Back-to-School Breathing for a Peaceful First Day of School

Heading back to school can bring up a whole bunch of emotions for children - excitement, anticipation, and sometimes, anxiety. Yoga can give children, even the littlest ones, powerful tools to calm and ease these feelings through deep breathing practices.  And for any nervous or stressed out parents, these techniques will work for you, too!

1. Air conditioner breath (sitali breath) - lots of kids love curling their tongues, so if that is a favorite activity for your child, have them curl their tongue as they imagine sucking in through a straw (there will be a little sucking noise while they're doing this) and then breathe out slowly through their nose.  Tell them to feel the cool air on their tongue as they breathe in (that's why I call it "air-conditioner breath").  Breathing in this way slows down the breath, which promotes a relaxation response in the body, it also produces a cooling sensation which can be helpful as kids can often feel warm or flushed when they're feeling nervous.

2. Starfish breath - have your child stretch out their arm in front of them and spread their fingers like the shape of a starfish.  Have them take the pointer finger of their other hand and trace up and down each finger slowly.  Each time they trace up, breathe in, each time they trace down, breathe out.  Instruct your child to do this as slowly as possible. Breathing in this way puts your child's focus on the action of looking at their hand and tracing instead of getting caught up in anxious thoughts and slows down their breath which promotes a relaxation response.

If your child is nervous about leaving you in the morning or going into the school building, try spending 5 minutes each morning practicing these breathing techniques together. Your child can also practice these techniques at bedtime if school anxiety is making it difficult to fall asleep. If you start to notice your own anxiety levels rising, try practicing a few rounds yourself!

Both of these breathing practices can be done any time your child needs to feel a little more calm and peaceful inside.  We will be practicing these breathing techniques and many other calming practices in our before & after-school yoga classes this fall.  You can register your child for yoga class at our class registration site.

We wish all of our Shining Kids Yoga students and families a fun & exciting first day of school!

Andrea Creel, MSW, LMSW, E-RYT 200, YACEP

Andrea is the founder of Shining Kids Yoga, which began as an after-school program at her son's elementary school in 2014. She has been teaching yoga to all ages since 2005.  Andrea completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training at Tranquil Space Yoga in Washington, D.C. In addition, she received specialized training in children’s yoga from the Radiant Child Yoga program, training in postnatal yoga from Baby OM,  and training in therapeutic yoga from  The Samarya Center.

Andrea is the author of Mystery Pose: A Yoga Guessing Game (affiliate link) and the creator of two yoga card games for kids: Double the Fun Yoga Cards and Yoga Pose or Dare. She is also the creator and facilitator of the Shining Kids Yoga Kids Yoga Teacher Training, a 17-hour certification program in teaching yoga to kids.

When not teaching or practicing yoga, Andrea enjoys playing board games with her son, Quinn, singing karaoke, and trying out new vegetarian recipes!