Psychological First
Aid
(PFA)
Prayer
Module II: Calming Down and Managing One’s Emotions and
Thoughts
Objectives
By the end of the session, students should be able to:
• Identify positive ways to manage one’s emotions
• Practice calming down using a relaxation exercise
• Be able to practice reframing one’s thoughts
Please take a look at your own list of
emotions from yesterday and list
down the ways that you deal with the
emotions. Can you identify if you
were using healthy or unhealthy ways
of dealing with the stress? Today, I
want to remind you of healthier ways
of dealing with our feelings.
Suggestion # 1: Count backwards
If you feel that you are getting more upset or stressed or anxious or nervous. You can
ask to be excused or you can just close your eyes, or turn around and just silently,
count backwards from 10 until 1. While doing so, focus on your breathing and tell
yourself to calm down. Let us try it together.
Suggestion #2: 3-2-1 Senses Check
In this method, I want you to quietly name 3 things you can see around
you, 2 things you can feel and 1 thing that you can hear. While doing that,
breathe in and out 5 times but every time you do so, you add one more
second to each inhale and one more second to each exhale.
Suggestion #3: Reframe
This means that a feeling usually comes from a thought and when we can change or
reframe a thought, then we can change how we feel. For example, I feel angry
because my mother called me lazy. I think my mother called me that way because she
does not see me working hard or maybe because she is just really unfair all the time. I
can reframe that by saying, my mother is just very stressed and tired tonight. She does
not mean what she says. By reframing the thought, I have changed the way I feel
about the situation.
Alternative Activities
YOGA POSES TAI CHI
Alternative Activities
SPORTS DANCE
ANALYSIS
What do you feel?
What do you think was the point of this
activity?
ABSTRACTION
Can you compare how you feel
right now with how you felt before
we started with the relaxation
activity? On a scale of 1-5, 5 being
the highest, rate your level of stress
before and after we stared with the
exercise. Did the levels change?
APPLICATION
How can you apply your
newfound knowledge to
your daily life?
CLOSING Say:
As a way to close this session, do you know that
people who do yoga close the sessions by saying
“Namaste.” Namaste is a word which means “bow to
you”. People in India use it to say hello or to bid each
other goodbye. Can you think of a short phrase that
you can share with the class now to show our
appreciation about being with them during online
classes? What would be a good phrase or word?
(Possible answers are “thank you, “ “kamusta,”
“good vibes,” etc. Can we all say this to each other
now as we leave our online class?