Bedford Village Students Choose to Breathe and Bend

“We’re going to breathe, bend and relax. We’re going to be strong and powerful in our bodies,” school psychologist Jena Blechman said to a group of Bedford Village Elementary School students. The students had chosen to spend their recess at the Breathe and Bend Club, a new mindful movement program designed to help students develop tools for emotional regulation, body awareness, mindfulness, and connection—all while having fun and relaxing.

Blechman started the program because she wanted more students to feel comfortable with her while at the same time providing schoolwide social-emotional support. With a $2000 grant from the Foundation for Bedford Central Schools and some schedule adjustments, she was able to do it. Each grade has the opportunity to take part in the club every Monday.

The grant covered training, yoga mats and speaker. Add an oil diffuser (“Ohhh, it smells so good,” one student remarked) and a darkened room and students’ excitement was palpable—kindergartners even gasped with excitement when she turned the lights off.

The sessions begin with Blechman setting expectations as students settle in. She explained her three rules for the class: respect yourself (do what feels good for your body), respect the space (stay on your yoga mat and don’t touch other items in the room) and respect everyone else (it’s ok to not like a position, but be mindful of everyone else trying to relax and breathe).

Once everyone was on the same page, Blechman guided them through a breathing exercise. During this session, they practiced elevator breathing. Students watched Blechman intently as she walked them through raising their shoulders up to their ears with their inhales and relaxing their bodies with their exhales.

After their breathwork, Blechman led students through a stretch and a yoga flow on the mat. They started with a cat-cow—meowing and mooing if they wanted to—and moved into child’s pose and cobra—where they happily hissed.

“I call this a seal stretch!” a student called out.

Once they had moved through those positions, it was time for a tricky one.

“Eagles are strong, big, beautiful birds,” Blechman said. “They’re powerful. We’re going to try to be powerful like them.”

She talked students through twisting their bodies and curling up like they were in a nest, before releasing and twirling their arms like ribbons as they came back to standing.

To close the session out, students laid on their mats while Blechman guided them through a visualization practice before breathing together and ending with exhaling and saying “om” for as long as they could.

Students left the session happy and relaxed, smelling the diffuser and grabbing yoga coloring pages.

“Why didn’t we do happy baby today?” one student asked. Blechman explained that they try new things during the sessions but that they can always practice poses on their own as well.

“I hope you enjoyed today’s session and it made you feel powerful in your body,” Blechman said to students as they filed out.