Body Breaks
Breaks that engage one's body can help to Calm, Relax, Organize, Regulate and Focus one's mind and body.
A body break is a sequence of activities that can be done to help a student (or anyone) maintain or achieve an optimal level of arousal needed for learning.
A full body break cycle should take approximately 5-7 minutes. Breaks should initially bring a student's regulation up and expend energy, followed by a calming and reorganized sense of focus upon completion.
Consider using a body break:
at the beginning of the school day
after a break or recess
before a task that will require focus (such as a test)
in between two tasks that require focus
to help with transitions
before or after an excitable event
when energy levels begin to escalate
when attention decreases
A body break is a sequence of activities.
It contains movement activities from each of the domains below.
Activate
"Activate" activities require higher amounts of energy and engage larger muscle groups.
Activities may include:
jumping jacks
Bunny hops or frog jumps
action songs/games; GO NOODLES or Simon says
Burpees/mountain climbers
skipping on the spot
jogging on the spot; high knees and kicking behind
Control
"Control" activities require muscle control, motor planning and awareness of body positioning.
Activities may include:
animal walks
chair/wall push-ups
marching
crunches
cross lateral movements (touch hand/elbow to opposite side knew/foot)
Hold
"Hold" activities require muscle endurance and often contain components of balance and core stability.
Activities may include:
yoga/balance poses: tree pose, warrior pose, plank, v-sit, superman
"frozen"/ held poses: stork, bridge, stand on one foot
stand on one foot while writing the alphabet in the air with arm
pointer balance (in four point kneel position, extend arm and alternate leg and hold)
Breathe
"Breathe" activities focus on the calming effects of deep and focused breathing.
Activities may include:
slow breathing: in through the nose and out through the mouth. (smell the flower, blow out the candle)
sigh breathing
snake breathing
balloon breathing (visualize blowing up a large balloon with controlled deep breathes)
figure 8 breathing
Join us for a body break!
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