It may seem simple but the greatest act of kindness you can perform is to breathe. Not the everyday, not paying attention to it, kind of breath, but one that is long, slow and deep. Breathe in a way that invites you to slow down, releasing the tension in your body. Turn your awareness inward. Connect with yourself.

As you are breathing listen carefully. Close your eyes if it helps to focus your attention. Don’t force it. Allow the breath to naturally expand the lungs and rib cage, gently finding space. Be relaxed, yet alert. Quiet and still the mind. Allow it to drift with the inhalation and the exhalation like a toy boat floating along a stream. Let go. Tap into your true nature, the inner core of joy, serenity and creative potential which lies inside you. Smile gently from deep inside.

As you breathe deeply and slowly, the chatter in your head will quiet, the fluctuations of the mind still. You will clear your mind, increase healthy and vitality, realize greater understanding and focus, and discover a reservoir of peace.

If you enjoyed this post be sure to sign up for our newsletter to hear more about Integrity is a Muscle as it is released Fall 2011. You’ll also receive a copy of our free e-book The Pet Store.

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Original Air Date: June 15, 2011

Learn more about Dr Dan Siegel’s work on his website or connect with the International Conference on Mindfulness with Youth on Facebook.

Enjoy Free itunes downloads of this and any of our extensive library of amazing interviews. Coming next is Dr Catherine Phillips, founder of the Mindfulness Institute.ca, who will discuss mindfulness in schools.

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Why should college students practice yoga?

Yoga can provide college students with many benefits such as stress reduction, emotional wellness, flexibility, improved strength, enhancement of the immune system, and improved balance and postural alignment. Those are good things! Yoga is actually easy for anyone to practice, and you don’t have to be able twist into a pretzel!

Yoga Improves Concentration

The meditative practices of yoga will improve the ability of college students to concentrate. Focusing on studying and ignoring distractions such as a television, conversations, and loud music will, of course, result in better grades. According to a Time magazine article, due to advanced brain scanning technology, researchers are beginning to show that meditation directly affects the structure and function of the brain – changing it in ways that seem to increase attention span, improve memory, and sharpen focus. Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin, said, “Attention is the key to learning, and meditation helps you voluntarily regulate it.”

Yoga Enhances Mood

Wellesley College faculty yoga specialists co-authored a study examining the psychological benefits of yoga. The authors of the study found proof that yoga improves mood and decreases anxiety. This study looked at a neurotransmitter in the brain known as y-aminobutyric acid, or GABA. The authors determined that decreased levels of GABA correlate to depression and anxiety. They also report that the medical community is interested in learning how to increase GABA in order to combat depression. One of the researchers, Liz Owen, stated, “Yoga, just the practice of yoga, increases GABA levels.” She also said, “Yoga breathing practices are so easy and simple. You could be sitting in a stressful classroom situation and you could just take a yoga inhale, do a yoga exhale, and it might make a difference.”

Yoga Strengthens the Body

Another recent yoga study of college-aged men and women (between 18 and 27 years of age) who participated in two yoga sessions every week for eight weeks saw a 19% to 31% increase in arm strength and a 28% increase in leg strength.

Yoga Relieves Stress

According to some experts, stress is the #1 trigger of ailments in peoples’ physical, emotional, and endocrinal systems. Practicing yoga is a great way to reduce stress caused by academic pressures. Yoga helps college students avoid stress-induced eating and it helps them sleep better. It can give students a sense of balance and mental clarity.

By practicing yoga, college students will improve their mood, strengthen their body, relieve stress, and concentrate better. This will certainly help them make the most of their college experience!

Brian Jenkins has been writing about various career and education topics for BrainTrack.com, including careers in fitness training, since 2008.

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Pranayama, yogic breathing, is a wonderful way to focus and balance energy. Being aware of one’s breath is a way of pulling in scattered energy and mindfully focusing it. This is a great game for teenagers to take advantage of this simple technique by playing it whenever they need to center themselves and regroup. This game helps to deliberately focus attention so that you become aware of being present in each moment. It also helps teens become aware of how easy it is to get distracted and how to get back on track.

Ten Breaths

In this game you pay attention to your breathing for the next ten breaths. This is not purposeful, controlled breathing, but an awareness exercise of simply observing the breath.

On the first inhale, say to yourself, “I’m breathing in one.” As the body exhales, mentally observe, “I’m breathing out one.” On the next inhale say, “I’m breathing in two,” followed by, “I’m breathing out two,” and so on.

You’ll probably notice that different breaths have different rhythms. Sometimes they will follow at regular intervals, sometimes there may be long gaps between breaths. Some are shallow, others deep. All you do is observe and name the number.

This is much easier said than done.You’ll probably go on mind trips, getting distracted by passing thoughts. That’s okay. Congratulate yourself on noticing the detour and get back on track starting at the beginning: “I’m breathing in one.”

The fun and challenging part is to see how far you can go before you mentally tune out. Some days it may be the fourth breath that you can’t get past before forgetting what you were doing. Other days it will be easy to focus and you may go for longer than “Ten Breaths.”

Variations

Sensory Awareness: While waiting for the body to breath in or out, use that moment to notice what your senses are experiencing. Hear the sounds. Feel the temperature. Notice the air movements. Become aware and part of the environment.

Counting Steps: If sitting won’t work for you try going on a walk and counting each step. Become aware of the sensation of your feet as they push off from the ground and then land again. How your body transfers weight from one side to the other. Feel your arms swing by your sides. Concentrating on your steps is calming and helps you to stay present with the walking experience.

Take Five is a fantastic breathing game/exercise for younger yogis. Be sure to visit the Yoga Games page for many more ideas to inspire you and your kids to play yoga today.

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Open your heart just a crack, a hair line fracture in the shell that you think protects you. Experience being, breathing, life in its fullness, in this very moment. Honor who you are and what you feel. Slow down and enjoy the now.

I spent some time being reminded of the power of love, the wonder of life, and the joy of sharing and caring this week as my nephew received care at the Stollery Children’s Hospital. Then I found this lovely video of adorable PocketPeople hand made by Rita Ross. I had to share their Alphabet Wisdom so that your heart would open to the beauty and majesty that is life with all of its ups and downs.

“The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

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• “In order to be a teacher you have to be a consumate learner.” Shana’s power yoga practice.
• “Yoga is empowering” – benefits of yoga for kids, especially those with ADHD and Autism
• How to create yoga classes for various ages from 3-17, an incremental explanation of the purposes of yoga for different age groups
• Yoga for athletes at the CarPEDiem Sports Academy
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Breathing with Pursed Lips

Breathing with pursed lips is a fantatic exercise for asthmatics who sometimes need to be able to regulate their exhales. This exercise focuses on the exhale, making it long and soft.

Greer is going to help me demonstrate how to breathe with pursed lips. What you do is you inhale and exhale, like you’re blowing out a candle. Can you do that again? You want to make your exhale as long and slow as possible.

A really good learning tool to do this is a glass of milk and a straw. So the goal here is to blow bubbles in the milk but try to keep them small and soft. Nice and steady. 

There we go, look at all those steady, long bubbles. Perfect. That’s exactly how you do it.If you can maybe fill the whole glass with little bubbles then you are doing this really, really well. And that’s how you breathe with pursed lips.

For more information on yoga exercises that help children visit yogainmyschool.com.

A complete listing of pranayama exercises for kids can be found on the Breathing Exercises Page.

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Recently I received this e-mail.

My name is Maureen, I am a pre-school teacher of children ages 2-5 and am bringing my love of yoga to my school this year. I have taught adult yoga for more than 11 years. I am certified through Kripalu and have done many other understudy programs. I am also qualified to teach kids…but with kids this young I am having trouble getting them started. I have tons of games, ideas, props, songs and stories…but I am having trouble, in these first introductory classes…starting the classes. Getting them not so much to be quiet or even pay attention, but how to help them understand what is going on and what we are doing. Today we learned  Namaste and the Namaste song. This was easy for a very first class. But from here on out I don’t really know how to get them ready for the class, how to start the class. Have any suggestions or thoughts that may help me out?

As Maureen has discovered teaching yoga to kids is a vastly different endeavor than teaching yoga to adults. Their attention span is short, they don’t want to sit for any length of time, and there is a wide variety of physical, emotional and mental abilities. It is essential that each class cater to these needs by including an assortment of activities to maintain interest and engage as many senses and learning modalities as possible.

Elements of a Kids Yoga Class Routine

• Class theme: For each class choose a theme. A thematic approach is essential at this age as it provides a mental framework and social/emotional/environmental reference for the yoga session. Link all your activities back to the theme. The book Once Upon a Pose includes 10 fully developed thematic yoga classes with music and literature in both English and French making this an easy task. For more ideas visit the Pre-school/Elementary Topics page.
• Introduction: Use something you feel will set the stage and let the little ones know it is time to start yoga class. For pre-schoolers this could be a song. In this instance Maureen taught them the Namaste song during their first class together. There are lots of great kids yoga CDs that you can choose from. Sing the song at the beginning of each class. Use this to help them know it’s time to go to their mats, join in with the singing and get ready for yoga.
• Breathing: Teach some form of child friendly pranayama. Remember Thich Nnat Hanh’s advice, “Smile, breathe and go slowly.” It is good for children to learn to calm and center themselves. With pre-schoolers this will take repeated and consistent effort. Go slowly and enjoy the journey.
• Asanas: The bulk of the lesson may be spent doing a variety of yoga poses. The Alphabetical List of Poses is a great place to start. The down-loadable FREE  e-book The Pet Store (see right side bar) is a wonderful tool as well. This will show you how to develop a thematic class which includes a variety of asanas. I enjoy allowing the children to generate the ideas spontaneously according to the theme whenever possible. In this way they take ownership of the pose and become more fully engaged in the class.
• Meditation & Chanting: If a simple meditation, such as the Meditation Owl, or a chant, such as Loka Samashta Sukhino Bhavantu, works into your theme by all means teach your class these valuable skills. Don’t be afraid to use Sanskrit even if your young charges don’t audibly repeat the words. The exposure to the exercises, rhythm of the language and feeling these activities generates will touch their hearts and minds.
• Crafts, Games, Books & More: Any number of supplemental activities, such as crafts, coloring pages, games, songs and books, can be used during a kids yoga class. These activities stimulate the senses and involve additional learning modalities. As well, they help to keep the pace moving and provide endless variety. I often hand out simple crafts or coloring pages to my students for them to complete at home if we don’t have time during yoga class.
• Final Relaxation: Savasana with a guided visualization which reinforces the concepts covered in class or a progressive muscle relaxation is the perfect way to end a pre-school class. Keep encouraging them to lie still, close their eyes, and keep their thoughts to themselves. You may have to move children away from a friend or encourage them to relax with a touch, a stuffed animal, an eye pillow, etc. Again this is a learned skill and all children will get better at it with practice.
• Namaste: Always end with the same respect and gratitude that you would in any yoga class.

By following this basic outline yoga instructors are able to supply the routine necessary for young children to understand what will happen each week in yoga class while providing enough variety to keep it interesting and engaging their minds, bodies and spirits. Good luck and enjoy playing yoga!

Be sure to subscribe to our articles via RSS or e-mail. Also check out the many fabulous ideas on YogaInMySchoolTV on YouTube.

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guest post by Jim Gillen

Because breathing patterns have such a profound effect on our general health and mental states, breath awareness is at the heart of almost all yoga practices. Breathing interacts with and affects the cardiovascular, neurological, gastrointestinal and muscular systems. It also has general effects on sleep patterns, memory, energy levels and concentration.

Watch a baby at rest, and you’ll see a good example of healthy breathing. The pattern is relaxed, slow and wavelike. Every bone, muscle and organ moves with each breath. Unhealthy breathing, by contrast, is rigid or inappropriate to the situation and often exhibits excess muscle tension.

While abnormal breathing patterns vary, they’re often high in the chest, overly fast and shallow. Often, there’s no pause at the end of the exhalation. There may even be breath-holding or gulping. Such habits reinforce feelings of tension, agitation and anxiousness. By contrast, a healthy breathing pattern elicits a relaxation response, shifting the nervous system from fight-or-flight mode to a state of relaxed alertness.

One of our favorite ways of teaching and encouraging children to breathe healthfully is by using a Hoberman breathing sphere – a popular children’s toy that’s basically a geodesic dome made of jointed segments. By lightly pushing or pulling it on opposite sides, you can make it expand or contract, accordion-style. The movement serves as a visual model for the type of breathing we want the kids to imitate by helping them see and synchronize their breath with movement.

How to Use A Hoberman Sphere

The teacher or other supervising adult may lead the group or – something we like to do – encourage one of the kids to lead, establishing the breathing rhythm. As the leader slowly expands the sphere, all inhale deeply and slowly through the nose, from the belly. The leader then pauses, emulating the short, natural pause that happens at the “top” and “bottom” of each healthy breath. As the leader contracts the sphere, all exhale through the nose just as slowly.

This efficient diaphragmatic breath is like watching the waves at the beach, with each breath swelling up from abdomen to chest and back down again.

The expansion-contraction cycle may be repeated as many times as necessary, but we find 5-10 cycles to be effective for helping the group calm and focus through this simple breath work.

Rhythm and slowness are two keys to using a breathing sphere effectively. By  consciously  slowing  our  breath, especially the exhalation, we can  facilitate the relaxation response even more and develop some control over how our nervous system responds to our environment.

In the classroom and school environments such breath work lends itself readily to focus and mindfulness, preparing students to learn. Speeding thoughts slow. The body as a whole relaxes. Body and mind become centered, grounded. Thus, many teachers, counselors and administrators start their classes off by leading students in breathing with a sphere. Some schools have even used these breathing practices at assemblies or over the school intercom to calm and focus their students.

With the powerful visual representation of a healthy breath, no other words or descriptions are necessary. This tool can be effectively used by teachers who have no yoga experience and is particularly useful for second language learners, visual learners and children who struggle with anxiety and self regulation.

Synchronized breathing in a group exercise is also useful for developing a sense of community and safety as the group’s energy coalesces by breathing together. Simply, we are affected by each other’s breathing patterns. Conversely, it’s hard to relax and concentrate when we are around stressful breathing patterns. And when teachers learn, practice, and model healthy breathing, their classes become calmer and more productive, with corresponding benefits to everyone’s health and well-being.

Jim Gillen, RYT-500, is the cofounder of Yoga Calm, director of Still Moving Yoga in Portland, Oregon, and co-author of numerous education articles and Yoga Calm for Children: Educating Heart, Mind, and Body

Breathing spheres are available through the Yoga Calm Store.

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This object lessons uses spaghetti, a favourite food for most kids, to demonstrate the difference between what the body feels like when stressed and worried, and what it feels like when relaxed and calm.

Cooked Spaghetti

Hi, this is Donna from Yogainmyschool. Today we’re going to talk about spaghetti.

Here is a piece of raw spaghetti. How does it feel? Strong, stiff and hard. Now here is a piece of cooked spaghetti. And how does that piece of spaghetti feel? It’s kind of flexible and bendable. It moves all over.

Do you know what it feels like to be tense and worried and scared? It kind of feels like a piece of uncooked spaghetti. How does it feel to be relaxed and calm and peaceful. It kind of feels like this piece of cooked spaghetti.

Can you tell the difference with your body? Let’s try and make our bodies stiff like a piece of raw spagetti. Can you make your hands stiff, your shoulders and your face even. And now relax and become like a piece of cooked pasta, warm and soft. Isn’t that lovely.

So anytime that you are feeling stiff and scared, and worried. I want you to take a few deep breaths and change into a piece of cooked spaghetti.

Hopefully that will teach you an easy mindfulness technique for changing your concern into calm relaxation. Thank you very much.

For more information on yoga for kids and mindfulness activities please visit Yogainmyschool.com. Namaste.

photo by Identity Photogr@phy

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