Breathe

Overview

Stage One - Desired Results

Stage Two - Assessment Evidence

• Skills

  • focusing

  • physical awareness

  • emotional awareness

  • self-regulation

  • self-care

  • resilience

• Context

  • Education: Practicing mindful breathing enhances the ability to maintain focus.

  • Neuroscience: Neuroplasticity from practicing mindfulness forges positive pathways in the brain.

  • Psychology: Using mindful breathing in challenging situations helps people calm down to make smart decisions.

  • Physiology: Increased oxygen intake can calm the nervous system.

  • Contemplative traditions: Modern day breathing exercises relate to pranayama breathing and vipassana meditation.

Stage Three - Learning Plan

A. INQUIRE (5 min)

It's time for Kindfulness again. Who can remind me what we learned about during last Kindfulness class? I'll give you a hint: we talked about a word that begins with a "p". Raise your hand if think you remember.

Call on 1-3 students.

Good memory. We talked about pausing. We learned how to listen to our minds' and bodies' signals to tell if we're feeling overwhelmed, then how to pause so we can become less overwhelmed.

Raise your hand if you can remind me of some of the signals your mind or body might send use to remind you that you're feeling overwhelmed.

Call on 1-3 students.Reiterate ____.

Great. Raise your hand if you can remind me what we learned to do once we pause.

Call on 1-3 students.

Yes, we learned that once we pause we can take slow deep breaths to help calm our bodies. Today we're going to investigate breathing a little more. 

Let's see if we can figure out the 5 "w"s of breathing: who, when, where, what, why.

The first "w" is who. Who breathes?

Call on 1-3 students.

All humans breathe, regardless of how old they are. All animals breathe, too. Some plants also breathe in a process called respiration.

The second "w" is when. When do we breathe?

Call on 1-3 students.

We breathe all the time, anywhere from 12 to 60 times per minute. We have not stopped breathing since we were born.

The third "w" is where. Where do we breathe?

Call on 1-3 students.

We breathe everywhere we go.

The fourth "w" is what. What happens when we breathe?

Call on 1-3 students.

Air goes in and out of our bodies through our nose and mouth. Our lungs hold the air that we breathe in and out.

The fifth "w" is why. Why do we breathe?

Call on 1-3 students.

We breathe because we need to bring new air into our bodies and push old air out of our bodies. The new fresh air has oxygen in it that our bodies use. The old air that our bodies already used has a gas called carbon dioxide that we do not need anymore.

Now that your class has discussed the basics of breathing, try to figure out if they have ever experienced mindful breathing.

Great job figuring out the five "w"s of breathing. Now let's think about how we feel when we breathe. Raise your hand if you would like to share how you feel when you breathe.

Examples might include relaxed, quiet, good, still, or “like I don’t even notice it unless I’m running really fast in a soccer game.”

Is our breathing the same all the time? Thumbs up if you think yes, and thumbs down if you think no.

Our breathing changes through out the day. Sometimes it even changes in a second. Each breath is unique. Every time we breathe in it is a little different than the last; same with breathing out. Sometimes we breathe so deeply into our lungs that it feels like the air is going down into our bellies. Othertimes our breaths are more shallow. The pace of our breathing is also constantly changing. We might be breathing slowly one minute, then quickly the next.

Wrap-up this section and address any lingering questions.

Our breathing is always there; it's always happening. We have been breathing ever since we were born. Noticing our breath can tell us a lot about how our bodies are feeling and how our minds are feeling. Breathing slowly and deeply in overwhelming situations can also help us calm down and make good decisions.

B. EXPERIENCE (5 min)

Demonstrate as you lead.

We're going to spend a few minutes trying different types of breathing. We will practice breathing like different types of animals and different types of athletes. They we will practice some helpful ways to breath as humans. Let's all stand up, with enough room around each of us to be able to move our arms around easily.

Let's start with animals. Bunny. Dolphin. Dragon. [insert demo video link]

Think of another type of animal that you might have a fun breathing idea for. Raise your hand if you'd like to share.

Next let's do athlete breaths. Athletes are people who perform in sports. Basketball. Baseball. Tennis. [insert demo video link]

Think of another type athlete or type of sport that you might have a fun breathing idea for. Raise your hand if you'd like to share.

Great. Breathing like animals and athletes shows us that even though there are many ways of breathing, breathing is something that all animals and humans have in common. Let's take a seat, and see if we can feel what our bodies do while we breathe.

Continue to demonstrate as you lead.

Placing our hands on our stomachs, let's take a deep breath in and a deep breathe out. Now let's move one hand right below our necks on to our chest. Deep breath in and out. And now one hand right underneath our noses. Breathe in and out. Raise your hand if you noticed what your body felt like in those places.

Call on 1-3 students. If they don't reach the conclusions that their stomachs and chests moved, and that air moved in and out of their nostrils, then share that as your personal observation of the activity.

Let's all get ready to breathe together by facing our chairs towards the front of the classroom, then placing our feet flat on the ground and our palms facing up on our thighs. Eyes closed. Bodies still and silent. This is called Practice Position.

Some teachers clarify that if their students are not comfortable closing their eyes, they can gently close their eyes just a little bit instead of all the way. It is easiest to stay focused when eyes are facing one area as opposed to looking around and getting distracted.

I am going to ring the Pause Chime to signal that we're starting. Once we start, I'll share some thoughts for you to listen to quietly.

Assist students as necessary, then ring the Pause Chime.

C. Reflect (5 mins)

Deep breath in, deep breath out. On our next breath, let us pull the air from outside of our bodies deep down into our bellies. As we breathe in, we feel air streaming from outside down through our nose, neck, and chest. We are pulling in air with oxygen to fuel our bodies. Notice what we feel in our bodies as we breathe in and out... how do our nostrils move... how do our bellies move. See if our minds and our bodies feel any different after we breathe out. We'll take a few more seconds to observe our breathing and see what we notice. Then I will ring the bell and we can open our eyes.

Ring the bell.

Great job, everyone.

D. Share (5 mins)

Especially since this is the first introduction of mindfulness to your students (or at least it likely is to most of them) use the share portion of this lesson to facilitate a class discussion about the reflection. Welcome all feedback about what students noticed about themselves (rather than the room, their peers, etc.) while breathing, and remember that there is nothing right or wrong about what any of them noticed. It is OK if they found it challenging; that is normal. It might take several repetitions of this lesson for mindful breathing to make sense to your students, which is completely fine.

Thumbs up if you thought it was difficult to just be still and focus on your breathing.

Thumbs up if you noticed what was happening in your body as you were breathing.

Raise your hand if you'd like to share something you noticed while breathing.

Raise your hand if you think you feel different after breathing and would like to share how you felt.

Many teachers like to share their own observations with their students so their students feel like everyone is learning and experiencing together.

When I was breathing I noticed that _____. Afterward I noticed I felt ____.

Wrap-up by summarizing the main objectives of the lesson.

Thank you for your focus and for your sharing. You all did a wonderful job practicing breathing together. Breathing is something we all have in common. And deep breathing is a useful skill. Pausing to take deep breaths can help calm our bodies and our minds when we start to feel overwhelmed. We will practice this again soon so we can continue to strengthen our pausing and breathing skills.

E. EXTEND (5 min)

Add new ideas here:

Calm Corner

Write about feeling overwhelmed

Separate breath lesson