Student, Aged 4, Doesn’t Cry After A Bloody Lip
Today there was a bloody lip in my yoga class. One of my students, Jamie, aged 4, accidently ran into her dad’s elbow while he was transitioning from one pose to another. She was not to blame and was actually doing a great job by helping him stretch his hip tissue more by sitting on his back, but her jaw just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
What was different about this bloody lip as opposed to the hundreds of other small injuries that kids have is that the child didn’t cry, whine, or even seem concerned. At first, I thought that it was her nature because it was the first time Jamie was in my class and she could be a calm child. I soon learned that I was wrong about this being her nature because the first thing that her Dad said as soon as we administered first aid was that typically Jamie cries right away and finds blood very traumatic.
Just before this bloody lip occurred, I had the children breathe with me and with their parents. We had taken three deep breaths in unison while they sat on their parents’ backs.
After this experience, I couldn’t help but think that there might be something about this bloody experience that is different from the rest. I have two theories.
First is that Jamie knew that she had her dad’s full attention. For the last 45 minutes, she had been lying on the mat next to him, trying poses that she could do, and was engaged in the activities. When the bloody lip happened, she knew she was held safely and that her crying was unnecessary to get anyone’s attention.
Next, we are told that deep breathing calms people, and I couldn’t help but think that this is what happened again. She had just spent 45 minutes in a small workout, including some nervous-system calming poses, but most importantly, she had just taken three deep breaths. Could that be the magic potion that stopped the tears when a crisis occurred?
The reason for the lack of drama we will never truly know, but I did want to share my experience. After teaching many kids as well as adults, I see these types of reactions all the time. People are calmer, more peaceful, clearer in their communication. I say that I teach it so that people have a place to go when things get chaotic. I might have just seen one of my work results today.
