Stress & Focus

Resources for Students

Emotions are interpreted and labeled by the mind, but they are experienced through the body.

Mind-body practices like yoga are ideal for developing emotional regulation skills because to make sense of emotions, both the mind and the body must be involved.

Yoga offers tools for building self-regulation skills (such as awareness and control) that are fun, healthy and compelling.

The balance pose called tree pose is one effective tool to work with. To do a tree pose, one foot is planted firmly on the ground like a tree trunk. The other foot is lifted off the floor, knee turned out, foot resting on the calf or thigh of the standing leg. The arms may be in a variety of positions that can make the balance easier or more challenging.

The skills practiced in tree pose directly apply to regulating emotions. To hold tree pose, you'll need to filter out external distractions, tune in to internal sensations, and continually adjust their muscle actions. Yoga can teach us to notice sensations in our bodies, recognizing the physical cues that may signal frustration, overwhelm or exhaustion, and applying appropriate techniques to maintain emotional balance.

Here are some more tips to help with stress & focus:

Click each section to expand

When the morning rush is too stressful

A tendency to use the snooze button isn’t the main issue; there’s a lack of planning that makes the morning routine more frantic than it needs to be.

If it’s wardrobe indecision that’s driving the morning crush, we might even suggest enlisting the help of Snapchat for this (bear with us, here).

Each night, you could pick out three potential outfits and Snap them to friends. Whichever gets the votes goes right to the on-deck area for the morning.

You can also set up daily alerts for 8:30pm the night before that walk you through a check-list of items you need to pack up: lunch, homework folder, planner, textbooks, and gym clothes. This way, you can get to school with homework in hand and a lot less stress.

When classes feel too boring

Although it’s tough to maintain your attention when a subject that you find uninteresting is presented in a dull manner, learning to do so is part of developing Executive Functioning skills.

You can’t change a teacher’s voice or teaching style or the subject, but you can change what you do when you listen to it.

That might start with posture. Sitting upright rather than slouched over can help you get more oxygen into your lungs to feel more alert.

So might the way you take notes — by finding a method that works for you(jotting down key words, diagramming concepts, connecting chemistry to other aspects of your life).

You may have success by challenging yourself to participate in class a given number of times or by popping a strong tasting mint to boost alertness.

When procrastination is a problem

Students’ tendency to put off their homework until the last possible minute is understandable.

The amount of energy and attention students need to focus on classes all day leaves you with little gas in the tank to begin a homework session. Add in distractions from friends texting and a younger brother watching cartoons in the next room, and students’ task initiation skills are put to the ultimate test.

You could start by setting up a to-do list for the evening. You might try the Forest app on your phone to “plant” a tree on their phone so that while they work, it grows. If you touch your phone, the tree dies.

If the distractions come through on the computer, installing Freedom might do the trick as this widget can block your access to tempting websites for a set amount of time.

And, of course, you need to be mindful to relocate away from sources of distraction like siblings watching TV or over-excited pets who want attention.

Page updated

Report abuse