By Giselle Shardlow
“I hate math!” my student yelled as she stood on her chair, stomping her feet and screaming. What had started as a normal classroom moment had quickly escalated into an emotional meltdown.
After some time, the words tumbled out—she told me how testing at school triggered intense anxiety. Students had to sit in silence with partitions at each desk and weren’t allowed to ask questions. The memory of those testing conditions was powerful enough to spark this reaction months later.
“You have one secret tool in your toolkit,” I told her gently.
“What?” she asked, her voice still quivering.
“Your breath.”
I explained that in the future, whenever she feels overwhelmed by testing situations—when she’s wondering why there’s a partition at her desk, why the classroom is so silent, or why she can’t ask for help with a confusing question—she can pause to take a deep breath. As she exhales, she can let go of her worries, concerns, and frustrations.
While I didn’t expect her to transform into a Zen master during her next test, this conversation planted an important seed. When practiced regularly, these simple breathing techniques can become powerful self-regulation tools that serve students throughout their academic lives and beyond.
Why Breathing Exercises in the Classroom?
In today’s educational environment, teachers face unprecedented challenges: distracted students, academic pressure, and lingering post-pandemic learning gaps. Many students struggle with focus, emotional regulation, and readiness to learn.
Breathing exercises offer a powerful, accessible solution.
The connection between breath regulation and cognitive function is supported by a growing body of research. When students control their breathing, they influence their autonomic nervous system, reducing stress responses and creating optimal conditions for learning. Controlled breathing activates the parasympathetic “rest and digest” response, lowers cortisol levels, and engages brain regions responsible for attention and memory formation. The result is an ideal state for absorbing and retaining information.
The beauty of breathing exercises is their simplicity. They require minimal time, no special equipment, and can be implemented anywhere. The following three techniques take just two or three minutes, but can dramatically improve students’ readiness to learn.
3 High-Impact Breathing Techniques for Academic Success
1. Extended Exhale Breath
Imagine a classroom before a high-stakes math test: furrowed brows, fidgeting hands, and anxious glances at the clock. This is the perfect moment for Extended Exhale Breath. As students exhale slowly, their shoulders visibly drop, and the room’s energy shifts from tense to focused.
This technique is ideal during transitions that require mental clarity—before tests, during problem-solving, or when shifting from high-energy activities to focused work. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system by emphasizing the exhalation phase, signaling to our bodies that we’re safe and can relax.
Instructions:
- Have students place their hands on their desk or in their lap.
- Inhale through the nose for three to five counts.
- Exhale through the nose for six to ten counts (twice as long as the inhalation).
- Repeat three to five times, ensuring each exhalation is longer than each inhalation.
2. Take 5 Breath
Picture a classroom after lunch recess—students bursting with energy, still processing playground interactions and struggling to settle into afternoon learning. The Take 5 Breath creates a bridge between these different energetic states. As children trace their fingers, their focus narrows, their breathing naturally slows, and their bodies prepare for learning. You’ll see their eyes soften and their posture relax as they complete the simple finger-tracing pattern.
This multi-sensory technique combines breath with touch, making it particularly effective for younger students or those who benefit from tactile elements. It works beautifully during transitions between subjects, after high-energy activities, or any time students need to quickly reset their attention.
Instructions:
- Students spread the fingers of one hand.
- With the index finger of the other hand, they trace up the outside of the thumb while inhaling.
- Then trace down the inside of the thumb while exhaling.
- Continue this pattern up and down each finger until all five are traced.
3. Alternate Nostril Breathing
When your students face tasks requiring both analytical thinking and creativity—like writing a persuasive essay or solving an open-ended math problem—Alternate Nostril Breathing can prepare their brains. In a quiet classroom practicing this technique, you’ll observe students sitting tall with relaxed shoulders, their right hands moving rhythmically between nostrils.
The technique, borrowed from yogic traditions, balances the brain’s hemispheres and promotes whole-brain learning. It creates an ideal mental state before creative writing, complex problem-solving, or any learning task that benefits from both logical and imaginative thinking.
Instructions:
- Students place their right thumb against their right nostril, closing it gently.
- Inhale slowly through the left nostril.
- At the top of the inhalation, release the right nostril and use the ring finger to close the left nostril.
- Exhale through the right nostril.
- Inhale through the right nostril.
- Switch again, closing the right nostril and exhaling through the left.
- Continue this pattern for three to five rounds.
Implementing Breathing Practices in Your Classroom
The most common question I hear from educators is: “How do I actually get started with breathing practices when my classroom schedule is already so full?” The good news is that implementation doesn’t require restructuring your day. These practices work best when integrated into existing transition points—the first five minutes of class, moments before a test, or after lunch. Consistency matters more than duration; a daily 60-second practice will yield better results than occasional longer sessions.
Consider these practical tips as you introduce breathing exercises to your students:
- Start small: Begin with a single technique practiced for one or two minutes daily. Build comfort and familiarity before adding more.
- Model the practice: Students learn by watching. Model the breathing exercise yourself: “I’m feeling rushed today, so I’m going to take a moment for an Extended Exhale Breath.”
- Create visual cues: Post simple breath instruction cards as classroom reminders that empower students to initiate practices independently.
- Build routines: Integrate breathing into existing transitions rather than creating separate activities—use Take 5 Breath as students line up or settle into work.
- Explain the “why”: Even young students benefit from understanding how breath affects their brain. Age-appropriate explanations of the science increase buy-in.
The Breath as a Foundation for Academic Excellence
As we navigate the complex challenges of today’s educational landscape, breathing exercises offer a simple yet profound tool for academic success. These techniques create the optimal conditions for learning—reducing stress, enhancing focus, and improving cognitive function.
You don’t need to implement all three techniques at once. Start with the one that resonates most with you and your students. Each breath is an opportunity to reset the nervous system and prepare the mind for learning.
When we teach students to harness the power of their breath, we give them more than an academic tool—we provide them with a lifelong skill for self-regulation and well-being. And perhaps most beautifully, as we guide our students through these practices, we ourselves receive the gift of calm, focus, and renewal too. The classroom becomes a shared space of mindful presence, where both teaching and learning can unfold with greater ease and joy.
Additional research that explores the connection between breath and cognitive functioning:
- “Neuroscience study reveals how breathing shapes brain activity during anxiety”
- “Researchers find a surprising link between breathing and memory”
- “Recent insights into respiratory modulation of brain activity offer new perspectives on cognition and emotion”
Giselle Shardlow, MEd, is the founder of Kids Yoga Stories (home of the popular Breathing Exercise Cards for Kids), which has been supporting educators, therapists, school counselors, yoga teachers, and parents for over thirteen years. She is on a mission to help empower children with the tools and skills to self-regulate, manage emotions, and be the healthiest versions of themselves.
