This simple breathing strategy can ease anxiety and assist with focus. Let’s take a look at why this breathing practice is helpful:
- Pursed lip breathing is an asthma and COPD therapy. By breathing in the nose and exhaling slowly through pursed lips, you can increase oxygen and calm stress.
- Focusing on a finger (as a pretend candle) increases attention and can decrease distraction. It also becomes a portable coping skill that can be used anywhere.
- Slower exhales move the brain and body into a relaxation response, calming the stress response (flight or fight) experienced during anxiety. Blow Out the Candle Breath is an easy way to lengthen your exhale.
Here are a couple of helpful tips when sharing Blow Out the Candle Breath with children:
While you may want children to take five breaths (blowing out a candle for each of their five fingers), remind them to breathe out slowly. Rapid exhales, when rushing through these breaths, will not have the same impact as slower, controlled breathing.
Encourage children to use this breath without a pretend candle when they feel anxious or struggling to focus in class. This allows them to use this coping skill without anyone noticing.
There are many fun and creative ways to use this breathing technique. Smell the flower, blow out the candle, and smell the soup and blow to cool it off are a few we have encountered.
Tell us how you share this breathing technique with children in your life! We may feature your tips in an upcoming social media post! Email us today.