Breath Practice:
The Take 5 Breath
Take 5 Breath
The Take 5 Breath is an excellent practice to provide balance, offer an opportunity to build focus and concentration, and is concrete enough for those new to yoga and mindfulness and younger children to easily grasp and master. The breath practice can be done discreetly, in any setting to help calm and relieve stress and anxiety and focus on the breath in the present moment. Using the hand as a tool of support for this practice, you use the tracing of the fingers to help provide a sense of balance between the inhales and exhales.
Reduces stress and anxiety
Positively effects emotions and mental well being
Increases mental clarity, energy, and focus
Instructions:
1. Find an alert but relaxed posture in which you can extend the spine long to breathe deeply and fully. Relax the shoulders down from the ears. Take a few rounds of mindful breathing to settle in.
2. Stretch your hand out wide making space between your fingers, with your palm facing you.
3. Extend the index finger of your other hand to be the tracing finger.
4. Inhale through your nose, trace your finger up the outer edge of the thumb to the thumbs’ top.
5. Exhale out from your mouth, tracing from the top of your thumb down to the base of the index finger.
6. Continue this pattern of breathing as you trace your hand completely, inhaling on the upward tracing through the nose and exhaling out the mouth on the downward tracing.
7. Continue for a second round or onto the other hand if you wish.
8. Let this pattern of breathing go. Let the breath breathe naturally.
Begin with one natural breath.
Open one palm and stretch your fingers out wide. Use your opposite pointer finger to touch the bottom of your thumb.
Inhale as you trace up each finger.
Exhale as you trace down each finger.
Teaching Cues for Students
Implementation & Development
See our Child Development Page for more information to help tailor your instruction to best meet the needs of your students.
All children learn best given clear, concise, instructions, trying to reduce directional cues down to 4 steps.
Enjoys learning through games, songs, and stories. Cues for Take 5 Breath can be woven into a song, built into an entry routine, or supported by fun props such as expandable spheres such as these.
Keep cues limited, simple, and be consistent with your working to help build a predictable routines. Modeling and pointing to the body parts you are engaging is useful.
You can lead students in warming up the hands, inhaling as they make fists and exhale as they open their hands wide.
It can be fun and engaging to have students trace their hands on paper and make dots on the finger tops and make shapes where the exhales take place in between the fingers, as an additional art extension. These can be used as additional visual supports.
Still enjoy routine, learning through games, group activity.
Appreciates praise and being noticed. After you teach the Take 5 Breath, and students are comfortable and familiar, you may engage student leaders to guide the group.
With slightly longer attention spans, children may be able to take in more instructions. You might invite students to notice the connections between the Balanced Breath practice, how they feel, and the quality of their minds, and feelings.
With longer attention spans, you can invite students to include additional layers to this practice, such as adding in affirmations with the inhales.
As adolescence begins and continues, students will start to feel preoccupied with body image. It is important to cultivate a safe space for students to practice the Take 5 Breath where they don’t feel singled out and they have the option to close their eyes or to soften their gaze.
The Take 5 Breath can be used subtly throughout a student’s day, without drawing attention to them. This breath practice may help alleviate anxiety and assist older student with testing anxiety and anxiety associated with social interactions with their peers.
As students assert a greater level of autonomy, it is important to build in more opportunities for choice and agency. If possible give students options as which breathing practice they would like to explore., or choices within that practice. This can be as simple as choosing their count, choosing the direction of the count, etc.
Video
Helpful Hints
While introducing to children you may benefit form visual representations of the practice. Children can create a palm print with paint and write in with directional arrows the inhales and exhales along the fingers.
While introducing to children, you may want to first teach them how to breath in through their nose and out through their mouths, before layering on the tracing.
Options
Take 5 Breathes can be done sitting, standing, laying down, or during a yoga posture.
Precautions
Respiratory inflammation: practice moderately
Sinus congestion: breathe through the mouth as needed
Content from NYCDOE YMTP² curricular materials