Breathing with Kids

A few weeks ago, I was very honored to go and share a presentation about breathwork at my daughter’s school. Kids are so fun to work with and being able to teach methods of increased focus and awareness to them in 3^rd grade already, felt like a very important mission. I had prepared a 30 min slide show where I shared some fun facts about breathing and the lungs, and then had five different breathing methods that we all did together.

Breathwork is so beneficial for the nervous system, and obviously for the rest of the body too. The kids really enjoyed the Bee breath and the King Kong breath. Box breathing (another favorite) comes with a visual box and they were to follow a moving arrow in a 4 second pattern of inhaling for 4 seconds, hold the breath for 4, exhaling 4, and hold again for 4 seconds. They were also fascinated by how many breaths we take a minute! The guesses were everything from 3 times a minute to 100... For the average adult it is 12-20 times and for kids 20-30 breaths a minute. When I asked how many of thoose breaths were conscious, the kids got quiet.

The breathing methods that I do with kids will activate the parasympathetic nervous system, to increase calmness, grounding as well as focus and body awareness.

These are methods that I teach my daughter to use as tools in situations that she feels stressed or anxious. I believe in empowering each person with tools that they can use themselves anywhere, in a quick self-help repertoire. Same methods that I also teach my students at work, young adults with developmental or intellectual disabilities. My hope is that it will become a habit for them and something that will feel beneficial to do in challenging situations.

The feedback that the teacher wrote was very reassuring to me that the kids learned something too. I decided to post it here, with the hope and wish to be able to do so much more of breathing with kids and students in the future.

From a 3^rd grade Teacher;

“Students enjoyed Kat's presentation about breathwork. Kat did a nice job of using kid friendly language to teach kids about their breath as "their superpower" and students enjoyed practicing the different breathing techniques. As a teacher I am using the breathing techniques to support transitions in the classroom to help students regulate and calm their bodies for learning. They love when it is their turn to pick the exercise! Kat was calm with the students and paced her lesson well to keep students engaged.” 

Until next time - Many blessings and deep breaths!