Calming down in the garden: 10 types of breathing to try
As tamariki have spent a lot of time away from school during lockdown and might be experiencing worry or having other big feelings, we thought we’d share a series of activities that we use in the Garden to Table programme, for your whānau to try at home.
A home or school garden space can be used for much more than just growing and harvesting vegetables — it’s a great place for chilling, calming down, practicing mindfulness and taking a break without disrupting others. This post is the first in a three-part series designed to help kids to use the garden to calm down, with a focus this time on breathing.
Why meditation?
Doing meditation has been shown in clinical studies to lower stress, anxiety, pain and depression, improving quality of life by increasing a sense of calm and happiness.
This interview and this TED Talk explain the practice further and explore a few exercises. Mindful Aotearoa has a good kid-friendly explanation.
Many mindfulness activities start with breathing exercises because they are a good way for the brain to start focussing on just part of the body, concentrate on that closely and push thoughts to one side for a moment. From a breathing exercise, a child can move to being more present and aware of the things around them right now and not be concerned with negative thoughts or thoughts that may not be helpful to learning, calming down or being happy.
Tamariki will need practice to feel comfortable with mindfulness activities and encouragement to stop thinking and just focus on the present. It can be initially uncomfortable to be silent and alone with thoughts, and then be told to stop thinking. Feeling uncomfortable might make some kids display disruptive or silly behaviour. Gently acknowledge that emotion and that it is caused by the intensity of the situation and then refocus them to the task and know that practice and familiarity with techniques will help over time.
Breathing exercises can be difficult to engage with at the beginning and so it is easier to introduce deep breathing as a useful technique by giving students a technique to follow.
Practicing breathing exercises all throughout the day will help tamariki turn to them as a calming down mechanism when they feel distressed, stressed or under pressure. When practiced often, an angry or distressed child can be encouraged to take some breaths before acting and explicitly encouraged to use breathing as a calm-down strategy.
Breathing
Being able to control your breathing can help you control your thoughts and emotions. Slow breathing can help reduce feelings of stress, increase positive emotions and give a sense of calm. It can help you focus and recharge and is an important component of mindfulness.
To breathe well you should:
sit comfortably
relax your tummy muscles
slowly breathe in, hold your breath for just a second, slowly breathe out
close your eyes if it helps you focus
10 types of breathing to try
Belly breathing: Directing breath into the stomach is very calming, and focusing on your breath slows your breathing down and helps you to notice any stress you are under. Even though the stress and its triggers might still be there, breathing deeply lets you control and let go of its effect on the body. Elmo can help you out here.
Flower breathing: Imagine smelling a beautiful flower. Breathe in deeply through the nose to take in the smell and then breathe out through the mouth. As you breathe out, start to let go of tension, dropping the shoulders and relaxing your muscles.
Bunny breathing: good for a child who is crying and can’t regulate their breath. Take 3 quick sniffs like a bunny sniffing out carrots to eat, and then breathe out slowly through your nose.
5-finger breathing: hold up one hand and spread your fingers. Using your pointer finger from the other hand and starting at the base of your thumb on the outside of your hand slowly trace around each finger, breathing in as you go up and out as you go down. Also known as Take 5 breathing. Good for a quick, finite calm down because it is over when you have traced all of your fingers.
Dandelion clock: Imagine you have a dandelion in your hand. Slowly and deeply breathe in and then blow the seeds all around as you breathe out. Make a wish. Repeat 5 times.
Lazy 8 breathing: Imagine the number is being lazy and lying down on its side. Use your finger to trace the 8 and when you cross the midline, change from breathing in to out.
Breathe like a dragon: Sit up straight and breathe in to fill your lungs with air. Stick your tongue out and breathe out like a dragon. Repeat 5 times.
Rocket breathing: Stand up as tall as you can with your arms down by your sides. Breathe in slowly through your nose and as you breathe out through your mouth, throw your arms high in the air and blast off like a rocket into space.
Bumblebee breathing: close your eyes and put the tips of your pointer fingers in your ears. Breathe in slowly through your nose and when you breathe out slowly, hum quietly like a bumblebee. Good for focussing on the right now, because the sensation of humming as your breathe out takes all of your attention.
Square breathing: use your finger to trace a square slowly, 4 seconds on each side. On the first side – breathe in, on the next - hold your breath, on the third side – breathe out, on the last side – hold your breath. Repeat.
Here we have focussed predominantly on ones that are related to gardening or the outdoors as much as possible, but there are hundreds to try.
Finding it tricky?
For a child who is particularly struggling to engage with breathing as a technique it might be helpful to lay a piece of grass on their hand and explore using breathing to blow it off. They can start by blowing as hard as they can and then begin to use more gentle breaths as they regulate their breathing. How gently can they breathe and still manage to blow the grass off? Can they lift the grass up with their breath and make it hover but not blow it off? Then ask them about what the breathing has done to their body. How are they feeling? Are they feeling calmer? Can they use the same strength of breath without the grass? When would this be a useful technique for them to use?
Our next posts will suggest some mindfulness and grounding activities, as well as ways to help kids process big emotions. The content in this series is adapted from Garden to Table’s “cool as a cucumber, hot as a chili” resource for schools.