Dear Families,
Mindfulness is always important but even more so in times of stress and uncertainty. Below we have included links for a quick but effective breath work technique that can be done anywhere and anytime! This technique involves training your nervous system to regulate the stress response that fights change. It takes less than ten minutes and has immediate results. All you need is a comfortable spot and your breath! Before starting this activity, begin with a few deep breaths. Really expand and lift your chest as you inhale, and when exhaling breath into your belly. Use the present tense throughout the mediation. For example, “I feel” instead of “I felt.” Focus on how being in your body feels. If you would like to add a personal affirmation at the end of the session go right ahead!

As we use the 3-2-1 Courage Challenge we gain the tools to access and work with our emotions during times of stress. To quote Dispenza, “…when you change your emotions, you can change the expression of your genes (turning some on and others off) because you are sending a new chemical signal to your DNA, which can then instruct your genes to make different proteins—up-regulating or down-regulating to make all kinds of new building blocks that can change the structure and function of your body.”
― Joe Dispenza, Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon

Before starting the exercise it might be helpful to talk to your children about the last time they felt each of the emotions mentioned in the video. Doing this beforehand will make it easier to embody them during the 3-2-1 Courage Challenge. There are eight emotions in this challenge, Courage, Trust, Optimism, Acceptance, Understanding, Love, Joy, and Peace.

*Sources:

The Thought of You

Can You Change Your Brain by Thinking Differently?

https://www.you-eq.com/