Lesson video

Hello, my name is Miss Willow, and I'm going to be your teacher for today's lesson.

Today's lesson is called "Calming and Relaxation Techniques" and it fits into the unit, Mental Health: How can I support my mental health? I'm really looking forward to teaching you today's lesson, so let's make a start.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to evaluate different calming and relaxation techniques to know which will work for you.

Before we get started, we need to go over some ground rules that help to make sure that everyone feels safe and comfortable during today's lesson.

First of all, Laura says that we need to listen to others.

It's okay to disagree with each other, but we should listen properly before making any assumptions or before we decide how to respond.

When we disagree with someone else, we should challenge the statement and not the person.

Andeep says, "We need to respect each other's privacy.

We can discuss examples, but we shouldn't use any names or descriptions that could identify anyone, including ourselves." If we want to share a story or an experience, we could refer to someone as my friend.

This means that we're not going to give away any identifying information.

Next, Izzy says that we can choose our level of participation.

Everyone has the right to choose not to answer a question or to join in with discussion.

We should never put anyone on the spot as this can make some people feel uncomfortable.

And finally, Jacob says, "We need to not have any judgement.

We can explore beliefs and misunderstandings about a topic without fear of being judged." We're now going to have a look at our keywords for today's lesson.

Stressed, this means feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or pressured when facing difficult or challenging situations.

Next, we have the word "calming".

This means to reduce feelings of anxiety or worry.

Next, we have relaxation.

This is an activity that helps someone feel calm.

Today's lesson is split into two learning cycles.

Our first learning cycle is called "How does our body feel when it's stressed?" And our second learning cycle is called "How to calming and relaxation techniques help?" Let's make a start on our first learning cycle.

How does our body feel when it's stressed? Most of us will get stressed about things at some point in our lives.

Andeep says, "My dad was stressed last week because he had a job interview." And Izzy says, "I was stressed last night because I couldn't find my PE kit!" Stress is often caused by underlying feelings.

Dr.

Elsie says that Andeep's dad may have been stressed because he was anxious about a job interview.

On the other hand, Izzy may have been stressed because she was frustrated for losing her PE kit.

Sam says, "I get stressed in certain social situations like meeting someone new." Alex says, "I get stressed when I make a mistake in my schoolwork." Maybe you want to have a think about the kinds of things that make you feel stressed, too.

Dr.

Elsie says, "Sam might get stressed in social situations because she gets overwhelmed meeting new people.

Alex May feel stressed when he makes mistakes because he feels embarrassed." Different people get stressed about different things.

Dr.

Elsie says that everyone's capacity for stress varies: something that stresses one person might not affect another.

Some people will say that they even thrive on a little stress that they're able to manage.

This means that they function really well.

Andeep says that being a little stressed made my dad perform well under pressure in the interview, and because of this, he got the job.

Izzy says, "Although I get a bit stressed before basketball matches, I find that this helps me to play my best!" Stress can have a positive impact on our body and behaviour, too.

Let's do a check for understanding to see how you're doing.

Is the statement true or false? Some people thrive on a little stress that they can manage as they feel it helps them to perform better.

Do you think this is true or false? Pause the video, talk to the people around you, or have a think to yourself.

Well done if you say that this is true.

It is true that some people thrive or do really well on a little stress that they can manage as they feel it helps them to perform better.

Well done if you said the same thing.

Stress is a protective mechanism which aids our body in survival.

Dr.

Elsie tells us that we release the hormone adrenaline when we're stressed, and we go into what we call 'fight or flight' mode.

This is to ensure that our body can respond quickly if it's under threat.

However, getting stressed too often or for a prolonged period of time can have a negative effect on our wellbeing.

Dr.

Elsie says that stress can have an impact on our emotional health, physical health, and our behaviour, too.

Stressed emotional health.

Dr.

Elsie says that when we are stressed, we might notice that we get easily annoyed, frustrated, or tearful.

This means that we are more likely to cry.

We may also feel anxious, indecisive, which means we can't make a decision, and we might feel overwhelmed by everything around us.

Stressed physical health.

Dr.

Elsie says that our body can show signs of being stressed, too.

We might get an upset stomach, headaches, and tension in our muscles, which means that they can feel quite tight and tense.

Some people might find that they come out in a rash, because they are stressed or they might find that they have trouble sleeping, so they might take a while to get to sleep at night, and they might find that they wake up several times in the night, too.

Stressed behaviour.

Dr.

Elsie says that often, our behaviour changes when we're stressed.

We might lose motivation to look after ourselves, for example, to exercise or to eat healthy foods, and we might avoid seeing people, or we could start nervous habits like biting our nails.

For this check for understanding, I'd like you to match the examples to the correct area that it's impacting.

So our examples are emotional, physical, and behaviour.

And our scenarios are our body feeling tense and coming out in itchy spots, picking the skin around our nails and being withdrawn, and being quick to lose temper and crying easily.

Can you match the examples to the correct area that it's impacting? Emotional, physical, or behaviour? Pause the video, talk to the people around you, or have a think to yourself.

Okay, let's go through and match the examples with a correct answer.

So for the first one, emotional, you should have matched this with quick to lose temper and crying easily.

For physical, you might have said your body feeling tense and coming out in itchy spots.

And finally, behaviour should be matched with picking the skin around our nails and being withdrawn.

Well done if you match these correctly.

For this practise task, I'd like you to read the scenario below and answer the questions.

You've worked really hard so far, so well done.

Here's our scenario.

None of my friends or family get stressed about stuff, I feel like I'm the only one.

It's okay though, stress doesn't really affect my body.

I've had an upset stomach lately, but it's probably just something I ate.

I've also felt a little bit irritable for a while, but that's likely because we're in the middle of moving house.

And here's our questions.

Number one, I'd like you to highlight and correct any misconceptions that this person has said.

And number two, I'd like you to decide do you think this person is showing signs of stress? Why? Pause the video, and we'll go through some potential answers in a few minutes.

Okay, let's see what you might have said.

Your correction of the misconceptions might include that none of my family or family gets stressed about stuff, I feel like I'm the only one.

This is a misconception, and you might have said that most of us will get stressed about things at some point in our lives.

Different people get stressed about different things, and they may not always show it in the same way.

For the misconception, "It's okay though, stress doesn't really affect my body." You might have said that actually, getting stressed too often or for a prolonged period of time can have an impact on our emotional and physical health, and our behaviour, too.

You also might have said that this person is showing signs of stress.

They have physical symptoms, an upset stomach, and emotional symptoms, too, like feeling irritable.

Moving house is a big change, which is likely to cause stress.

Well done if you said this or something similar.

We're now moving on to our second learning cycle where we're gonna learn all about calming and relaxation techniques.

How do calming and relaxation techniques help? When we feel stressed, we can use a variety of calming and relaxation techniques to help.

Dr.

Elsie says that by using these techniques, we counteract our body's fight or flight response.

Calming and relaxation strategies can help to bring our heart rate down, and it can reduce the physical signs of stress.

First of all, we're going to have a look at our calming breathing exercise, "finger breathing".

For this exercise, you breathe in and out as you trace the fingers of one hand using the index finger of the other, so you would breathe in as you go up, and breathe out as you go down.

And you would do this for all of the fingers on your hand.

You might want to give it a go now.

Brilliant.

Well done if you breathed in as you went up and breathed out as you went down.

Good job.

Box breathing is another calming breathing exercise.

For this, we can imagine a box.

We can breathe in for four seconds.

Hold for four seconds.

Breathe out for four seconds.

And hold for four seconds.

By doing this, we're helping to calm our body down and our breathing, too.

Another calming breathing exercise is called "Bumblebee breathing".

For this, you need to find a quiet space without any distractions and you should close your eyes.

You need to place your fingers in your ears.

Take a deep breath through your nose, and as you breathe out, hum like a bumblebee.

Repeating this five or six times will help your body to calm down, and will help to slow your breathing down, too.

For this check for understanding, I'd like you to name the calming breathing exercises below.

Have a look at the pictures for A, B, and C.

Can you remember each name for the calming breathing exercise? Pause the video, talk to the people around you, or have a think to yourself.

Well done if you said that for A, you should have box breathing, B is bumblebee breathing, and C was finger breathing.

Well done if you got this correct.

Now, we're going to talk a little bit about visualisation.

Dr.

Elsie says that visualisation is a little bit like daydreaming.

It's using our imagination to picture a place of relaxation where it's peaceful and calm, somewhere that we can escape to when we need a break from our busy lives.

For example, imagine that you're at the beach on a summer's day, feel your toes sinking into the warm sand, hear the gentle waves lapping the shore.

You might even be able to taste the saltiness of the ocean spray.

You can feel the warmth of the sun on your face.

Now, you're going to let go of any tension in your body, and you're going to slow your breathing to the rhythm of the waves that you are visualising.

Once you feel relaxed, you can leave the beach in your mind or wherever your calm space is, but you know that you can return if you need to.

There's also grounding techniques which can help us to feel calm and relaxed, too.

Dr.

Elsie says that sometimes, our emotions and our feelings can become overwhelming.

If we feel anxious or panicked, we can use grounding techniques to shift our focus away from those tricky emotions.

Dr.

Elsie says that we can use the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique to engage our senses and to reset.

You can look around for five things that you can see, four things that you can feel, three things that you can hear, two things that you can smell, and one thing that you can taste.

Maybe you want to practise this grounding technique now where you are.

Dr.

Elsie says that some people also find the rainbow technique helpful to refocus their thoughts.

Try to find one thing for each colour of the rainbow.

Think about the shade, the texture, and the feel of these objects to help ground you in the present moment.

Dr.

Elsie says that many people also find that it's helpful to listen to music when they're feeling stressed.

This could be an uplifting track or something soothing for relaxation.

As you listen to the music, tap your foot along to the rhythm of the song.

This will help to ground you, too.

Let's do another check for understanding.

This time, I'd like you to change the necessary words at each sentence below to make the statements correct.

Our first statement is visualising is using our imagination to picture a place of relaxation that is stressful and chaotic.

If we feel anxious or panicked, we can use grounding techniques to shift our focus towards those tricky emotions.

Can you change the necessary words so that each of these statements are correct? Pause the video, talk to the people around you, or have a think to yourself.

Okay, let's see what you might have said.

Your statements should now say, "Visualisation is using our imagination to picture a place of relaxation that's peaceful and calm." "If we feel anxious or panicked, we can use grounding techniques to shift our focus away from those tricky emotions." Well done if you change the words, and now you have peaceful, calm, and away from in your correct statements.

We're now going to move on to your final practise task.

And well done for your hard work so far.

I'd like you to spend some time practising a range of calming and relaxation techniques, and I'd like you to evaluate them by scoring them out of five in the table below.

So you are going to have a go at trying a breathing exercise, visualisation, and a grounding technique, and I'd like you to rate them up to five in terms of how relaxing and helpful you find them.

Pause the video and come back when you're ready.

Okay, let's see what you might have said.

There were lots of different potential answers for this one, so we're just going to have a look at some examples.

For the breathing exercise, finger breathing, you might have said that this is number five.

This is really easy to do anywhere, and it's very quick to distract from thoughts.

For visualisation, you might have visualised a mountain top, but you might have said that this is tricky to do in a noisy classroom, and you might have said that you don't find it very helpful for you personally.

For the grounding technique, the rainbow method.

You might have said that this is really easy to do anywhere, and you might have said that it's rated quite highly in terms of how effective it is.

You might have said that it's fairly quick to distract you from your thoughts.

Everyone's answers might have looked a little bit different to this, so don't worry if yours doesn't look exactly like mine.

We're now going to summarise the key learning from today's lesson.

In today's lesson, we've learned that most of us will get stressed about things at some point in our lives.

Although, getting stressed too often or for a prolonged period of time can have a negative effect on our wellbeing, some people thrive on a little stress as it can help them to perform better.

Feeling stressed can impact our emotional health, our physical health, and our behaviour.

Breathing exercises, visualisation, and other grounding techniques, and grounding techniques can be calming and provide a sense of relaxation, reducing the physical signs of stress.

In today's lesson, you might have found you've got some worries or some questions, and if you do, it's really important that you share them with a trusted adult.

There's also some resources on the screen that are there to help you, too.

Well done for your hard work today.

I hope to see you in another lesson soon.