Take a Brain Break! Join this Stress Relief Share-a-thon

We are all stressed out, burnt out, and exhausted. We'll begin this Learning Lab with a 5 minute lesson on the science of stress. Then join neuroscientist and leadership coach Irene Salter for a brain break share-a-thon to build stress resilience. Brain breaks are referred to by many different names (mindfulness practices, meditation, stress relievers, etc.) but all have three common features:

- They bring you into the present moment and away from the past and future where intrusive negative thoughts tend to dwell.
- They interrupt your body's fight or flight stress response.
- Finally, they open the door to greater awareness of what's going on in our mind and body, a necessary step towards activating our thinking brain, whether for learning or for looking at things from a wiser, less emotional, non-judgemental perspective.

In this session, you'll get to practice a range of brain breaks that you can use immediately.
- Box breathing
- 5-4-3-2-1
- Dots and squeezes
- Centering
- Shaking
- Dancing
- Pass the laugh
- Gratitude
- Savoring
- Qi gong

When I'm done sharing these ten brain breaks, any remaining time will be available for participants to share their favorite tried-and-true stress-busting brain breaks. We'll end with a 5 minute lightning brainstorming round of ways to bring brain breaks back to your staff and students at home.