Curriculum

The Mindful Student for 9-12 Teacher Support

Before you get started

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Self Awareness

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Self Management

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Responsible Decision Making

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Relationship Skills

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What is social awareness?

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Kids Yoga

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Text lesson

What to do When I have Strong Feelings.

Weekly Guide for Teachers

Learning Outcomes

In this lesson students will build on last weeks content and dive deeper into emotions that are often labeled as “bad” or are simply difficult to manage. Students will learn the benefits of difficult emotions and normalize different feelings. Students will continue to apply polyvagal practices to regulate the nervous system with breath work and provide more tools for self regulation.

Students will learn how strong feelings help us by motivating us to take action, helping us communicate that we need help, and help us to know ourselves and regulate our behavior.

Students will discuss why it is hard to manage feelings.

Students will learn another nervous system regulation tool, easy breath.

In Class Lesson

Prep – Provide writing or recording tools

Suggested Weekly Plan

Day 1

5 min Review 3000 words for feelings and have students generate a list as a whole group of “difficult emotions”.

10min

Hand out or guide students to online version of “How Strong Emotions Help Us” Students will discuss the content answering the questions in small group

Is there a time when you felt a strong emotion and it was helpful?
Is there a time when you felt a strong emotion and it wasn’t helpful?
How did these emotions show up in your body? What did the feel like?
Did you use any of the mindfulness tools you know about? If not which one would you use today if in the same situation?

5 min A representative from each group will share a summary of the groups discussion if students worked in small groups.

Option to start and/or wrap with the Bee Breath video or assign it to students for at home reminding them to take 5 minutes every day to practice the weekly regulation technique

Extension Have students share individually, have students write down answers to reflection questions, provide an opportunity to meditate and write about the place in the body the emotions show up

Day 2

Independent

What Makes it Hard to Regulate Emotions?

Students will fill in the worksheet on their own in class or for homework.

Day 3

Optional at home activity

Common Myths About Feelings

Have students review common myths about emotions with someone in their home and then as a family add 3 myths they hold about strong feelings to the list.

Day 4

Group Work

Identifying Feelings in the Body

Complete 3 minute body scan meditation.
Students work in groups to teach Bee Breath to one another.
Complete body scan again and reflect on changes in the body after breath-work

Day 5

Independent

Complete reflection questions. Review any content as a group.

Student Content- When I have strong feelings

Strong Emotions are Here to Help

You may have been told to not be so angry. Or perhaps to smile more. Maybe that you should get over it. Or maybe you’ve been told you should relax and be calm… all the time.

A lot of times people want to tell folks how to feel and how to be… all the time. Sometimes this is good! It helps us to learn how to behave when they are with other people.

But sometimes it isn’t good. Sometimes it teaches us that some emotions are not OK. That some feelings should be ignored and pushed away.

You’ve been learning about the nervous system. When we have strong emotions, they show up by regulating and dysregulating our nervous system. The body does such a good job of telling us what we need and how to stay safe.

Strong emotions are not bad, strong emotions are one of the ways our nervous system does this job for us. What is most important is what you do with the strong emotion after you notice that it is there.

What to expect

This week we will continue to work on identifying emotions we are feeling by:

1. Naming the emotion and learning more about why it is hard to have strong feelings.

2. Recognizing where the emotion shows up in the body. Example, anger shows up as heat in our face. Nervousness shows up as butterflies in our stomach.

3. We will talk about myths about strong emotions. Myths we all have and myths that may be specific to you or your family.

4. We will learn more about how strong feelings help us.

5. We will learn easy breath.

How Strong Feelings Help Us (Handout)

Motivate Us for Action

Emotions motivate our behavior. Emotions prepare us for action. The action urge of specific emotions is often “hard-wired” in biology

Remember our nervous system is doing its job when our body responds to feelings. Emotions create feelings in our body and also motivate us to behave a certain way.

Emotions save time in getting us to act in important situations. Emotions can be especially important when we don’t have time to think things through

Our survival brain and nervous system drive the emotional response. When we feel threatened or unsafe emotions can motivate us to move quickly to safety.

Strong emotions help us overcome obstacles—in our minds and in the environment.

When our response system kicks in we take action. Life is full of challenges and obstacles. Think of that rush of adrenaline you get before a show or a sporting event. This is our nervous system helping us prepare.

Help Us Communicate With Others

Facial expressions are hard-wired aspects of emotions.

Facial expressions communicate faster than words. For example:

you are sad, you frown or cry ,people in your life notice and may intervene to support you.

When it is important to communicate to others, or send them a message, it can be very hard to change our emotions.
Whether we intend it or not, our communication of emotions influences others.

Emotions Help Us Communicate With Ourselves

Emotional reactions can give us important information about a situation. Emotions can be signals or alarms that something is happening. Gut feelings can be like intuition—a response to something important about the situation. This can be helpful if our emotions get us to check out the facts. Caution: Sometimes we treat emotions as if they are facts about the world:
“If I feel unsure, I am incompetent,”
“If I’m afraid, there must be danger,”
“I love him, so he must be OK.”) If we assume that our emotions represent facts about the world, we may use them to justify our thoughts or our actions. Noticing our emotions and using our Wise Mind to engage with them is important.