Are some of our students in a ‘darkened room with the lights off,’ in relation to their emotional and cognitive self-awareness?
“Researchers have found that even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine your success and happiness in all walks of life, including family relationships.” John Gottman Author – Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child
The direction that our students of today are heading is more unknown than at any other time in our educational history. This elephant in the room, this unknown, can be embraced by teachers and students alike as either exciting or scary.
Providing our students with necessary skills to tread their life journey with increased confidence, comfort and care is vital to reduce the rise in anxiety which can be enhanced by having a fear of the future.
Utilising the HeartMath Techniques, backed by over 30 years of research from the Institute of HeartMath, have proven a simple and effective method for estabilising students, whereby they can enhance their awareness, ease and confidence.
HeartMath techniques are utilised globally to improve social skills, educational achievement and levels of happiness. Our ability to create an optimal heart rate variability for emotional, mental and physical wellbeing is the goal of the technique.
Similarly to learning to ride a bike, with a little sincere practice you can take the technique any where in your life, in any part of your day. Many children deliberately access their ordered heart rate for studying, presenting and exam time. It is also beneficial for enhancing communication and dealing with conflict or differences of opinion. People take situations less personally as well when employing this method. I have worked with children who have overcome fears, phobias, the effects of bullying, anxiety and worry once they develop the confidence to utilise the techniques.
There are several research papers which include the benefits of working with the HeartMath techniques for students with ADHD. These papers can be accessed at: www.heartmath.org. A helpful video titled Heart Lock in Practice enables people to entrain their heart rate variability with a little sincere practice. This three-minute video can be found on YouTube by searching for the title.
The technique can also be done for 30 second intervals throughout the day with our eyes open. Some schools encourage the practice of the technique at roll call each morning, after lunch as well as those times when they are lining up to head out to another activity or sport. Students are also able to access technology to practice their ability to create an ordered heart rate variability.
With the elevated need for flexibility, adaptability, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, creativity, excellence, motivation, persistence and managing impulsivity, our students and classrooms will benefit greatly with the integration of the self-regulation techniques. Students’ capability increases, along with self confidence and mindfulness. Life can become more of a place of wonder, awe and amazement, a place where there is the added dimension of 1+1 equals 3, not just as an idea, but as a known experience.
As our children are faced with more decision making and choice in their adolescence they are also going to be more equipped to access their own moral compass and intuition to make important and life changing decisions. Greater care for self, others and our world is often a by-product of utilising these self-management techniques.
In a nutshell, facilitating both your own and your student’s awareness of this ability to deliberately create an optimal heart rate will positively impact vital aspects of life required for our emerging world of rapid change and uncertainty.
Techniques are often integrated after four sessions, provided there is a commitment to continue utilising them in daily life when feeling good or okay, so that they can be easily accessed when feeling under pressure, stressed or anxious. The success of our young people accessing and stabilising this ability would be greatly enhanced if they were encouraged to practice in their classrooms, which can be done whilst reading and doesn’t need to take a lot of time out of their regular schedule. In classrooms that prioritise for students to deliberately create their optimal heart rate, positive benefits are experienced. Students’ ability to commence a task quickens, grades improve and so does social connection.