Brain Focused Strategies for Learning and Living
By Learning how their brains respond to stress and by practicing strategies for quieting their minds, children become better at self regulating, increase their capacity for adsorbing information, and improve their relationship skills.
Our amygdala (or our lizard brain or guard dog) has an important job in protecting us from threats. It is always looking out for our safety and our immediate happiness. When information comes into our brain and is interpreted as a threat, we respond immediately--this is our Fight, Flight or Freeze response system. Our Amygdala keeps us safe. However, our Amygdala isn’t so good at figuring out if something is truly a threat. Stress, worry, frustration or anger can cause our Amygdala to work overtime and instinctively cause us to react to situations without using our rational or thinking centers of the brain. When we teach kids to notice when their Amygdala is activated we can then teach them how to calm their amygdala so that they are better able to access another part of the brain which helps them manage their emotions and solve problems more skillfully.
When our body and brain are calm, we are better able to access our Prefrontal Cortex (PFC). When our emotions and experiences are viewed through the lens of the PFC we can respond versus react to them more mindfully; that’s why we call our PFC our Wise Leader or Wise Owl. The Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) is our learning, reasoning and thinking center of the brain—it is the part of the brain that can see the big picture. It helps us control our impulses, focus our attention, and also helps regulate emotions. When Prefrontal Cortex is working and the Lizard Brain (Amygdala) is calm we are better able to solve problems and manage feelings more mindfully.
Teaching kids’ to calm down by using breath work, counting or using reflective time is the key! Empowering kids to learning calming techniques to control their watch dog (amygdala) is one of the most powerful tools for self-regulation and emotional resiliency.
Our amygdala (or our lizard brain or guard dog) has an important job in protecting us from threats. It is always looking out for our safety and our immediate happiness. When information comes into our brain and is interpreted as a threat, we respond immediately--this is our Fight, Flight or Freeze response system. Our Amygdala keeps us safe. However, our Amygdala isn’t so good at figuring out if something is truly a threat. Stress, worry, frustration or anger can cause our Amygdala to work overtime and instinctively cause us to react to situations without using our rational or thinking centers of the brain. When we teach kids to notice when their Amygdala is activated we can then teach them how to calm their amygdala so that they are better able to access another part of the brain which helps them manage their emotions and solve problems more skillfully.
When our body and brain are calm, we are better able to access our Prefrontal Cortex (PFC). When our emotions and experiences are viewed through the lens of the PFC we can respond versus react to them more mindfully; that’s why we call our PFC our Wise Leader or Wise Owl. The Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) is our learning, reasoning and thinking center of the brain—it is the part of the brain that can see the big picture. It helps us control our impulses, focus our attention, and also helps regulate emotions. When Prefrontal Cortex is working and the Lizard Brain (Amygdala) is calm we are better able to solve problems and manage feelings more mindfully.
Teaching kids’ to calm down by using breath work, counting or using reflective time is the key! Empowering kids to learning calming techniques to control their watch dog (amygdala) is one of the most powerful tools for self-regulation and emotional resiliency.
|
|
|
Brain Focus Videos (Click the Button Below the Video)
Students can watch these videos to learn about how their brains function and learn about their thoughts.
|
|
