Let your Child Breathe 2021
This new Covid world is lasting longer than most of us had anticipated. The changes and losses so far have been hard to handle, overwhelming at times. It’s uncomfortable and brings with it further anxiety, stress and exhaustion. Young people are absorbing all this, including the changing moods of the adults in their lives, as family members are forced to do hazardous work, are laid off, face illness or death. Some are also struggling with new responsibilities, uncertainty, isolation, and grief.
Counselling and Deep breathing exercises can help young people in a time like this.
About Self Care for Young People
In the process of engaging young people in social and emotional learning (SEL) and mindful awareness practice, we naturally begin to teach them about self-care. One of the core competencies of SEL is “self-awareness.” With increased self-awareness, young people can begin developing practices and skills that they can employ to take care of themselves. This can include learning how to centre themselves, stay grounded and present, calm themselves down, gain insight and perspective, and decide on possible next steps to meet their needs. All of this while recognizing and respecting the needs of others. Young people need to be able to make their own choices in the moment about how to handle themselves and the situation at hand.
Benefits of Deep Breathing
Deep breathing can:
Calm emotions
Reduce stress
Allow the body to relax
Enhance focus
Improve overall health
Reasons Why Young People Need Deep Breathing
Calm’s emotions
Our feelings can be difficult to manage, understand, and consciously describe, especially when we’re young. As a result, young people can get extremely angry without knowing why and may not know how to handle that anger. Extreme fear, sadness, or anxiety can overwhelm them (and you) at unexpected moments. Deep breathing can quickly and efficiently help young people calm these emotions and help them re-focus.
Reduces stress
Young people today are under tremendous stress. Besides dealing with more standardized tests than ever, many are also facing high expectations and intense pressure to succeed. Just like adults, they need help finding positive ways to manage their stress.
Enables the body to relax
Students are understandably excited when they return from a fun activity such as recess or physical education. Breathing exercises can help calm them down and transition to a state of learning readiness. When the muscles relax, the mind and emotions follow suit.
Enhances focus
Young people of all ages sometimes have difficulty focusing on tasks and information. Deep breathing puts the emphasis on one simple assignment: breathing in and breathing out. This helps the mind put aside other distractions and readies it to pay attention to the work at hand.
Increases body awareness and self-control
There is much in this world we can’t control as adults, imagine how difficult it must be for children and young adults! Breathing techniques provide young people with something they can control: their bodies. If they can control their breathing, they can learn to control other actions and behaviours as well.
