Responses and Testimonials
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Fueling my research over all these years, has been my quest to find a simple and practical way for people of all ages to be smarter, healthier and happier … I have found ‘Solar Plexus to be the single most important, most empowering, most practical, most profound, and life-changing thing I have discovered! I have seen immediate changes in learning ability, relief from anxiety, a more positive outlook, deactivation of the body’s stress response, enhanced creativity, solutions to problems, a feeling of peace, relaxation, focus, joy… all of this and more… And often after just a few minutes of Taking A Breather. Once you learn about Take A Breather you have this amazing tool for the rest of your life. You can’t get anything much more simple and practical than breathing! Janine Fletcher The following responses and testimonials of the students, teachers and members of the community support what science is telling us about the benefits of deep abdominal breathing and neuro plasticity. The responses correlate to the 3 different components of the Take A Breather Program. 1. Learning the Solar Plexus Breathing technique 2. Using Solar Plexus Breathing to target specific areas of the brain 3. Deficit Restore Process 1. Learning the Solar Plexus Breathing technique From the students … (Within the first 2 weeks) Junior Learning Community It makes me feel calm, relaxed and peaceful. It makes me feel joyful. It makes me concentrate better. It makes me feel confident. It makes me feel happy because it feels like I’m on the couch at home. Middle Learning Community When you come in from snack all hot and sweaty, you can relax your mind and get ready for work. Everyone is quieter and working harder in class. It’s great to relax after time outside. It works best with straight backs and eyes closed. Senior Learning Community The breathing helps me in a couple of ways; 1. It gets me ready for the day and for the next subject. 2. It helps me get rid of any worries and settles me into the day. The breathing helps me concentrate when I’m doing my work. It helps if I close my eyes because I’m only focusing on my breathing. It feels nice to know that everyone in the school is doing what I’m doing. It helps me not get distracted. From the staff … What a luxury to stop in a moment where every worry can wait, every pressure is released, every question unanswered, and the blank page in your mind is the focus of your attention…a moment of peace and grace. It’s great to set time aside just to stop in our busy lives! Such a small amount of time in our day to stop and breathe can make such a difference to our day. Allows me to mentally and physically slow down. Time spent ‘Taking a Breather’, is made up two-fold in time ‘on task’. For myself, I feel calmer – able to begin the next learning session with greater clarity. For the students – without doubt they are more settled, able to focus and listen, and they respond with more willingness. I believe it has created a more respectful classroom environment; there seems to be a sense of unity. Assists me to stop, breathe, and not think. For those two minutes I find I am also really recharged as I have used this time to re-oxygenate my body. It allows the children to stop, breathe, and re-focus. Universal throughout the school…the quietness is beautiful to hear! Within the first week of the ‘Take a Breather’ time, there were soft sounds of slow breathing and the faces of the students gave the look of a clear, peaceful mind. Their muscles were relaxed, with their shoulders dropping into a calm state, and the students carried themselves more calmly through their day. When a student starts to/or is shown how to do it properly – it is amazing how well they can relax and do it from then on…. I’m even starting to do it at home. The general consensus The following list summarizes the responses of nearly 500 students after they were taught the ‘Solar Plexus Breathing’ technique;- It makes me feel calm, relaxed. comfortable It’s refreshing It makes me feel happy inside It makes me feel more alive I feel less stressed It makes my worries go away Helps me settle down and concentrate I feel ready to learn Helps me not be angry I feel like nothing in the world can hurt me A moment to myself; in my own world It gives my brain a rest It makes me feel gentle, peaceful ,silent, softer It helps my breathing (asthmatic) Gives me time to think/not so ‘full- on’/sorts all the stuff inside my head It lets a heavy weight off my shoulders There’s no pressure It feels like I’m having a massage It makes me feel smarter It makes me feel confident/stronger Two months on… From the parents … …he is LOVING the deep belly breathing, talks about it all the time and I am encouraging him to practice this when he is feeling frustration or any type of negative emotion. My son uses ‘Take a Breather’ at home. If he is in a stressful situation and gets himself upset, he uses ‘Take a Breather’ to help calm down. He also uses it if he has trouble sleeping as focusing on his breathing clears his mind of all the other things going through it. We love ‘Take a Breather’ and three of our family members use it. Works for adults too… With running children here and there, there are many days when I seem to be rushing from one place to another. Being caught in traffic can be quite stressful, well, it used to be. But since using the ‘Take a Breather’ technique I almost welcome this time to calm myself, stop, reassess and cruise along. My ‘car time’ is no longer manic, it’s ‘Take a Breather’ time. A time that fits beautifully with my busy schedule. Thank you Janine ‘Take a Breather’ … and that’s what you do. In between making school lunches, going to work, preparing dinner, doing the washing, cleaning the car (sorry I lie – I don’t have time), picking up kids, taking them to basketball, picking up the kids and their friends and driving them home, housework, date-night… and life goes on. It seems to be getting busier and busier and to ‘Take a Breather’ stops the mayhem momentarily, Ah … Peace… 2. Using Solar Plexus Breathing to target specific areas of the brain A few examples:- A student in year 3, struggling to read; - making mistakes, no fluency, no comprehension was able to identify that there was restriction in his Solar Plexus region …. After ‘Taking A Breather’ for about 5 minutes … was able to read fluently and comprehend what he was reading. A year 4 student, when reading to a teacher was initially reading quite well, then became ‘stressed’ when she came to a word she didn’t know, was able to identify that that her ‘solar plexus’ felt like it was closing. After ‘Taking a Breather’ until she felt calm and relaxed again (solar plexus felt open), was able to identify the unknown word and continue reading confidently. A student, when asked to begin a piece of writing, said she didn’t want to and couldn’t think of anything to write. After being allowed to ‘Take A Breather’ for a minute or two she was able to think of something to write about and was happy and enthusiastic to get on with the task. A year 5 boy struggling to find a topic for a piece of writing and not happy with any suggestions from the teacher found after ‘Taking A Breather’, an idea just “popped into my head.” After doing ‘Take A Breather’ for 5 minutes and asked to share how she felt, replied…”I feel happy for no reason”, Another child shared that before ‘Taking A Breather’ she had lots of worries going around in her head and now they are all gone. Another child commented that she felt like she could do anything. A tertiary student experiencing anxiety about making a presentation found after doing a few minutes of Solar Plexus Breathing he was able to be much more relaxed and perform better Adult male suffering from anxiety found Solar Plexus Breathing to be very beneficial in helping relieve some of the symptoms of anxiety and helped him to sleep. An 11 year old boy with great athletic ability but struggling with most academic areas which was impacting his confidence and making him anxious. Once he understood what was happening in his brain and body, was taught Solar Plexus Breathing and how he could use it to get into a receptive learning state, he felt empowered and was keen to practise and learn – he also noticed an immediate improvement in his reading and his ability to remember his multiplication tables. Two young girls having issues – one presenting as ‘a bully’, the other as a ‘victim’. Both girls were instructed to go to separate spaces and ‘Take A Breather’. After about 5 minutes, the ‘bully’ realised that sometimes she can be ‘mean’ and she didn’t want to be like that any more. The ‘victim’ was able to come to the conclusion that she was too sensitive and she didn’t need to take any notice if someone was being mean to her. A year 5 boy, struggling to complete any work despite a great amount of effort and frustration. When asked to explain what was happening said that whenever he went to write some information he was copying, he would forget what he wanted to write and would have to keep going back and forth with very little recall. After Taking a Breathier and a few more attempts this task became quick and easy for him. In a senior class during the NAPLAN writing component, 7 students reported that when they ‘got stuck’ or couldn’t think of what to write, they ‘took a breather’ and within 30 seconds to a minute, they thought of what to write and were able to continue. From seminar participants… …I would recommend this seminar to anyone who wants to breathe a positive change into their lives. Through some straight forward steps one is reminded just how easy it is to be the best you can be – it’s just a choice you can make. (Sue) …It allows you to experience the ‘wow (words of wisdom) factor’ from within. (Mark) …Within a matter of minutes I went from being highly stressed to very calm and peaceful. This allowed me to put my ‘issues’ into perspective and react in a positive way. The most empowering and reassuring aspect of this is that as Janine guided me through the process, I was able to maintain my privacy and make these changes within myself. Very quick, very easy, very powerful. (Rosemary) 3. Deficit Restore Process ” ... in the six weeks my child has been working with Janine she has been able to learn more, retain more and had the confidence to do more, than she has in nearly 5 years at school. Previously, no matter how often we practised she struggled to remember anything that was taught”. (A testimonial made by the mother of the first child to be involved in trialing the Deficit Restore Process- Math being the deficit area focused on). After just two sessions another mother reported her daughter’s reading had improved significantly. She was reading much more fluently and understanding what she was reading. There had also been a significant improvement in her daughter’s ability to be organized and to complete assigned tasks. Even though only in year 1, she had also become very good at self-regulating and recognizing when she needed to ‘Take A Breather’. SHH Take A Breather... Making You |
whenever you choose to use it!