Background: Teens receive hundreds of sensory inputs per hour from all directions. Learning to focus on a single thing can be quite challenging. Focusing on a clear bell tone or a calming word such as "peace" or "breathe" can help teens relax, filter out the noise, and focus on the signal.
Today in Class: Students sat upright with feet flat on the floor and closed their eyes. I rang a bell, and they listened intently to the sound while breathing deeply. Once they could no longer hear the sound, they raised their hands and opened their eyes. Then we discussed how they felt.
Self-Reflection: What simple sound could you focus on while doing belly breathing to calm yourself? What word could you speak to yourself to filter out the noise and focus on what is essential?
At-Home Support
Discuss this focusing technique with your teen:
- Your teacher said that you did a focusing activity in class today. What happened? (The teacher rang a bell and everyone listened intently to the sound while breathing deeply.)
- That sounds cool. Could you lead me through it?
- What could we use for a bell sound? Or is there a word we could focus on? All right, so what do I do? (Let your teen teach you the process.)
- I feel __________________ ? How do you feel?
- I think I will try this technique when ___________________ . It's good to have lots of options for calming and focusing.
Student Reflection
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