All NYC public schools will be required to offer daily “mindful breathing” practices to students, Mayor Adams, an outspoken proponent of mindfulness, announced Tuesday.
Students will participate in 2 to 5 minutes of breath exercises during morning homeroom and advisory periods, gym classes, and various times of day, he and Schools Chancellor David Banks said.
At least one teacher in each of the city’s 1,600 public schools will need to be trained, according to education officials. Roughly 2,500 teachers have learned the techniques since March.
“Instead of having bullets, we will have breath,” Adams said at a news conference at P.S. 5 Ronald McNair in Bedford-Stuyvesant, among the hundreds of schools already offering breath work.
“Instead of having violence, we will have balance. We must deal with the stress that our scholars are dealing with every day. Ignoring it is not going to solve it, and we are willing to solve it.”
The breathing exercises will not be “forced on anyone,” Adams said of students who may not want to participate. “If you choose not to do the breathing exercise, that’s fine. That’s fine — eventually over time you’ll find your way.”
This spring, Adams insisted that city school kids desperately need “some form of spirituality” to cope with their current environments.
The mayor’s remarks came after he was criticized for comments that guns came into schools once prayers were taken out. He later clarified in an exclusive interview with the Daily News that his support was for “ways of going inward,” including meditative and breathing practices.
But many families and advocates pointed to a need for what they called “real investments” in children’s mental health and well-being.
“Ask most teachers and principals, and they will tell you this has been a challenging school year,” said Tom Sheppard, a Bronx parent who represents families on the city’s Panel for Educational Policy. “After three years of trauma and…
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