My name is María Dolores Jimenez Mellado and I am a Language and Literature teacher at IES Javier García Téllez. I have more than 30 years of experience in education and I regularly use breathing techniques and Mindfullness in my professional practice with both secondary school and vocational training students.

When did you first hear about this technique?

When I was at university I started in a theatre group and it was there when my experience with breathing techniques began, both to relax and to be able to project my voice.

What problems/conflicts/shortcoming did you have in the class that led you to investigate and start to apply “Storytelling” with your students?

In 2014/2015 I did a Mindfulness course and we were asked to do a practice in class and I thought I could use it in my teaching practice as an experience, to see if it could help me to improve the academic results of my students.

How did you learn this technique, and is there a website or book that you have used as a reference? 

At the Teachers’ Formation Centre in Cáceres they offered us material to implement breathing techniques in class. Although the truth is that there are a lot of resources on the internet and I have been a bit self-taught in this area

What were the problems you encountered when implementing the technique in class?

The biggest obstacle I have encountered is the embarrassment of the students, who feel uncomfortable closing their eyes and thinking that they might be made fun of or something like that. This problem increases with age and it is easier for me to develop this technique with ESO students than with some Vocational Training groups because this embarrassment and distrust towards others does not allow them to relax and breathe, and concentration is impossible.

What were the benefits you found when implementing the technique in the class?

The first thing is that the students calm down. They focus on themselves, on the here and now, and they lower their stress level. This is vital for the class, because I have found that students are more receptive to the teaching afterwards. It’s a time to rest their heads, let them breathe and then they feel stronger when it comes to continuing with the theoretical or practical content of the subject.

Has this technique become recurrent in the classroom? Did you use it with the same objectives as at the beginning? For how long have you been using it?

Yes, in fact I have incorporated it into most of my classes as the students already know me and want to continue with this activity, because it has been very good for them in previous years. Although it is true that with the use of masks it has become very complicated and this year we have hardly done it at all. What should be an activity to relax creates stress for them as they are not able to breathe properly and are more aware of the mask, which makes them think about the situation we are in and, in the end, it does the opposite, it stresses them out.

Are there any factors to take into account when applying this technique with different classes? (also, more appropriate number of students, appropriate space and age).

The first class is a very good time to relax before the day and after activities where they come with a lot of activity such as after physical education or recess are good times to develop breathing techniques with the students to relax them.

In terms of space, the ideal would be to use a space where the students can lie down, but it is not necessary; I have always developed the breathing techniques sitting on the chair and I think it is better because if you have to keep changing the students’ space, in the end you lose a lot of class time, when the ideal is to spend five minutes and continue with the daily activity.

What advantages do you think this technique brings to student’s professional lives?

I think that in their general life it can be very useful when it comes to adapting to changes, preparing for a professional interview, etc…. After all, we are talking about a relaxation technique to be able to visualise situations from a calm perspective and that is good for all of us.

• Do not impose these techniques on the pupils, let them be introduced little by little.
• Do not get frustrated when one day the proposed objectives are not achieved.
• Do not expect the same thing from every session.
• Do not spend more than five minutes a day unless you have a specific problem, which may require a little more time, but no more than 15 minutes.