Teaching Ocean Breathing to Year 4 Students

Y.E.S recently visited Khandallah School in Wellington to meet with their year 4 students and show them how to do Yoga; in particular, how to do a super power breathing technique called “ujjayi breath.” For the kids, we call it ocean breathing.

“You know how when it’s a really cold day and you’re walking to school and you can make a plume of smoke come out of your mouth with a long haaaa sound? Let’s all try that together. Now, here’s the big trick. Who can make that same sound with their mouth closed?”

I was blown away by how quickly the kids found their breath.

We started each session with a cool story about ocean breathing. Like when our friend Patrick taught the German soccer team how to do it.

When Rosalind and I went back over the following weeks we asked the kids if they had done any ocean breathing at home. Several hands shot up. And out came the most wonderful stories.

Stories from the kids

My grandparents have these two dogs that are really big and bark a lot and I get a bit stressed. I knew it was going to be a busy day. Before going over in the weekend I did my ocean breathing and it worked. I was calm.

I did it during a soccer game because I had to take a penalty kick. And I scored!

I did it because I was happy.

I do it after school because school is long and you need to calm down after school. Before I go to my room I just do it for one or two minutes.

I did some before I went to bed and I went to sleep straight away.

My baby brother was crying so I held him and started the ocean breathing and he stopped crying and then he went to sleep.

What I loved the most about these kids is that they received this tool and then experimented with it in their daily life without being prompted by anybody else. When emotions or difficult situations came up they tried some ocean breathing.