Deep Breathing"
Deep breathing, also known has diaphragmatic breathing, can be a valuable tool for children to help manage their emotions.
The diaphragm is the most efficient muscle used in breathing. It is a large muscle located at the base of the lungs. Your stomach or abdominal muscles help move the diaphragm and allow you to take in and release deeper gulps of air.
Why should you have to learn how to breathe?
Not every breath is the same. For example, when you get anxious or scared, you tend to take short, quick, shallow breaths sometimes referred to as hyperventilating. It may seem that you are taking in a lot of oxygen but in fact you are not. Deep or diaphragmatic breathing is the best way to get the most oxygen into your lungs. From the lungs air enters the body and brain. Without oxygen our body and brain begin to die.
Oxygen is body and brain food.
Learning how to do deep breathing helps your body’s muscles and organs work more efficiently. It also does the same thing for your brain. Deep breathing helps your brain think better and manage your emotions more efficiently.
Deep breathing can help you to avoid panic attacks, tantrums and general anxiety and aggression.
Deep breathing can help children relax quickly when faced with stressful or challenging situations. However, deep breathing does not come naturally and needs to be practiced on a daily basis.
How do we do it?
Begin by first learning more about your actual breathing.
BREATHING AWARENESS
- The best way to begin is lying flat on your back on a flat surface. (The floor or bed will do.)
- Next, place a light hard bound book on your belly (diaphragmatic breathing has also been call “belly breathing”).
- Place one hand on your chest so that you can feel the air going in and out
- Breathe in slowly through your nose so that the book raises up
- Exhale through pursed lips
Remember deep breathing takes practice and sometimes it helps to have someone to guide you through it.
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