Because breathing comes naturally to us, we often minimize its importance as a tool for helping us calm feelings of anxiety, frustration, or anger. However, especially now, relaxed breathing is an effective way to help us stay in or return to a place where we feel centered and calm.
Under ordinary circumstances, we solve problems taking into account logical considerations and feelings. During these times, there is smooth communication between our frontal cortex and our amygdala, the logical and feeling centers of our brain, respectively. When we encounter life and death situations, however, this intercommunication between thoughts and feelings shuts down as our “Fight-Flight-Freeze” response kicks in. When confronted by a people-eating tiger, for example, we don’t have time to ponder the pros and cons of fighting versus fleeing versus freezing; we just need to take the immediate action that provides the greatest chance of our survival in a situation where survival is no sure thing. We take these actions “almost without thinking;” and indeed, these actions are more instinctual than cognitive. During these events, our bodies receive a huge dose of adrenalin, our heart rate increases, and our breathing quickens, all in the service of an immediate, powerful response. This whole-body call to action is great in an emergency, but it’s not a very healthy way to live over prolonged periods of time. Unfortunately, however, many of us have become habituated to responding to some problems and crises as a life-and-death emergencies that require responding “almost without thinking” when more thoughtful, planned responses are what we need. Think about what happens to your breath when you are scared or angry. When I’m scared I tend to take in a quick breath and then hold it. When I’m angry, my breathing also becomes irregular. If I’m paying attention, I would also notice that my heart rate has increased and I’ve gotten a little shot of adrenalin. Whether engendered by anxiety, frustration, or anger, in any of these cases, my best first response is to stop and focus on my breathing. As a starting point, I like to take three, slow, deep breaths in and out. In and out. In and out. This regulates both my breathing and my heart rate, helps me return to the present moment, and gets me back into thinking mode where I can access both thoughts and feelings to find the best solution to whatever problem I am facing. To be sure, what our country and world is facing with COVID-19 has life-and-death implications. But for this “Fight-Flight-Freeze” response, government officials, doctors, and scientists have advised us as to what we can do to best protect and care for ourselves, our loved ones, and our fellow humans. What remains is for us is to do our best to manage day to day under the provisions of “Safer at Home.” It’s no secret that our current situation is especially stressful and anxiety-producing, and that the learning curve that is accompanying our “new normal” can leave us frustrated and angry. While relaxed breathing is part of my everyday practice, it has become especially important for me to remember to incorporate relaxed breathing throughout my day. (And if you’re like me, the more stress we are facing, the easier it is to forget to practice self-care, or to dismiss it altogether as “too time-consuming” given “everything else” we’ve got going on!) The truth is that it is even more important to practice self-care during times of high stress. To that end, I invite you to give yourself permission to “Take 10” (10 minutes for yourself… 10 deep breaths… however you’d like to define it!) several times throughout the day. More than ever we are living in times where we just can’t forget to breathe! Submitted by Ann Taylor, Ed.D. 3rd-5th School Counselor, Bailey Station Elementary Hello!
My name is Brooke Kemp. I am the School Counselor at both Schilling Farms and Sycamore Elementary School, working with our young creative minds in PreK, 1st grade, and 2nd grade. As we begin on this new “adventure” in education – things have changed a little and teachers, students, and parents are finding themselves in new roles! Our students have been out of the school routine for 2 weeks and the transition to new learning may be challenging for us all! Here are a few tips to help get home learning off to a good start. Hope all of you are staying healthy and well. I miss all my students and hope to see you soon. Love, Mrs. Kemp Welcome to the Collierville Schools Better Together Blog! Parents/Caregivers- When I was a little girl and got sick, my mom would give me chicken noodle soup and saltine crackers. I never liked being sick because I enjoyed playing outside and going to school. Each night I would go to bed and think tomorrow I will wake up and be well, and it will all be like a dream. Right now, some of us are thinking that we are living in a dream and pretty soon we are going to just wake up and everything will go back to the way it was before our world “got sick.” Some people are worried about the future and what is going to happen next. And, by the way….how do I explain that to my child? Others have learned new terms like “social distancing” and the difference between a quarantine versus an isolation. A few of us may even feel helpless. However, what we have is a “new normal” of life…for now. Together, we will work through this and together we will move forward. So, after the world eats their chicken soup and saltine crackers and gets better, we will once again find our “new new normal.” It is human nature to seek predictability and most of us like routines, as they give us a sense of safety and control. I would encourage you to keep some type of routine for your child and yourself during this time. Right now, you as parents/caregivers, may feel that you have lost control. This can make us more frustrated, sad, and as the kids say- “in my feelings.” I ask you to think about these three questions. What can I control? What can I do to prepare? What have I done in the past that helped me in a difficult time? Some easy things you can control are limiting the news and media exposure for your children about this situation and continuing to do positive practices such as eating healthy meals/snacks, getting sleep, and finding ways to get movement in the day. You can prepare your children by simply talking with them about ways to stay connected to things they liked to do in their "old normal" (best as possible) but maybe think about how to do them now in a different way. For example, maybe taking a piano lesson with their teacher on facetime. Last, all of us have been through a difficult time in our life. Every challenging experience we have is one that can we grow and learn from, as it adds another coping technique to our notebook of life skills. I hope this finds you all well and safe- Dr. K Nancy Kelley, Ed. D Safe Schools Supervisor |
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May 2020
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