Hi there,
I'm Lauren Grogan.
I'm a yoga teacher and nutrition coach and much of my work focuses on helping both adults and children calm and regulate their nervous systems using simple ancient yogic practices like breath work and meditation.
I wanted to share a few easy breathing exercises with you that you can use right in your classrooms.
Slow intentional breathing is one of the quickest ways to settle the nervous system and for kids it can make a big difference in focus,
Emotional regulation,
Transitions and overall classroom harmony.
These practices work beautifully for all ages from kindergarten through eighth grade even beyond.
They don't take more than a minute or two and you can use them during morning objectives,
After recess,
Before tests or anytime the class needs to reset.
The real impact comes from consistency.
Choosing one or two practices and weaving them into your daily classroom rhythm so the students come to know them as familiar tools.
I'm sure some of you have already implemented exercises like this and that totally warms my heart.
My hope is that these exercises help your students feel more calm,
Grounded and capable and that they support you in creating a smoother,
More peaceful classroom environment.
Let's go through each one together.
The first one is box breathing or the square breath made popular by Navy SEALs.
This is great for transitions,
Settling energy,
Test days or calming an anxious group.
How to teach it is to basically explain to them that they want to imagine drawing a square with their breath.
You can even encourage the students to draw a square with their finger in the air when you practice.
You inhale for four,
The finger draws up.
Hold for four,
The finger draws across.
You exhale for four,
The finger goes down.
And then you hold for four,
The finger draws back across to complete the square.
And you'd repeat this for about four to six slow rounds.
The second one is the high five breath.
This is great for younger students,
Movement-based calm and it's very grounding after excitement.
How to teach it is to have students hold up one hand as if they were given a high five,
Spreading their fingers nice and wide.
With the other hand,
They trace each finger slowly.
Inhale as they trace up a finger,
Exhale as they trace down the finger.
Go through all five fingers with these nice long focused breaths and repeat with the other hand.
The third breath,
Which is my absolute favorite,
Is the double breath reset or the physiological sigh.
This is great for a fast,
Powerful downshift when kids are overwhelmed,
Dysregulated or emotional.
The double breath reset is a natural reflex the body uses to reset the nervous system.
It's incredibly profound and you are simply just teaching it intentionally.
Taking one big breath in,
Taking a second tiny breath at the top and then letting out a slow,
Full sigh out of the mouth.
You can have fun with this by encouraging them to let out a long,
Loud sigh.
You'd repeat this about two to three times and it sounds like this.
For a more kid-friendly cue,
You can say,
Let's breathe like a balloon filling up twice and then slowly deflate.
Thanks so much for reviewing these with me.
I provide a handout with all of these exercises so you can reference them anytime you need to with your students.
Just contact me and I'll be happy to share it with you.
These practices may seem simple but they truly can make a profound difference in helping your students feel calmer,
Safer and more connected in their bodies.
When used consistently,
They give the nervous system a steady place to land and the bonus is that they'll help to keep you,
As their teacher,
Regulated and grounded as well.
Thank you for all of your efforts as an educator and stay well.
