Mayor Adams mandates daily ‘mindful breathing’ exercises in NYC public schools

All New York City public schools will soon be required to offer 2 to 5 minutes of mindful breathing exercises to students every day, Mayor Eric Adams announced on Tuesday.

Officials said educators will have flexibility when it comes to implementing the requirement. Some schools may incorporate the exercises into morning meetings, physical education or academic lessons.

Adams said he views “mindful breathing” as a way to help students learn and focus in classrooms, and added that breath work has been transformative for him.

“Darn, I wish I had known this when I was in school,” the mayor said during a press conference. He added he was so disruptive in classrooms as a child that he was always placed in the front row directly in front of his teachers. “I was a terror.”

The initiative is the latest example of Adams drawing from his own childhood challenges to shape his education agenda. The mayor, who has dyslexia, has also championed an overhaul of literacy instruction, dyslexia screening and new pilot programs for dyslexic students.

Adams said he believes the breath work will be particularly useful for students who experience stress at home and in their neighborhoods, whether due to family issues or violence in the streets.

“There’s nothing more important that we can teach our kids than mindfulness and deliberative breathing,” said Schools Chancellor David Banks during a press conference at P.S. 5 in Bed-Stuy. He said hundreds of schools already make breathing exercises part of their daily routine.

Officials said there is no definitive date for when schools must begin offering the breathing exercises, but hundreds of schools have already started to roll them out. The education department said in a press release that it began implementing virtual training sessions for educators on mindful breathing practices and other wellness tools in March.