Buzzing bee breath pose

Buzzing bee breath is a yoga breath called ‘brahmari’ from the Sanskrit for a humming black bee. Bee breathing will give you the chance to focus on your breathing and help you to relax.

How to do bee breath pose

Bee Pose for Parents and Carers

• Start by finding a comfortable place to sit
• Relax your shoulders. To do this it is often easier to imagine you are increasing the distance between your ears and your shoulders. Let your shoulders move downwards and slightly backwards but be careful not to force this movement. Breathe normally and close your eyes.
• Keeping your lips lightly sealed, breathe in through your nose and then breathe out making the sound of the letter ‘M’ (a humming sound), until you need to breathe in again.
• The longer you sustain your ‘bee hum’, the more relaxing bee breath pose is likely to be. However, forcing the breath beyond your capacity can have the reverse effect, causing even more stress.
  Therefore, only do bee breath for as long as it is comfortable.
• With your eyes still closed, repeat this buzzing bee breathing pattern for a few minutes, or less. Just hum for as long as it feels good.
• To make the sound feel more ‘intense’ you can put your hands over your ears whilst you do the hums. 
• Finally, spend a few breaths sitting quietly and seeing if you notice a change in your mood – hopefully you should be feeling calmer! 

Bee pose for your child   

• Now encourage your child to ‘buzz’ along with you!
• Guide your child to take a deep breath in and then to make a buzzing sound like a bee ‘bzzzz!’ 
• Once they have the idea of buzzing, see if your child can put their hands over their ears and try buzzing again.
  Ask your child if the buzzing seems louder or softer? Does it feel nice? 
• Remind your child not to do more than 3 breaths in a row, otherwise they may feel dizzy!

The benefits of bee breath pose

Relax & bond together

Research highlights the powerful effect a child’s cry has on most adults, regardless of whether they look after children or not. Areas in our mid-brains associated with the ‘fight, flight & fright’ response are quickly activated when we hear a baby crying. 
We actually have a hormonal response to a crying baby or child:

• Men produce more testosterone which can lead to increased stress levels. Interestingly, fathers who are more involved with the care of their baby or child seem to produce less testosterone on hearing a child’s cry. This may mean that they are less vulnerable to stress when coping with a crying child.
• Women release more cortisol – a hormone associated with the stress response.

As a result of these neurological and hormonal responses, our:

• blood pressure and heart rate rise
• breathing becomes shallower and faster

Researchers suggest that these changes in body state possibly reflect an increased need for our bodies to be ‘ready for action’ and more alert. However, over time, these responses can lead to an increase in overall stress levels. 
Young children will often respond to ‘increased state of alertness’ by becoming more anxious themselves – breathing quicker and perhaps crying more and so the tension builds.

By taking slow breaths in bee pose, your child will be also be encouraged to slow their breathing.  As a direct result of taking slower breaths your heart rates will automatically decrease and this will lead to in an increased feeling of calmness between you and your child. 

Increase focus and concentration for learning

Bee Relax for All Ages 

After doing Bee pose with your child, lie down together and listen to the Tatty Bumpkin Bee song. 

Bee breath variations

• If your child is older they can try ‘bee hums’ with their eyes shut and their hands over their ears.
  Does the buzzing seem louder like this? 
• If your child is younger, you may need to guide their hands over their ears until they get the idea, then step back and see if they can do the activity by themselves.
  Do stop your child from doing more than 3 breaths in a row otherwise they may make themselves dizzy.
• Try doing louder, softer, higher, lower ‘bee hums’ together.
  Try humming along to a favourite songs or rhyme. This is a great exercise for your child’s vocal chords and speech muscles.
• You can also try bee pose in lying or standing.

Click here to find your local Tatty or Baby Bumpkin class

Looking for flexible work?

You only need a sense of fun and a connection with children to work with us

If you want happy, lucrative and supportive work with us plus…

• The opportunity to work with children
• A great sense of job satisfaction and
• Flexible working to fit around your own family

Call Sam on 01732 812212 or email franchise@tattybumpkin.com

Did you know that a franchise model has have a success rate of approximately 90 percent as compared to only about 15 percent for businesses that are started from the ground up?

Find out how you could be trained to deliver Baby and Tatty Bumpkin classes in your area at: https://childreninspiredbyyoga.com/work-with-us/