breathing

13

ELEPHANT

This type of breathing exercise is composed of an inhaling and an exhaling phase. The image of an elephant that takes in water to spray itself provides a visual metaphor that helps children understand breathing cycles. This comprehension is essential to the exercise.

1. Stand up with your feet together.

2. You are an elephant that is using its trunk to suck water from a lake and then blow it out. Put one hand on top of the other and bring your arms down, palms towards you, to represent the trunk.

3. Bend down as far as you can.

4. Without modifying your hand position, slowly come back up while breathing gently and making the sound of water being sucked up: the elephant is drawing water from the lake with its trunk.

5. Once you are standing straight up with your arms above your head, slowly bend down again, gently exhaling while making the sound of water being continuously expelled: the elephant is spraying water with its trunk

6. Repeat the exercise several times, very calmly.