Yesterday, I thought a lot about my teacher friends who returned to school after a difficult weekend of watching the scene at Sandy Hook Elementary unfold. I contacted a few of them during the day, others contacted me, and I also taught yoga at one school and was able to communicate with teachers there as well.
I was curious in the direction their school district wanted them to follow for helping the kids not be fearful of being in school. This is the information one teacher who attends yoga with me shared with me.
“Jill, the kids were full of questions and misinformation….we talked about how Eagle Creek does lockdowns, reminded them of their practices last year. That life is uncertain, but we cannot live in fear of car crashes, slipping on ice, armed intruders. That being nice matters.
I am sure the conversation will continue thru the week as news comes of the funerals in Conn.
Breathing out peace.
Mary”
This same teacher will be using peace breathing with her students, a visualization of breathing out peace. Here is information she shared with me on that.
“Practicing Peace Breath to help kids cope with frightening news and ease emotional distress.
This may be a tough week for schools and students around the US. The news of the shooting tragedy in Sandy Hook School in Newtown, CT is horrifying to anyone, and although the feelings of sadness, empathy and compassion are prevalent and natural responses, so are the feelings of anger, helplessness and fear.
To help empower children (and ourselves) to ease feelings of helplessness, we would like to recommend starting each day this week with PEACE BREATH: sending peace and love to the children and families of Newtown, CT, and to the world.
This exercise could be done at home with the family, lead by teachers in the classroom or even over announcements with your entire school. Peace Breath inspires self-regulation while generating immense compassion, connectedness and community with the power to help heal ourselves and the world.
Peace Breath activity is one of 67 from the Yoga 4 Classrooms Card Deck. The instructions on the card are simple and easy to follow – we hope you will use this wonderful tool and share it with anyone in need of a helpful guide to managing the myriad of emotions associated with such tragedy.”
Sending out peace to the students and teachers and parents across the country and world today and this week.
Peace