From anger to awareness in ten simple breaths.

Meditation and mindfulness are tactics that ancient warriors used to help them prepare for battle.  All too often our children's playgrounds become battle grounds, places of aggression, stress and conflict.  In today's world there is no better time than now to introduce techniques of emotional awareness, calm, tactical breathing and relaxation.  These ancient practices are not complex but their benefits are many.  They can help children develop focus, listening skills, and the ability to self-actualize.  When we ask children to take a moment, pause and work on awareness they can turn boredom into an opportunity to tune in to the present moment and become fascinated by it.  When kids learn to calm themselves they have a tool for life.  Mindfulness helps children to understand that there are no borring "nows"  and that taking time to simply breathe helps you to see how the rest of the world continues to move and change.  Stillness amidst the ever unfolding river of time leads to the awareness of one's surroundings.  Awareness and avoidance of anger and aggression within translates to awareness and avoidance of conflict without.  Self-defense is a practice of prevention.  As teachers and educators we can learn to use these tools to prevent the destructive tendencies of bullies before they manifest.  We can teach our student to move from anger to awareness in ten simple breaths. 

"ANDY GONZALEZ (Holistic Life Foundation): I’ll pull two kids apart from fighting and I’ll tell them, put your hand on your heart. And they can feel it beating out of their chest, you know, and I say, start taking some deep breaths. You know how to do it. Sometimes it may not work immediately, you know, but they do know the cues as long as keep telling them, take your breath, don’t forget to take your breath." From PBS.org article Mindfulness goes mainstream.