204 minutes. This is the total number of minutes that my classes and I have meditated thus far this school year. 120 seconds per day before we launch into our daily agenda. I have found, through much trial and error, that guiding them through a structured breathing sequence is key to helping them be able to a) be away from an electronic device b) experience moments of stillness c) begin to connect with their breath. Peter Nestor’s Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art is not only a fascianting look at the study of breath but also an enjoyable read whether you meditate or not.
For some students, this may be the only time in their day in which they have mental quiet. In his book with Oprah, What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience and Healing, Dr. Bruce Perry states that almost 50 percent of children in the US have had at least one major traumatic experience. How many of the students in our classrooms are trauma survivors? Especially in our classes that are classified as “intensive intervention?” And childhood trauma has massive effects on the development of the brain and, consequently, how the brain directs the body to react to stress far beyond the experience of the initial trauma(s).
I have observed increasing levels of anxiety in my students, even prior to the pandemic. As I explain to my engineer husband who has no social media and does not believe in it, “Honey, these kids are living in two realities: reality and the alternate reality of social media.” Additionally, the academic pressure this year has been intense. And it feels as if so many people making decisions in our field are reacting rather than responding to the academic effects of the pandemic: purchasing new programs, forcing teachers to take new trainings to implement the newly purchased programs, raising graduation requirements, and neither asking for nor honoring the feedback from the teachers and school staff who are attemping to support kids. Yet the social emotional effects of the pandemic on our students often overshadows their ability to learn.
So, can you tell it has been a long day? But when Roger, a Senior who is over being in reading, kinda over everything, said to me today, “Miss, we didn’t meditate yesterday. I think we should do 4 minutes of it today.” And so we did.
If you are interested, I use 3 basic types of structured breath and usually let the kids choose which style they want me to lead them through that day: box breathing, resuce breathing and one that I made up. Happy to share if you would like more information.