© 2016 Empowering Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Big Ideas For This Lesson

Breathing is underrated. Life has relied on breath for at least 2.5 billion years. Breath predates most life-supporting functions. This biological heritage means that breath is deeply integrated across neurological systems. This makes breath a powerful tool.

We can ignore it, observe it, or even override breath at will. Ignoring breath allows the autonomic nervous system to run the show. Observing breath tells us about our current state of being by creating immediate self-awareness. Simply bringing awareness to our breath can shift, or significantly shift, our emotional and physical states.

In this lesson we introduce the basics of breath and attempt to grow an appreciation for breath through understanding. This lesson delivers foundational content to support the upcoming Mindful Breathing lesson.

Students will learn how to breathe deeply, become familiar with words to describe breath, learn how to monitor their own breathing, and begin connecting types of breathing with specific emotions.

Essential VocabularyBelly BreathBreath QualityDeep BreathDiaphragm MuscleDiaphragmatic BreathShallow Breath

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Breathing BasicsLevel: Upper Elementary (3-5)Timeframe: 20-30 minutes Concepts: • Attention • Breath • Coping Skills

To control the breathing is to control the mind. With different patterns of breathing, you can fall in love,

you can hate someone, you can feel the whole spectrum of feelings just by changing your breathing.

—Marina Abramovic

To control the breathing is to control the mind. With different patterns of breathing, you can fall in love,

you can hate someone, you can feel the whole spectrum of feelings just by changing your breathing.

—Marina Abramovic

Materials• Use the following video to demonstrate How Breathing Works 1 • Standard sized balloons, 2 per student; with a capacity greater than 1 breath (water balloons are too small). If students are too young to use balloons safely, you can use a timer to measure deep and shallow exhales.

BREATHING BASICS | GRADES 3-5

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Preparation

Practice diagrammatic breathing for yourself. This short video on diaphragmatic breathing² can help.

Teaching ScriptBUILDING BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE & CONCEPT MODELING (I DO)

Ask students to explain why people breathe. Using question-based prompts, guiding the class towards a discussion about the importance of breath and how almost all living things – from cellular organisms to humans – need oxygen to live.

Fact to Share: The brain is only two percent of a person’s total body weight. Yet it needs 25 percent of the oxygen used by the body. The heart only needs about 7 percent of available oxygenated blood.

Explain how breathing works and how to breathe deeply (diaphragmatic breathing / belly breaths). You may wish to share the video with students about how breathing works and/or use the visual aid at the end of this lesson that shows a picture of shallow verses deep breathing.

Teaching Note: Depending on the grade level you may opt to describe deep breaths as diaphragmatic breaths or belly breaths. Both are identical, however, it can be helpful to explain the basic physiology behind breathing so that students can understand why deep breaths are so important.

The basic sensation of a diaphragmatic/belly breath is an expansive feeling that begins in the lower belly on an inhale and slowly rolls up to fill the whole chest cavity. An effective practice technique to distinguish from shallow breaths is to instruct students to place one hand on their belly button so that they can feel their hand rising on an inhale and sinking on an exhale. If their hand is moving they are engaging their diaphragm muscle and if their hand is not moving they are not breathing deep enough!

BREATHING BASICS | GRADES 3-5

© 2016 Empowering Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

GUIDED PRACTICE (WE DO)

Facilitate balloon demonstration as a whole class or by breaking the class into small, working groups (2-4 students/group).

Teaching Note: If students are too young to use balloons safely, use a timer and the “hands on belly” technique to compare the inhales/exhales of shallow vs. deep breaths. Another great exercise for younger students is to instruct students to lie on their backs and then place a small object (rock, etc.) on their belly. Their breaths should be deep enough to cause the object to rise and fall with their breath.

Distribute 2 balloons per student.

Since balloons can be a distraction from the lesson, make sure to set expectations around how the balloons are to be used, and not used, during the activity. Make this fun by allowing students to first make funny noises with the balloons, demonstrating what ‘not to do’. Then allow students to fill the balloon with one full breath, pinching off the end with fingers –proper use.

First, allow students to practice shallow breathing.

a. “Shallow breathing occurs when the diaphragm muscle is not fully engaged.” b. “Place a hand in front of your mouth like you are “fogging a mirror” and practice very short, rapid breaths so that you can feel little puffs of air on your hand.” c. “This style of breathing will move the chest rather than the belly.” d. “Shallow breathing is the body’s natural response to stress. You will notice that this is how you breathe if you are working hard in gym class, or exercising, or if you are really scared or anxious. While shallow breathing can be helpful by preparing our body for action, shallow breathing can also cause more stress by not allowing our brain all of the oxygen it needs.” e. “Now practice again, this time including one balloon. As you breathe a shallow breath out, breathe into your balloon. A shallow breath should barely inflate the balloon.” f. “Tie the balloon or, if you cannot tie a knot, pinch your balloon closed tightly between your fingers.” g. Ask students to describe their emotions when they were shallow breathing.

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BREATHING BASICS | GRADES 3-5

© 2016 Empowering Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Now guide students in practicing deep breathing.

a. You can do this with students lying on their backs on the floor or sitting up. b. “Deep breathing engages our diaphragm muscle and moves our belly outward as we breathe in.” c. “Place your hands on your stomachs and breathe in deeply, allowing the diaphragm to push the belly outward. Your hands should rise.” d. Now practice with the second balloon. e. “Exhale fully using a diaphragmatic/belly breath and breathe into your balloon. A deep breath should inflate the balloon close to full.” f. “Tie the balloon off or pinch it closed with your fingers.” g. Compare the sizes of the two balloons (shallow vs deep breathing). h. “Which type of breath gets more oxygen to your brain?”

Correct! We can see that deep breathing will deliver more oxygen to our brain. Deep breathing is usually what we do when we are sleeping or relaxed. So, our brain associates deep breaths with relaxation and safety. If you want to feel calmer – just take a deep breath!

i. After practicing a few deep breaths ask students to describe their emotions while deep breathing.

Teaching Note: At this point you are finished with the balloons.

REINFORCING LESSON CONCEPTS (YOU DO)

Today we learned why we breathe, how we breathe, and that our breath and emotions are connected. Our brains tend to connect shallow breathing with stress and deep breathing with relaxation. How might you decide to use your breathing to influence your feelings and mindset?

As time allows, you may have students demonstrate how they might breathe if they were feeling a particular emotion. Make this fun! You can also have students come up to act out a breath and call on others to guess the emotion.

You may also assign a ‘breathing journal’. Have students record the quality of their breath along with an emotion they are feeling at random times throughout the day/week, e.g., during a transition, after recess, just getting home, going to bed, before a group activity, or during reading time. Help students raise awareness around their breathing and how it relates to their activity/emotion.

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BREATHING BASICS | GRADES 3-5

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EVIDENCE OF CONCEPT ATTAINMENT

Reflect on it

• Why do we breathe?• How do we breathe shallow? Deep?• How can we describe our breathing?• How much oxygen does your brain use?• Are emotions connected to breathing? How?

Journal it

• Keep a breathing journal, connecting emotions and behavior to breath quality.• Write about a time you remember your emotion changed your breathing. What do you think happened?

EXTENSIONS

Classroom

• Create a poster reminding students of breathing basics.• Lead class in daily deep breathing exercises. These take as little as 1 minute to complete. Make it part of classroom culture, and have students lead. Use as transition from one activity to another.• Shallow breathing can be useful. It can energize and increase focus after a meal or a nap. Try some shallow breathing exercises with your students. Always remind students to return to a normal breath if they feel dizzy.• Remind students that good posture supports deep breathing.

School-wide

• Consider adopting school-wide norms that include quick deep breathing exercises. For example, all teachers may decide to adopt a post-recess deep breathing moment where students are asked to notice their breath; take deeper breaths. This supports a mindset shift back to classroom expectations.• As a staff team, discuss breathings role in behavior response. When a student is escalated, match the students breathing and then begin slowing your breath. Our brains mirror the breathing of those around us.

BREATHING BASICS | GRADES 3-5

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REFERENCES

1. Nirvair Kaur [TED-Ed]. (2015, August 1). How breathing works [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/Kl4cU9sG_08

2. UMHC UT Counseling and Mental Health Center. (n.d.). Diaphragmatic breathing video. Retrieved October 25, 2015, from http://www.cmhc.utexas.edu/stressrecess/animations/ diaphramatic_breathing/diaphragmatic_breathing.html

BREATHING BASICS | GRADES 3-5

© 2016 Empowering Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Source: http://mbx12.org/tag/diaphragm-breathing/

BELLY BREATHING(Deep Breathing)

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