COMMON MISTAKES LIST

COMMONMISTAKES

When teaching breathing practices

Mouth Breathing

poor posture

expectations

Inhaling more than exhaling

Complicating it

Forcing it

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Holding

Trauma-sensitive

Remind learners to breath through the nose The nose is specially designed for breathing. Regulating the amount of oxygen absorbed, humidifying and warming the air, and filtering out allergies and contaminants are just a few of the benefits reaped from inhaling through the nose.

Be purposeful About posture The body must not disturb the breath – posture is an important aspect of practice. Guide your learners to sit with the spine upright in a comfortable position that won’t leave them wiggly during practice or stiff after.

Replace expectations with intentions Encourage your learners to exercise the diaphragm and lungs like the other muscles in the body to keep the breath strong, resilient, and smooth. Practice makes progress.

Holding the Breath While breathing strategies that practice breath-holding have benefits for an adult, those benefits do not always translate to a young child's growing body. Keep breath-holding to a maximum of a few seconds to remain within developmentally appropriate guidelines.

Exhale to make space After inhaling deeply, it's easy to forget to exhale with intention as well. A breathing pattern where the exhalation is twice as long as the inhalation is aimed at providing more time during exhalation for freeing the body of its blockages. Guide your students to breathe out slowly, because the long exhale instantly lowers the heart rate, activating the parasympathetic nervous system and inducing a state of calm and focus.

Keep it simple You don’t have to dive in headfirst, especially if this is new to your learners. There’s nowhere to go, so enjoy where you're at. Beginning with a super simple breathing technique allows you and your students to notice what actually happens to feelings, muscles, and mindsets.

Invite your learners and offer choices Always use invitational language and provide options. It is important for young people to find their own way, go at their own pace, and be in charge of their own practice. Leaving that space for options encourages creativity and personal connection within the process.

Maintain a Trauma-informed space

• Students living with chronic stress or PTSD may have developed coping mechanisms that have stopped them from breathing (and feeling) too deeply.
• For people who live with chronic stress or PTSD, having what is known as an internal anchor (like the breath) when practicing any kind of mindful awareness can be problematic. It can be overwhelming to go inside a body that is holding much hurt and anxiety.
• For this reason, some useful breathing strategies use touch and visuals, in addition to the breath.
• This allows students to use an external anchor, a place to focus their attention that is not inside, where the hurt and anxiety reside.