I’ve been a yoga teacher for over 10 years now, however as an acute anxiety sufferer, it’s still a daily practice for me to remember to “breathe”.
Yes, when I’m juggling too many things, or hyper focused on getting a task done, I often find myself holding my breath and wondering exactly, "how long has it been since I exhaled"??
Can you resonate with that?
As adults we are often instructed to “breathe” in times of crisis; when we are pushing ourselves physically in exercise, or before we deliver a public speech.
Women are told to “breathe” through the pain of labour, and men are told to take a minute and “breathe” in the face of diffusing an altercation.
The common thread with all of these things, is that the way we breathe has the power to change the way our body reacts, helping it to move from fight/flight/freeze mode back into a more stable, cognitive state within a very short amount of time.
Fascinating isn’t it?
This truth, is exactly the same for our children too.
I’ll share a little personal story.... My daughter suffers from a diagnosed ‘medical trauma’ brought a really nasty strain of gastro-style-Covid. As a result, any kind of stomach ache she has (even from eating a little too much dessert!) is now a huge trigger and will quickly escalate into a very real panic attack.
Her whole body will start shaking, and she will refuse to move from our ensuite - this is ground floor brain (the amygdala) in action!
A strategy we now use to bring her ‘back’ to a state in which we can reason with her, is through breath-work …. however our breath-work involves bubbles and dreaming up birthday cakes!!!
Encouraging her to blow as many bubbles as she can is not only a visual distraction, but it requires her to take a lovely long exhale too! This triggers her parasympathetic nervous system to kick in, helping to ease her heightened state.
Essentially, she is practicing yoga-style breathing without being told us such, 'to BREATHE' ; a really difficult directive for a child when they are in the throes of a crisis!
The same principal sits with blowing out imaginary candles on a delicious cake - another method we use with great success in our home, thus the reason these two “solution” cards are two of my personal favourites.
I encourage you to give it a try!
Susanna x
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