Lesson 3. Managing Difficult Emotions
Guided Breathing Exercise | 5:00 | Breathe In Peace
This breathing exercise helps create a peaceful universe within and without.
Educators |
Before reading our breathing exercise remind your students to sit still with their mindful bodies on and spine tall like a mountain.
Now remind students to gently breathe in and slowly breathe out letting go of any tension they can feel in their mind and body.
Let's Begin |
- Invite students to breathe in deep into their belly and feel these words as you read them out loud.
- Breathing in - “I breathe in peace,” ( pause )
- As students breathe out, ask students to feel the words below as you read them out loud.
- Breathing out - “I breathe out all my worries” ( repeat twice )
Let's try again with different words |
- Invite students to breathe in deep into their belly and feel these words as you read them out loud.
- Breathing in - “I breathe in love,” ( pause )
- As students breathe out, ask students to feel the words below as you read them out loud.
- Breathing out - “I breathe out kindness into the world all.” ( repeat twice )
Let's continue in sequence |
- Breathing in - “I breathe in peace,” ( pause )
- Breathing out - “I breathe out all my worries”
- Breathing in - “I breathe in love,” ( pause )
- Breathing out - “I breathe out kindness into the world all.”
Ask the students what they would like to breathe in and then breathe out. For example:
- Breathing in - “I breathe in sunlight,” ( pause )
- Breathing out - “I breathe out a rainbow”
Have fun with some examples, it’s ok to experiment as the main focus is breathing in, a slight pause and a long breath out.
Mindfulness Lesson | 5:00 | Managing Difficult Emotions
Objective: Students learn emotional regulation, resilience, imagination and flexibility of thought.
Before We Begin |
Have some difficult emotions written on a whiteboard, some difficult emotion like
- Sadness
- Anger
- Fear
- Worry
- Frustration
- Disappointment
- Hurt
Educators |
Being mindful of all feelings and emotions is an essential component of mindfulness as well as for our student's mental health.
It is important that students learn to navigate emotions such as anger, sadness and fear as those emotions will visit every heart at some point. Instead of getting disturbed when these emotions arise, we can learn and grow from the experience.
Please Note |
Before starting this lesson it is important that we create an emotionally and physically safe space, and ask that everyone agrees to confidentiality. We also want to be careful not to bring up emotions that are too intense. Whenever strong feelings bubble up tell students that their “Anchor Breath” or “Vacuum Breath” is there to support them.
Let’s Begin |
Let students know that today we are going to explore being mindful with a range of different emotions.
Invite students to do two “Vacuum Breaths” ( Week 1 ) for a moment. Is there a student in your group that remembers what Vacuum Breath is?
For example
- Invite students to imagine that there is a vacuum cleaner in their stomachs
- The vacuum cleaner can suck up any tension or stress as we take a long inhale, any stress from our heads, shoulders, anywhere in our body down into the bottom of our bellies.
- Then we can hold the breath for three seconds in the belly, and when we release our breath, imagine we are releasing any gunk sucked up down into the ground.
Now let us discuss and share |
Everyone experiences fear, anger, sadness and other difficult emotions from time to time. It is normal. It is what we do with these emotions as they present themselves and appear.
- Ask students for some examples of difficult emotions.
- Ask students what we can do when we are feeling these difficult emotions
The great news is there are some great tools we can use to help us manage difficult emotions when they arise
One of the tools is Vacuum Breath. Today we are going to practise our Vacuum Breath again, so we can learn to calm our bodies in any situation.
Mindfulness Exercise | 5:00 | Managing Difficult Emotions
Educators |
Students may wish to gently close their eyes and lay down, or sit with their legs crossed for this exercise exercise
Let’s Explore |
Let's explore a couple of situations now we are going to use our imagination. Everyone continue with your breathing.
Imagine you are standing up and walking out the door, heading off to play your favourite game or activity. Imagine you are watching these events like you are watching a movie in your mind. Ask the students what does it feel like in their bodies when they picture this scene.
- Now invite students to imagine someone comes to them and angrily tells them to stop what they are doing. Ask the students to picture this scene and notice how it affects their bodies? After this visualisation ask everyone to practise their “ Vacuum Breath ”
- Now invite students to imagine today after recess everyone in the class must present a talk during assembly, and they won’t be given any time to practise or see the topic until they are on stage and looking at all the students in the audience. The teacher about to hand you the piece of paper with the topic! Notice how your body feels. Now take a few “Vacuum Breaths”. Do you feel better?
- Now Imagine the audience clapping and cheering after you have finished your talk. Your teacher is shaking your hand and congratulating you. The whole assembly loved your talk. Notice how your body feels…...
Reflection |
- If there is time explore with the class how it felt to do this exercise, were the students able to imagine and feel these events
- Did Vacuum Breathing help with the more difficult emotions?
Mindful Life Practise |
Let your class know that they now know how to be aware and witness emotions in their body. Remember these emotions can change easily whenever and wherever they go.
Remind them that when they feel sad, scared or notice an unpleasant emotion, just notice where they feel it in the body and do some mindful breathing like Anchor or Vacuum Breath.
- Ask the class to notice what emotions they feel through the week and share them with the class next time.
Also, remember to practise your meditation
Guided Meditation | 9:34 | Waves of Emotions
Isabelle's "Waves of Emotions" Guided Meditations assists children in managing big and small emotions in their daily lives. By using breath, beautiful music and gentle guidance Isabelle teaches children that all emotions are ok.
Reflection |
- How did that meditation make everyone feel?
- Did you enjoy exploring some different emotions?
Mindful Game | Bad News and Good News Game
Objectives |
- Resilience
- Imagination
- The flexibility of thoughts
Educators |
You may wish to list topics on a whiteboard for this game.
How to play |
- Start by choosing a theme, for example, school, the beach, winter, dogs, or ask the group to choose a theme.
- Students can sit in a circle.
- The leader starts with a piece of “Bad News” about the chosen theme.
- The next person in the circle adds “But the good news is…..”
- For example, if the subject is school Bad News and Good News could be.
- The bad news is…, “we all have extra homework to do.”
- The good news is…., “we are finishing school one hour earlier today!”
- The bad news is…, "our art teacher is away sick.”
- The good news is…..,” “we have free time in the library!”
- Each player has 5 seconds to think of “Bad News” and 5 seconds for “Good News”
- Students must keep to the theme and answer within the quick time limit.
- Students who either don’t think of news within the time frame or do not stick to the theme must cross their legs as they are out.
- The winner chooses the next theme.
- For more fun with larger groups. See if the group can make it all the way around the circle with “Bad News” and “Good News” within 30 Seconds.
Reflection |
- Was it easy for you to think of Good News when you heard the Bad News?
- Do you think it will become easier to think of Good News with practice?
Mindful Journal | PNG Format |
Educators |
Slide your students' journal to your desktop and print.
