Stress management Classroom Guidance Lesson:

Stress management Classroom Guidance Lesson:
State standard addressed: Self-awareness
Why do we get stressed
When our expectations aren’t met: when we expect:
• To get everything done
• Everyone should like us
• Everything should be fair
Why aren’t they met
Because we live and interact in a world that is full of diverse expectations, most of them
are not the same as ours. We only know our expectations. We don’t know about all of
the other possibilities.
What to do when we get stressed:
Put it in perspective-is someone hurting
Positive self-talk
Breathing
Parasympathetic response system explanation fake out your brain by breathing in through
your nose, your brain will calm down.
Signs and symptoms of anxiety/stress/anger: increased pulse, hot feeling, tears, nerves,
stomach tightening, increased pulse and breathing rate, sweating, inability to focus.
10 things people can do to handle anxiety/anger/stress:
1. Acknowledge that there might be a problem.
2. Talk about it with an adult you trust
3. Practice the art of calming your voice
4. Stop and think before you act.
5. Try to imagine how the other person feels.
6. Work to change negative habits into positive ones.
7. Find ways to calm and soothe yourself when you’re feeling angry or frustrated.
a. Peaceful music
b. Exercise
c. Relaxation exercise; PMR or guided mental imagery (demonstrate)
d. Be willing to find an answer together
e. Be willing to compromise
f. Choose people to act as mediators/referees
g. Identify adults you trust /respect
h. Agree to disagree
i. Learn from experience.
j. Write in a journal
8. Take care of your body- too much sugar, caffeine, not enough sleep- grouch
9. Have faith and hope: don’t focus on the negative; adopt a positive attitude toward
life, faith has helped lots of people find peace. Put your weapons down and quit
looking for and expecting the drama.

10. The power of positive self talk- demonstration (Power T)
Relaxation activity:
Progressive Muscle Relaxation: PMR
While laying on your back in a quiet, dark room :Take 4, 4- second slow deep breaths
inhaling with your nose, exhaling with your mouth.
Now, breathing in for 4 seconds, tighten your toes so that they scrunch into your shoes.
Exhale out for 4 seconds and relax your toes,
Next, Breathing in for 4 seconds, tighten your calf muscles so that your heals come off of
the floor, Exhale out for 4 seconds and relax your calves, pay attention that your toes are
still relaxed.
Next: Breathing in for 4 seconds, tighten your thigh muscles so that your knees
are even tightened, Exhale out for 4 seconds and relax the thigh…calves…toes…
Repeat the breathing and progress up the trunk of the body, from thighs to hips to
stomach to chest, to arms, to hands, to neck, to chin, to lips to nose, to forehead,
Remember to breath in for 4 seconds while tightening and breath out while relaxing.
Guided mental imagery: (focus on letting go of each “issue” or “stress”)
Insert your script:
Use your favorite place
Remember key points are:
• Including all 5 senses in description
• Making the (issue) be able to move out of the scene
i.e. clouds that float in from the right and blow out to the left past horizon
or waves that spill onto the sand and then retract into the water and taken
away.
• Keeping voice calm throughout, reminding them of their 4 second
breathing
1. Let them do this on their own, inserting once in a while softly,
breath in for 4 name your issue and watch the…..go away, don’t
try to stop it, fix it, dwell on it………just let it go.
Centering Meditation: (focus is on the positives, blessings)
Have them clear a room inside themselves- keep things simple- chair, table, light- have
them describe to themselves what each looks like,
Breath in for 4- name a positive- blow out and watch light grow, notice that the
room gets warmer.
Give soft suggestions of positives: family members, grandparents, sports, friends,
Pets, the ability to: walk, see, listen, smell flowers, swim etc.
Have them continue, reminding them softly and occasionally to “breath in for 4,
name a positive, release your breat