“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
Why didn’t anyone ever teach us how to breathe?
I’m convinced that breathing is something that should be taught to everyone at a very young age. I have no idea why nobody ever taught me about breathing. But I also have no idea why nobody taught me a whole lot of other things either. We can think about that together in future posts. I’m also convinced that the practice of mindful breathing should be part of everyone’s daily habits, especially teachers.
Why Breathe?
You can go weeks without food, days without water, but only a couple of minutes without breathing. But breathing is often the thing that we forget to do, even though it’s essential.
There are a lot of great resources on mindfulness and breathing, and I invite you to check some of those out if you’re interested. A book that I’ve read this year that has completely changed my perspective on almost everything is The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Another great resource that first got me invested in breathing is the book Breath by James Nestor. These amazing books do a great job of discussing the power of breathing, but that depth is not my intention here. Instead, I’m pointing to the atomic habit of breathing for teachers as a way to slow down.
The Morning Stack
So, for this Atomic Teaching Habit, we are starting to stack some habits. The first habit was smiling, and the second was having fun. Those two habits go hand in hand, which allows them to be stacked. You make smiling a daily habit, which helps you to be reminded to have fun in your space, no matter what. And next, you take time to breathe. There a posts about smiling and having fun as the first two atomic teacher habits if you missed them. Remember that each of these habits is essentially a way to mindfully check yourself and meet your students where they are.
The habit stack of smiling, having fun, and breathing could look something like this: Every day, I arrive at school, walk to my classroom, and unlock the door. As I walk through the door, I take a moment to smile. As I smile, I’m reminded to be happy in my space and to purposefully bring joy to others. With those steps, I take a deep breath, acknowledging my presence and purpose in my space, and begin my preparation for a great day with my students. The breath, even just one, connects you to the moment and your space in preparation for the day to come. This is a powerful tool that allows you to gain presence and control. You are there, you are happy, and you are ready to be great.
Teaching Is a Mental Game
It’s estimated that teachers make about 1,500 decisions per day. That’s a lot of thinking and places a tremendous amount of mental load on the mind of an educator. I believe that in many cases, the best thing that any teacher can do to help themselves and their students is slow down, take a breath in the moment, and chill out. I know it seems that those 1,500 decisions have to be made instantly, but the truth is that most of them don’t. And teachers often end up doing or saying things they regret later when they get caught up in the moment and act too quickly.
The world will keep spinning if you find yourself in a tough situation and you give yourself a 10-second time-out to take a breath, reset, and think. I know I heard my mom tell me a thousand times to think before I spoke, and I’m sure you’ve heard similar advice. That advice was dished out to me often because it’s an essential truth. Breathing allows you the time to be aware of the moment and act with thought and reason rather than emotion. Never be afraid to slow down.
Breathe in the Moment
The habit of mindful breathing works on two levels for any educator. First, if you make breathing a daily habit as you enter your space, you work on centering yourself and preparing your mind for the day ahead. This mindfulness practice will help you stay calm in the moment later. As you experience the power of just one mindful breath, you will likely soon want to expand to at least a minute or two or ten of mindful breathing each day.
And the second way that the atomic teaching habit of breathing works for teachers is to slow them down. As soon as a tense situation arises, become aware and take a breath. Feel yourself breathing in, taking a moment to pause, and collect yourself before you respond. This simple habit, if practiced daily, will make you an exponentially better teacher in the short and long term.
Try It
And that’s it. The third Atomic Teaching Habit in the form of an atomic stack. You can begin to practice smiling, having fun, and taking some breaths each day as small, simple habits that will improve your practice for yourself and your students.
Your Turn
Try the smile–fun, breathe habit stack for a week. What changes? What’s hard? What’s easy? Drop your reflections in the comments. I’d love to hear what you think and notice.
Miles O'Shea 
2 Comments
Comments are closed.