Just Breathe: A Summer Reset for Educators, Parents, and Students

Summer. A time we often associate with freedom, rest, and rejuvenation — and yet, for many of us, it also brings a new kind of stress.

Educators are catching their breath after a demanding school year, trying to recover from months of high-stakes decision-making, emotional load, and long days poured into supporting others. Parents are suddenly shifting gears, balancing work, routines, and now children at home full-time. And students — yes, even they — are learning how to settle into unstructured time, navigate sibling dynamics, or simply figure out who they are outside the rhythm of school.

Whatever role you hold — teacher, parent, caregiver, student — one gentle reminder unites us all:

Just breathe.

Breathing Isn’t Just Calming — It’s Regulating

Breathing is more than a relaxation technique. It’s biology. It’s how we signal to our nervous system that we are safe, that we can settle, that we don’t need to stay on alert.

When your breath is shallow and tight, your body stays in defense mode — the very state so many of us live in during the school year.

But when you take a slow, intentional breath — in through the nose, out through the mouth — your parasympathetic nervous system activates. Your heart rate slows. Your thoughts begin to clear. Your body feels anchored again.

This Summer, Let Breath Be Your Guide

• Educators — You gave your all this year. You carried stories, supported crises, showed up even when you were empty. Breathe to release what is not yours to hold anymore. Breathe to remember that rest is not a reward — it is a right.

• Parents — Summer doesn’t always feel like a break. You are juggling more, adapting constantly, and carrying the emotional weight of everyone else’s needs. Breathe to regulate yourself before trying to manage theirs. Breathe in patience; breathe out perfection.

• Students — Summer isn’t always easy. The lack of structure can feel disorienting. Home life can feel loud, or lonely. You might not know how to voice what you feel. Breathe to stay connected to yourself. Breathe to give yourself space to feel, to ask, to be.

  
  

A Simple Breath Practice for Everyone

Try this once a day — or whenever the moment calls:

Breathe in for 4 counts… hold for 4… breathe out for 6.

- Feel your feet on the ground.

- Drop your shoulders.

- Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly.

- Say silently: “I am safe. I am steady. I am here.”

🌿 Let This Be the Summer You Come Home to Yourself

Let this be the summer of softening — not productivity, not pressure. Just a return. To your breath. To your presence. To the quiet voice inside you that simply says, I’m okay.

You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to be breathing.

~Dr. Abi