by PRP Group, on 08/08/2024
Ilana Nankin loved being a pre-K teacher, but she and her colleagues often felt stressed by their jobs. So when Nankin noticed a fellow teacher “looking absolutely blissed-out,” she tagged along to the teacher’s new yoga and breathwork class. “I haven’t looked back since,” Nankin says.
She felt so calmed by the mindful movement and breathing techniques she learned that Nankin brought them into her classroom—and marveled as her students calmed down after a round of “bear belly breathing.” Nankin went on to found a company, Breathe for Change, which brings mindfulness practices to teachers and students in public schools. If breathwork can work for a preschool teacher who was “overwhelmed and overworked, with little to no tools for self-care”—and her toddler students—it can help anyone, she believes.
