Mindful Breathing Exercise

Parents of children with hearing and other differences often say they become stressed, filling up with anxiety and worry at specific moments: before an IEP meeting, while dealing with their child’s temper tantrum, trying to grapple with their child’s health. In fact, our survey (as does other research) reports that parents have high degrees and extremely high degrees of stress in their life when caring for their children with hearing loss (44%). After this simple mindful breathing exercise, parents say they are more relaxed and peaceful in body and mind.

I begin by asking parents to pause, close their eyes, and focus on the breath. “Attune to and feel the air moving in and out the nostrils.” I encourage parents to deepen the inhalations and exhalations and try to fill their belly with oxygen just like they would fill a glass with water. There are many breathing techniques, and this mindful breathing exercise is common in both meditation and yoga practices. I ask parents to say to themselves on an exhale, “calm mind, calm mind” , “feel peace in your body on each exhale”, or “try to make yourself twice as relaxed.” After just 3-5 minutes of mindful breathing (and silently saying one of the little mantras), parents report the strength of self-regulation coming forth and are able to return to the task, decision, and needs of their child with much more focus.

Balancing mind and body is key to regulating our emotions and calming our fight or flight response. This simple, effective brief mindful breath exercise helps calm the para-sympathetic system and nervous system in the body.

Give it a try!