Belly Breathing

Belly Breathing helps us to calm our minds and bodies. By taking slow, deep breaths, you can slow down your heart rate and actually change the way your body reacts to something stressful or upsetting. Belly Breathing can help you feel more relaxed or comfortable in a stressful situation. When we feel relaxed and calm, it’s easier to manage our feelings, communicate and get along with others, learn, and play. Today, we’re going to practice Belly Breathing as a group.

1. Have students put their hands on their bellies. Ask students to take a long, deep breath through their noses while you count slowly from 1 to 5. Encourage students to notice their bellies expanding outwards as they fill up with air. Tell students they can try to fill up their bellies all the way (e.g., like a balloon or basketball).
2. Have students exhale slowly through their mouths, feeling their belly muscles fall inward as they let the air out. Repeat 3-5 times.
3. You may choose to have students do this activity while standing, sitting, or lying down.
4. When challenges arise in the classroom or throughout the day (e.g., tests, difficult tasks, strong emotions such as fear, anxiety, etc.), remind students to use their belly breath.

• What did your body feel like before you took some breaths? (e.g., tense, heart beating fast, etc.) What about after? Did you notice a change in how your body feels?
• When are some other times during the day that you could use Belly Breathing?
• How does being self-regulated help us in our everyday lives? At home? At school? On the playground?
• How would you change this activity for the next time we play?

For primary school students:

• Provide students with a visual cue, such as breathing in the smell of hot cocoa and blowing out air to cool it down, or breathing in the smell of a flower and then slowly blowing out a candle, etc.
• Guide students through a series of simple stretches while they practice belly breathing. Example stretches include shoulder rolls, neck rolls, or side stretches. Adapt the stretches based on the needs of your students.
• Build body awareness. Invite students to notice where they feel the breath in their bodies before it reaches their bellies. They may imagine tracing their breath through their noses, down their throats, and into their bellies.
• Have students lie on the ground with a stuffed animal or other object on their belly. As they breathe in and out, they can watch the stuffed animal go up and down.

For students in grades 5-6:

• Students can lead Belly Breathing in small groups or with the whole class. They can practice using a calming voice to help their classmates let go of any tension.