St. John the Baptist Parish Public School counselors recently focused on ways to help students cope with stress and anxiety in advance of spring testing.

John L. Ory Communication Arts Magnet School students discussed what stress is and talked about what they are stressing about.

Students shared techniques they use to deal with stress, and counselor Amanda Bourgeois introduced them to deep breathing.

“We practiced three different visuals to help with deep breathing,” she said. “For example, smell the flower then blow out the candle or imagine there is a cloud in front of your face and you breathe in the cloud through your nose and blow it out of your mouth.

“After they mastered deep breathing, we moved on to guided imagery. With their eyes closed, I read ‘The Big White House’ which gives detailed images to pick up on different senses. After we were finished, we talked about using these strategies any time they felt stressed, including during testing.”

East St. John Elementary School counselor Jennifer Russell offered the following techniques for children to reduce their stress and relax:

Deep Breathing

Deep breathing is an effective way of slowing down the body’s natural response to stress. It slows down the heart rate, lowers blood pressure and provides a feeling of being in control. To do this, simply breathe in deeply. Hold the breath for a moment. Release it slowly. Repeat the deep breathing until you feel relaxed.

Exercise

Visualization

Ask your child to imagine a favorite color that makes her feel peaceful and safe. Have her imagine taking in that color with each breath and sending it throughout her entire body as she exhales. Have her continue until she visualizes being filled with her special, relaxing color.

Laugh

Stretch

Listen to Music

Meditate

While your child sits on her bed at home, or at her desk before class begins, she should place her hands in her lap and close her eyes.

The next step is to breathe in and out slowly and evenly. Each breathe in and each breathe out counts as a single count, and she should practice this even breathing for a count of at least 50.

As she settles into the meditation, she should focus on listening to her breathing. As she does, she’ll begin to feel more calm and focused. When she finishes her count of 50, she should take a very deep breathe, let it out slowly, and then open her eyes.

Cuddle

Encourage your child to cuddle with a pet or a hug a loved one. The interaction can lower blood pressure and decrease stress hormones.

Toe Tensing

Lie on your back and allow yourself to sense your toes. Use your toe muscles to pull all ten toes back in the direction of your face and hold to the count of 10. Relax your toes and hold to the count of 10.