Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand the link between their breathing and how they feel. The youth will practice focused breathing techniques to help their bodies and minds relax. Optional activities allow young people to further explore mindful breathing.

Instructor Notes

Before facilitating this lesson, you may want to review the following notes about mindful breathing. This information can be shared with young people during your discussions.

How you breathe can make a difference in how you feel. When you are stressed, nervous, frightened, worried or angry, you may notice that your breathing gets low and fast. Your breath will come from higher up in your chest when you are upset. In calmer times, your breathing will be slower and deeper. Your breath will come more from your stomach and underneath your ribs.

You can learn to slow down your breathing, making each breath longer and deeper. This will calm the rest of your body and your mind. If you practice doing this you can become good at staying calm or return to feeling calm quickly in very stressful situations.

Introduction

Ask the youth this question: How are our bodies and our minds connected? Be patient if it takes a while for them to start answering. Younger people may have much simpler answers. You may want to start with an example of kicking a ball: If we want to kick a ball our minds have to send a signal to our legs telling them what to do. Young people may also be able to understand things like:

• • Our brains are inside our heads so our skulls can protect them.
  • If we think (or believe) we can do something we are more likely to be able to do it.
  • If we are worried or upset or unhappy our bodies might feel sick or tired or uncomfortable.
  • If our bodies are sick or hurt or very tired it might make us feel unhappy or frustrated.

Activity: Focused Breathing

Explain that breathing well is good for our bodies and can help us change negative things happening in our minds to more positive ones. In other words, we can learn ways to use our bodies to help us feel better in our minds.

1. Ask the youth to get into a comfortable position. Explain that you are going to practice a type of breathing they can use any time they want or need to calm themselves down. Ask them to be quiet during the exercise. Then lead them through the following steps. For younger people, you may want to simplify the instructions by jumping right to Step 2.
2. Pay attention to your body. What are you feeling in your body? What are your different senses noticing: smells, sounds, sights, tastes? Are you comfortable? If you aren’t comfortable adjust your body so that you are.
3. Notice what’s happening with your breathing? Is it fast? Slow? Moving through your nose or your mouth? Is there a noise when you breathe in or breathe out? Don’t try to change it…just notice.
4. Practice a type of breathing that can help ease your mind and calm your body: Begin breathing in through your nose and breathing out through your mouth. Breathe in twice as long as you breathe out (try counting to two as you breathe in and count to four as you breathe out). Keep breathing like this for several minutes.
5. Now talk with the youth about the breathing they just did: What do you notice now after a few minutes of breathing like that? How do you feel? What do you see, smell, hear, taste? What is on your mind? What was that like to focus on your breathing?

Optional Activities

If time allows, try these breathing exercises with your class or group.

• Mindful Breathing: Breathing is an automatic reflex. You don’t even have to think about it–it just happens! But being aware of your breath can help you feel more relaxed.  An easy way to be more mindful is thinking about when you smell your favorite scent.  Smelling is actually taking in a deep breath on purpose. Ask the youth to close their eyes and imagine smelling their favorite scent. Have them breathe in for the count of two and breathe out for the count of four.
• Shape Breathing: This deep breathing technique uses your imagination. Imagine your favorite shape. As you breathe in, imagine your breath ‘drawing’ one side of the shape as you count to 2. Breathe out and draw the next side as you count to 3. For example, if the shape is round, breathe in from top to bottom, breathe out bottom to top. Continue until you draw your whole shape. You can use a picture of a shape as a guide. Trace a finger along the side of the shape while you count. You can also draw a shape in the air. Move your head and neck a little as an added stretch.

• Birthday Balloons and Candles: Sit with your legs crossed (feet flat on the floor if you are sitting in a chair) and your back straight. Breathe in deeply through your nose, filling your lungs like a balloon. Imagine seeing your birthday cake with all of its bright candles. Blow them out by breathing out strongly through your mouth.

• Breathe In, Bubbles Out!: Take a deep breath in through your nose. Fill your lungs full of air! Hold your breath for 1 to 2 seconds. Put the bubble wand up by your mouth and blow! Repeat 3 to 5 times, trying to blow more bubbles each time. After the exercise, ask the youth where in their bodies do they feel the stress or anxiety being released.
• Belly Breathing: This exercise can help you get more air into your body. Place one hand on your upper chest and one hand on your belly. Slowly breathe in through your nose. You should feel your belly press into your hand. Keep the hand on your chest as still as possible. Breathe out. Tighten your belly muscles to breathe out all the air. Wait a little bit and do it again. Repeat 2 more times.

Conclusion

Remind young people that if they ever feel like they need to calm down, focused or mindful breathing is something they can do anywhere, at any time, and no one will even know that they are doing it.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, including additional mindful breathing activities, so that families can continue discussing ways to manage stress at home.

Additional Instructor Resources

ChangeToChill.org from Allina Health

For other ideas about how to help kids management stress see these two books:

Fighting Invisible Tigers: Stress Management for Teens by Earl Hipp (Free Spirit Publishing, 2008)
The Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens by Gina M. Biegel (New Harbinger Publications Inc., 2009)

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand the causes and effects of stress and learn some techniques for dealing with it. The youth will identify physical symptoms of stress and list some situations that may bring them on. They will learn some skills for managing stress and make their very own stress ball.

Introduction

Introduce the young people to the topic of stress. Let them know that we’ve all had times when our bodies react to stress and we can feel it. It’s the sensation also known as “flight or fight.” Our bodies’ natural way of coping with being frightened or challenged is to release certain chemicals into our bloodstream that provide extra short-term energy and alertness. Our instincts take over and “tell” us that we are facing danger and we either need to defend ourselves (fight) or get away (flight).

Sometimes when this happens we do things we didn’t think we could, such as run very fast or lift something heavy. We may also notice that our hearts beating harder and faster, our hands getting sweaty and cold, or our faces feeling flushed and hot.

Chances are everyone will have had many experiences of this. Ask for a few descriptions of what that looks and feels like. Young people might also describe feeling “butterflies” in their stomachs or having dry mouths.

Then explain that when this happens the options for what a person can do to respond become very limited because instinct takes over and we lose our ability to fully use the part of our brains that makes rational decisions.

Fortunately, by understanding what triggers our “fight or flight” reaction and learning skills to deal with it, we can learn to prevent some stress responses and calm ourselves down from those that do happen.

Activity: How Do You Know if it’s Stress?

Distribute the handout: Your Body Under Stress

Ask young people to each draw or write images on their “body” of where they feel stress and how they know they are having a stress response.

Don’t give examples right away, but if they need a little help you can offer these ideas:

• heart pounds harder and faster
• hands feel sweaty and cold
• face flushes (gets hot and red)
• “butterflies” in your stomach
• dry mouth.

After young people finish the handout ask them the following questions:

1. How easy or hard was it to think of ways your body reacts to stress?
2. What are some of the ways you thought of that your body reacts to stress?
3. Does everyone respond the same way?
4. Are there good kinds of stress? What are some examples? (Examples of positive stress might be a performance of some sort, a physical challenge, speaking in front of a group about something important to you, and so on. Positive stress creates feelings of excitement, anticipation, like right before going over a big hill on a roller coaster.)

Activity: What brings stress on?

Complete the Stress: What Brings it On? worksheet.

There doesn’t need to be a lot of discussion about this worksheet as long as you process it at the end of the session as described in the conclusion. Do point out, however, that one way of both avoiding stress and getting better at dealing with it is to become more aware of what brings it on for you personally. This worksheet helps people think about and identify their own personal stress triggers.

Activity:  Make a stress ball

Introduce the stress ball as a way to help deal with stress. These objects are popular because squeezing the ball in your hand helps reduce tension throughout your body. It may be even more effective if you pay attention to your breath as you squeeze: breathe in as you squeeze the ball, breathe out as you relax your hand.

Let each young person make a homemade stress ball. Instructions:

1. 1. Take two or three balloons and cut the tops off just above the rounded area, so that all is left is the round part of the balloon. You will also need one uncut balloon.
   2. Take the uncut balloon and stretch the opening over the narrow end of the funnel. Have young people work in pairs so one can hold the funnel while the other fills it the balloon.
   3. Slowly and carefully pour about half a cup of millet seed into the funnel. The amount with vary depending on the size of balloon you use. Make sure it all goes into the balloon. Add more if necessary.
   4. Once the balloon is full to the top of the rounded part, without stretching the balloon, stop filling.
   5. Remove the funnel and tie a tight knot just above the round part of the balloon. Do not cut off the end of the balloon.
   6. Take one of the cut balloons and stretch it over the tied millet-filled balloon. Make sure the tied end is covered first.
   7. Continue adding more cut balloons, always covering the open end of the previous balloon first until you have several layers. This way if one layer breaks the seed will not spill out.

Tips:

• • The number of balloons you will need will depend on how strong and thick the balloons are. If you use good quality, thick balloons, you should only need three in addition to the filled balloon. If you use weaker balloons, you may need to use four or more.
  • With use, your stress ball will become dirty, so you can either clean carefully with very mild soap and water, or remove the outer balloon and add a new one.

Conclusion

Talk about how young people can learn to make choices that help them avoid negative stress, the kind that makes it so they have a hard time making decisions, the kind that feels uncomfortable and maybe even a little bit scary. Ask the youth what kind of activities will help them deal with de-stress. Some examples include:

• taking a walk
• talking to a friend
• listening to music
• meditation.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish so that families can continue discussing stress and healthy ways to deal with it at home.

Additional Instructor Resources

• ChangeToChill.org by Allina Health
• Article: What is Anxiety?
• Anxiety Disorders – Information for parents and teachers
• Behavioral Charts for Kids with Anxiety
• Anxiety and Depression Association of America

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand the negative effects of tension and stress, and how you can use your imagination to help you relax. The youth will draw pictures of their minds under stress. Then the instructor will lead young people in a guided imagery exercise.

Introduction

What is guided imagery? How can guided imagery be helpful to us? How do you do it?

Explain to the youth that guided imagery is a simple, powerful technique that can have many health-related physical and emotional benefits. It can help people feel less nervous or upset, be less bothered by pain, or achieve a goal such as an athletic or academic achievement.

Through guided imagery you can learn to use your imagination to “Create the State You Want,” meaning that you can actually change how you are feeling and what you are focused on.

Activity: Picturing Stress

Complete the Create the State You Want worksheet as a way to think about the power of images and how we create pictures in our minds based on how we are feeling.

Activity: Guided Imagery

Read aloud the Guided Imagery script to your class or group. When everyone has had time to come back to full awareness of the present, allow young people time to talk about their experience.  Do they feel more calm and relaxed after the guided imagery experience? Remind them that our brains are very powerful and can impact our positive and negative thoughts.

Conclusion

Encourage young people to take time to practice guided imagery. Let them know it can be done almost anywhere at any time and can be done to help them face a particular challenge (such as an upcoming test), or just because it’s healthy and feels good.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, which also includes directions for guided imagery, so that families can practice “creating the state they want” at home.

Additional Instructor Resources

Visualizing Your Special Place

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand how living a healthy life has to do with more than just what they eat. Healthy living requires following certain habits and routines each and every day. The youth will identify the things they each do personally to lead to healthy lives. Then together they plan an event that includes treats that encourage healthy habits.

Introduction

Explain that health can mean different things to different people. In this lesson, we’re going to talk about healthy stuff that’s not about food. Why? Because to have a healthy life, you need to have certain habits and routines that you follow each and every day.

A healthy life is like a puzzle that you’ve put together. All the pieces are connected, and when one piece is missing, the puzzle is not complete. For a healthy life, you do need to eat well, but there are other pieces of that puzzle that need to come together too.

Activity: Healthful Habits

1. Ask the young people what they could do today to live a healthier life. To start the discussion you could say: “I brushed my teeth this morning and I’m going to do it again tonight before I go to bed.” Ask the young people to name a healthy activity they’ve done today and have them give a reason why they believe the activity is healthy. Correct the young person if needed.
2. Can you think of your habits that are connected to good health? Give the youth the chance to think about this for a moment. They might need you to give them some hints to get them on the right track. You could offer questions, such as:
   • “What about your teeth?” to prompt them to answer that brushing their teeth is a healthy habit.
   • “What do we do with our hands before we eat?” To prompt them to answer that washing their hands before they eat is a healthy habit.
   • “How do we keep our whole bodies clean?” To prompt them to answer that taking a bath or shower each day is a healthy habit.
   • “What do you do every night, until morning?” To prompt them to give you the answer that they need “a good night’s sleep.”

Activity: Plan a Healthy Celebration

Ask the youth to coordinate a healthy birthday celebration or Halloween or Valentine’s Day treat. Instead of bringing in sugary treats, advertise healthier options. Have the young people brainstorm ways to make their school party’s sugar-treat free! Suggest small treasures instead, such as decorated pencils, homemade cards, erasers, toothbrushes, etc.

Conclusion

Close the lesson by reminding young people that there are many ways to be healthy everyday. For the next couple days, try to notice the healthful activities you do such as exercising, eating healthy snacks, keeping clean and getting a good night’s sleep. Keep track of your healthy choices on the Healthy Me Checklist. Each time you notice one, congratulate yourself for taking steps to live a healthy life!

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, so that families can continue to discuss healthy choices in daily life.

Additional Instructor Resources

• There Are Sneaky Sugars! – (Russian) – (Somali) – (Spanish)
• What Kind of Sugar is in Your Food? – (Russian) – (Somali) – (Spanish)
• Healthy Me Checklist
• MyPlate: Increasing Your Physical Activity video
• Healthy Eating Tips for Children video