Lecture de vacances pour les parents, attention des enfants.

The twenty-two second graders sit doing their math, three or four to a table, when Miss Emily strikes a melodious chime. On cue, the kids silently gather on a large rug, sitting in rows, cross-legged, facing the two teachers. One girl goes over to the classroom door, puts a DO NOT DISTURB sign on the outside knob, and closes it.

Then, still in silence, the teachers hold up Popsicle sticks one by one, each with a student’s name—a signal for the pupils to go individually over to their cubbies and bring back their special, fist-sized stuffed animals: striped tigers, a pink pig, a yellow puppy, a purple donkey. The boys and girls find a spot on the floor to lie down, put their stuffed animal buddy on their belly, and wait, hands to their sides.

They follow the directions of a man’s friendly voice leading them through some deep belly breathing, as they count to themselves, “one, two, three,” while they take a long exhalation and inhalation.1 Then they squeeze and relax their eyes; stretch their mouth wide open, sticking out their tongue; and squeeze their hands into a ball, relaxing each in turn. It ends with the voice saying, “Now sit up, and feel relaxed,” and as they do, they all seem to be just that.

Daniel Goleman from Focus