MTSS Relax

Relaxing

Open Ended

What happens inside your body when you get nervous, anxious, or scared?

o There are times when pressure from the outside (ex., arguments with friends or getting into trouble with our parents) can make us feel tense inside.

o This tension can cause our bodies to react in many different ways: enlarged pupils, heart speeds up and beats faster, faster breathing, and butterflies in the stomach.

o Too much tension and stress inside our bodies can make us sick. So we have to learn how to relax our minds and bodies to relieve stress and tension inside.

Decide whether you need to relax. Discuss how to recognize bodily cues of tension (e.g., feeling tense, jittery, or queasy).

2. Take three slow, deep breaths.

Teach students to breathe in through their noses and out through their mouths.

3. Tighten one part of your body, count to three, and relax.

Instruct students about which parts of their bodies to tighten and then relax (jaw, shoulders, hands, stomach, legs, feet).

4. Continue this for each part of your body.

Students will need to practice Step 3 before they can do this independently.

5. Ask yourself how you feel.

Discuss how students feel physically before and after tightening muscles.

Success Criteria: We know we are successful when we can decide whether we need to relax, take three slow, deep breaths, tighten one part of our bodies, count to three and relax, continue this for each part of our bodies, and ask ourselves how we feel.

Poll

You are about to give a speech for the first time in front of your classmates. You are very nervous so you decide to take three slow, deep breaths while you are waiting to give your speech.

• Good way to relax

• Bad way to relax

Poll

You are angry with a friend because you just found out that they told some people at school some information you confided in them. Your heart starts beating faster, and you keep thinking to yourself that you are so mad at that friend. You immediately approach your friend and yell at them, telling them that you are mad at them and never want to speak to them again.

• Good way to relax

• Bad way to relax

Poll

You leave your completed homework assignment on your desk while you go to the bathroom. You are planning to turn it in as soon as you come back. When you return to your desk, you notice the assignment is missing. You believe someone took it. You get really upset. You have butterflies in your stomach and you clench your fists. You tell yourself you need to relax and you take three slow, deep breaths and release your clenched fists. You repeat these exercises until your body and mind are both calm. You go up to your teacher and let her know what happened. Your teacher tells you that she actually collected the assignment while you were in the bathroom.

• Good way to relax

• Bad way to relax

Open Ended

When will you practice taking three slow, deep breaths this week?

·What will you do to relax your body at a time when you feel tense this week?