Today is National Chocolate Milkshake Day, so to celebrate, here is a free resource that you can use with young children to encourage deep breathing.
When we get anxious and the fight/flight/freeze response is triggered, our breathing often becomes fast and shallow. Tools like this can be helpful in slowing our breathing down so that we use all of our lung capacity. In turn, this can calm our body down and reduce feelings of anxiety and stress. Remember, it’s beneficial to practise this skill frequently in a calm and quiet environment. If we only engage with techniques like this when we are anxious and stressed, we are unlikely to see results. If we are consistent and practise often, it is more likely to be effective in times of need as we will be more confident with the tool. Breathing practices, when used in isolation, have the advantage of being universally accessible, scalable, and cost-free, which is great news for schools as it can be done as part of your daily classroom routine.
References
Kings College London CYP-IAPT
Bentley et al. (2023). Breathing Practices for Stress and Anxiety Reduction: Conceptual Framework of Implementation Guidelines Based on a Systematic Review of the Published Literature.
