General overview of how to implement it
In order to achieve the greatest intellectual and social benefit and to adapt to all the needs of the students, we should work on three levels: relaxation, meditation and mindfulness, because although some techniques are related, their objectives are different. But due to time management and the fact that this technique is designed for teachers who are starting to work with these techniques, we start with one of the most basic relaxation techniques, breathing techniques.
It should be borne in mind that depending on the students it will be easier to achieve this state of relaxation with one technique or another, so once the students have been taught the different techniques for a week, in the following sessions each student will choose which one is best suited to them.
Taking into account the limited resources available in the school centres, we are going to carry out static relaxation through breathing exercises, that is to say, to reach an appropriate level of relaxation without the need to move the body excessively, the only important thing is to have a comfortable posture. But in those centres where there is more space, it is also possible to carry out these breathing exercises accompanied by relaxation in movement, which would mean playing relaxing music and allowing the students to let their bodies move to the rhythm of the music while leaving their minds at rest.
Once the place has been chosen, it is recommended to start with the first technique and once this has been mastered, move on to the next, as the level of difficulty increases.
- Breathing technique 1. Abdominal breathing:
– Place the hand on the abdomen just below the ribs and the other hand on the chest.
– Breathe deeply through the nose and let the abdomen push the hand. The chest should not move
– Exhale through pursed lips as if whistling. You can feel your hand sinking into your abdomen and you should press down to push all the air out.
– Do this exercise between 3 and 10 times.
- Breathing technique 2. Technique 4-7-8.
– It is an abdominal breathing technique so place your hands in the same way.
– Breathe deeply and slowly from the abdomen and count silently to 4 as you inhale.
– Hold your breath for a count of 1 to 7.
– Exhale completely as you count silently from 1 to 8. Try to get all the air out of your lungs when you reach 8.
– Repeat 3 to 7 times depending on the level of stress.
- Breathing technique 3. Morning breath:
– In standing position, bend forward from the waist with knees slightly bent and allow arms to hang close to the floor.
– While inhaling slowly and deeply, return to the standing position by slowly straightening up and finally lifting the head.
– Hold your breath for only a few seconds in this standing position.
– Exhale slowly as you return to the original position, bending forward from the waist.
- Breathing technique 4: alternate nostril breathing.
– Sitting with the right thumb, plugging the right nostril and inhaling deeply through the left nostril.
– Once you have inhaled deeply, plug your left nostril and exhale through your right nostril.
– Then, following the same pattern, inhale through the right nostril and exhale through the left nostril.
- Breathing technique 5: bright skull breathing
– Sit comfortably so that your back is straight and your abdominal area is loose.
– Inhale slowly and take a full breath.
– Exhale quickly through the nose until the lungs are empty, relaxing the abdomen so that you can exhale successively and forcefully many times in succession. The rhythm is fast and as a guideline should be two exhalations per second.
– Once the series of forced exhalations is finished, take a couple of slow breaths and then inhale and hold your breath, exhaling slowly.
– Repeat the series as before twice.
