Breathing Ball: How to Create a Breath Anchor in Your Community

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The breathing ball has become the staple breathing tool in our school community. You can find a breathing ball in most of our Peace Corners/Amygdala Reset Areas. Students now know that they have a tool to help them to calm.

To introduce the breathing ball, students form a circle. I explain to them what breathing can do for our bodies — taking students from their sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) back to their parasympathetic nervous system (rest or digest). I show them that on our inhale, we pull the ball open (as lungs are expanding), and as we exhale, we close the ball back together (as our lungs release oxygen).

Encourage students to use their eyes to follow the ball from person to person, breathing with them. The benefits will be much greater if students take 20 cleansing breaths, rather than just one on their turn — so don’t forget to remind students to breathe with their friends and celebrate those that are doing a great job breathing.

One of my favorite things about the breathing ball is that it transcends age range.

Check my resources page to see where I get my breathing balls.

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