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Practicing mindfulness to promote feelings of self-worth and safety

June 9, 2020

Contributed by Andrea Oka

During this uncertain time when our haumāna need support, we continue to share weekly tips for educators from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

When students return to school – via virtual learning or in the classroom – it can be valuable to engage them in activities that affirm their competence, sense of self-worth and feelings of safety.

There are many social-emotional learning practices and wellness activities that teachers can encourage students to complete in school or online. These activities can promote self-regulation when students are feeling stressed and provide a healthy sense of control over controllable aspects of an overwhelming situation.

One way to promote social-emotional and wellness is to practice mindfulness or self-soothing exercises such as smelling a flower or completing four-corner breathing prior to working on a lesson.

Four-corner breathing simply involves inhaling deeply and exhaling deeply four times. Students can complete this breathing exercise by standing up and taking one deep breath and then exhaling while facing each of the four corners of the room.



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safety and well-being,high-performing native hawaiian organization,distance learning

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