try teaching your students how to breath before the beginning of each teaching session. I can assure you it makes a huge difference in the way they learn, perform, and behave. Educating is not only teaching a specific subject but providing with life skills that would improve the quality of our society. Ten minutes is all you need to change the landscape of your classroom and give a healthy choice to your students by simply breathing.