4am sunrise night shift before heading to kesgrave to teach breathing to year 10 kids.
Well that was an experience. This week I was invited to head into a local high school as part of their spirituality week. I decided to skip the spiritual side a bit and focus on the breathing
The reason being is that unless you are in anyway physiologically fit and “still” psychological/emotional/spiritual practices are really guna be a struggle.
When your body feels like it’s just trying to survive the onslaught of a vicious tiger attack 24/7, 365 days a year, more esoteric and emotional plans come second.
So how was it I hear you all ask (or not as is more likely the case)?? It was fun, it was weird, it was in some some parts successful and in some parts like head butting a wall.
But I loved it. There is something about the way society has set itself up in the last decade or so that really seems to put kids on the back seat.
With more attention/care/pressure given to gaining exam results which really don’t count for massive amount once you get into life rather than emotional, physiological intelligence.
Rather than setting up the kids to learn how to deal with life and stress and the realities of what the world will throw at them the syllabus just cares more about trying to be higher on the league results tables of the world.
I think education is important i really do, I feel all the teachers are on a hiding to nothing often with the way they are expected to try to get the best from their pupils.
For me, being in that space showed how much trust kids require to be open to trying something new but perhaps when they feel that you are actually on their side and aren’t just some homeless looking bloke, they actually being to open up.
Trying to get children and parents to understand that without being able to build a base line of physiological equilibrium learning is pretty much a no go. It’s non essential in a stressed body and brain.
Knowledge won’t be retained if a child is hyperventilating all day everyday. The amount of oxygen accessible to the brain is decreased when over breathing is happening.
So what did I come away from this first school experience with?? Kids are just wanting to fit in with their peers, they are scared to slow down enough to actually feel and see where they are at….but with a little time and trust they can actually just sink down into themselves.
Breathing doesn’t have to be work, it can be and breathwork exercises can be a great tool, especially as an ice breaker and to get them more comfortable with something new. But the key, the goal, the ultimate aim should really be to just begin by finding a cool, calm, mindful attentive practice of observation on being here now.
Presence in the moment, in what is going on within the body as a stressful situation is occurring and knowing what it means and how to deal with it will build far greater resilience in the youth of today.
This shouldn’t be just another thing teachers have to try to force into an already busy day, it should be something taught by parents to their children, by older kids to younger kids. It should be all pervasive practice that takes root at a young age and helps guide us through life.
That’s a very grand idea and most likely unrealistic in this day and age, but without it I fear the ever increasing “mental health crisis in teens” is only going to keep go up.
I super enjoyed the sessions I did and hope to get to do some more with schools in the future, I think it would be a fun way to try to help people take control of their own health and lives and stop using the NHS and A&E for inappropriate things.