Dear Colleagues,
The end of the school year is full of excitement and enthusiasm, but for some it might be stressful and include nervous energy. I know that day-to-day pressures and difficulties can be challenging and overwhelming, especially for young people. As part of our continuing effort to focus on the wellness of our students, I want the NYC Public Schools to do even more to help students build social-emotional skills. I want to ensure that our students have access to the tools and resources they need to develop habits for good mental health and overall wellness throughout their lives.
As such, Mayor Adams and I are directing that each school set aside time every day for students to engage in 2-5 minutes of Mindful Breathing activities. Schools can offer these activities in any class or program, including but not limited to physical education classes, advisory classes, homeroom, or even during school announcements. Schools can determine how and when to include Mindfulness Breathing in the day, but we expect that our school leaders incorporate Mindful Breathing into every child’s daily program.
To support you, we have developed a simple set of mindful breathing exercises that schools may use. We believe these simple techniques can help students focus on being fully present and reduce anxiety. Over the past few months, several hundred school-based staff members were trained in these Mindful Breath Practices. These simple exercises take only about 2 – 5 minutes a day to perform and do not require significant training. Anyone can learn them by visiting the resources on our web page at YMTPP.org The page also has prerecorded mindful breathing exercises that can be played for students if school prefers to use that method. Principals should designate a point person to be trained and explore these resources if they haven’t done so already.
Over 70% of our schools are already practicing mindfulness on a regular basis, but our expectation has been that every student practice 2-5 minutes of mindful breathing daily starting this school year and continue in September. As we enter the summer, these resources, training, and support will be available. We will also collaborate with schools to offer mindful breathing during summer school as I want our children to have these tools to use year round.
As you know, the mental health and wellbeing of our students is a key priority for the city and school administration, and this is one more effort to create the strong mind/body connection that is so important for our students. Thank you.
Soaring high,
David C. Banks
Chancellor