Zones of regulation
Zones of regulation.
Have you ever been in a mood, or felt in a negative mood and couldn’t quite put your finger on what or why it is? Have you ever gone home and took it out on the wrong person or people? If you have, trust me lots of us have and lots will continue to do so.
A method used effectively in schools is called Zones of Regulation. Zones of regulation is a simple framework that helps children develop self-regulation skills by categorising emotions and states of alertness into four colour-coded zones (Blue, Green, Yellow, and Red). The idea is to promote emotional awareness and management. This is a great tool for educational professional to have in their armouries. It allows both staff and students to have open and constructive conversations about feelings and emotions and can provide opportunities to strip back events or situations that have led up to them feeling how they do and come up with potential solutions how to move into a more positive colour. The emphasise is very much on the young person managing their own emotions and figuring out a solution to help them better understand their own feelings and the feelings of others. Some of the teaching resources have been linked to the film inside out.
How can this support you as an adult? Firstly it’s a great tool to use with young families. If you are a parent of primary age children then it’s highly likely they will be using this model at their school. This is such a good way of parents supporting teachers by keeping a proven system working at home, during the holidays etc and a great way for them to express themselves to you. It also allows you as a parent to be able to have conversations with their teachers on parent’s evenings and you both have an understanding of each other. If there’s been a change in family circumstances etc sometimes it’s difficult to find the exact way to describe thoughts or feelings of another person but this method takes that away from you and the school may be able to pick up on some similarities, timelines or common trends.
When I, and I’m sure many of you were growing up, Interventions like this were never used. I spent some of my earliest years of education isolated and locked in a cloakrooms to figure it out. I had 5 different teachers one year but all I really needed was one to sit down and talk to me and explain things to me. I wasn’t the only one and sadly this is the case for many men born pre 1990’s. I know there’s men out there that have created an element of resilience around them and have been successful in life, however, I believe these self taught strategies have a life span and with how rapidly the world and things are changing it’s tough to stay with the times. This is where the zones of regulations can truly help. It takes us back to the basics and back to understanding and expressing our feelings and emotions rather than pulling down the hatch and riding it out. I know as I still struggle with this weekly. As with most things individual tools don’t always work well on their own. Take map reading for example, with just a map you’d probably manage to find where you were going but with more tools, a compass, a pace counter etc things become a little easier. It’s the same with looking after ourselves. It’s great identifying we’re in the red zone that’s important, we have a starting point. Now, we need to identify other strategies to take us from that zone into another. Or at the very least understand our limitations whilst in that zone. For example, if you’ve left work late in the red zone after an awful day, it’s probably not a good idea to start putting the kids to bed as soon as you get in. Identifying and naming what you’re feeling and what caused you to feel like that, then maybe going for a short walk prior to driving home might just be what you needed to shift you into a yellow zone and allow you to drive home calmer and in a better state of mind for your family.
This is a tool that can be used for anyone from any walk of life, man or woman and combined with other tools is pretty powerful. It can be used individually or within a team or home. If doing this individually, changes aren’t instantaneous you have to put the steps in, but over time those steps will compound. If you would like to work with me and experience a rapid positive mindset change feel free to get in touch.
Thank you for reading. 🫶 🧘♂️
Reducing violence around young people
Interventions to support the reduction of violence and young people.
This is not just a ‘city problem’ and, shockingly, the inspectorates found that children as young as 11 are carrying knives for their own ‘protection’. In 2023, the Youth Endowment Fund surveyed 7,500 children in England and Wales, finding that 1 in 4 either had been a victim of violence or had perpetrated violence themselves. Almost half (47%) had witnessed violence in the last 12 months and 60% had seen ‘real world’ violent acts on social media.
The information above is taken from a report carried out by Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMI Probation). The report was carried out between September 2023 and May 2024(1) and is about multi agencies working collaboratively to essentially better safeguard young people from serious youth violence.
Today in 2025, we only have to flick the news on to hear about a stabbing or an attack involving young people which can often be on a daily basis. Sadly, I can only see these figures increasing unless we try find appropriate solutions to better reduce them.
A 2017 study carried out in Swedish prisons(2) concluded; that the yoga practiced in Swedish correctional facilities has positive effects on inmates’ well-being and on considerable risk factors associated with recidivism, such as impulsivity and antisocial behaviour. Accordingly, the results show that yoga practice can play an important part in the rehabilitation of prison inmates.
This study highlights the importance of early identification and early intervention, particularly with young people and whilst they still have the protective framework of school, youth clubs and other supportive organisations to help bridge the gaps. Yoga and what yoga provides in addition to the physical benefits include many phycological benefits including; anxiety regulation, emotional control, emotional distraction and generally reducing a persons sympathetic tone. This in itself is extremely important when working with vulnerable young people who may often be in a heightened state and one where their sympathetic tone is more dominant which means they will be primarily, in a state of stress or more commonly known as fight or flight.
I have experienced the immediate positive affects yoga can have on young people whilst working in an alternate provision centre, working with a young person who would often behave aggressively. We took part in some simple flow exercises and breath work which lasted around 10 minutes. After the session, he politely and calmly thanked me for the session and said that he feels chilled and relaxed and continued to have a positive day. Sadly, I wasn’t employed as a yoga teacher and the organisation wasn’t set up to cater for this type of intervention practice which is so true across many organisations. Many organisations will often identify the need and providing the service prior to establishing a structure and a safe space for the young people to take part. This will only end in a break down and the young person will feel let down.
I’m not suggesting that this intervention is the answer to all. But what I am saying is we don’t know what we don't know and from my experience from the number of schools I’ve worked in, none had interventions like this to support the students. I understand pressures that schools face with regards to results as well as other pressures and I empathise with teachers and the growing demands they face. The only effect this would have on an organisations workforce is positive. These interventions would only be successful as a preventative measure. If we react to an emotionally heightened young person by asking them to adopt the downward facing dog, it would only end negatively.
My vision, is to support organisations and work with them to produce a system that works and one where the young person can go and feel confident, safe and supported in that setting. Admittedly, some of the young people this would be aimed towards would feel vulnerable doing yoga in front of others or with others which is why it is so important to get it right during the early phases. My methods are not a stereotypical yoga teacher. I have over 10 years supporting young people as well as my own life experiences. My long term plan would be to set up my own space, a space that could support our young people and give them the opportunity to grow into a direction better suited to a more positive society.
If you’re in a position to discuss this further, please do! I’d welcome any group or organisation to get in touch and invite me to your location to discuss things in more detail.
With the right preventative approach we could arm a student or any young person with the right emotional and mindfulness tools to make them feel confident and safe. Tools that would replace the physical ones that are often and too easily being carried now.
Thank you for reading.
References:
(2) https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00204/full
Mental Health
“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in” - Desmund Tutu.
I came across this powerful speech once whilst on a safeguarding course with Leicestershire Police and it hit a cord with me immediately. Not just to use when supporting young people but for society as a whole and particularly around mental health.
A study by the Centre For Mental Health estimates the total cost of mental ill - health in England in 2022 to be a colossal £300 billion. This is a staggering amount and a huge dent in the UK economy.
According to the Centre For Mental Health, findings suggest that the annual costs of mental ill - health has been increasing steadily over the past 20 years.
I can only envisage this figure continuing to increase unless we start to come together and tackle this head on by carrying out timely and effective interventions. The Centre For Mental Health is calling for a comprehensive 10 year mental health strategy focussing on 3 priority areas; Prevention, Equality and Support.
A separate study carried out in 2023 by AXA UK and the Centre of Economic and Business Research suggests work related stress and burnout is currently costing UK economy £28 billion a year and resulting in 23.3 million sick days a year.
Observing this from the the outside looking in and recently coming from an education background, although I find these figures alarming, I’m not surprised. I can only assume that these figures are made up largely by public sector workers and small and medium sized enterprise businesses.
To try put these figures in a decline we need to collaborate and work collectively and use the Centre For Mental Health’s support strategy. If you’re in a leadership position for an SME or any business please reach out. Likewise, if you work within the public sector and feel your service could use support I want to hear from you.
I’m a small organisation and my mission is to support. Using proven stress / mental resilience support techniques and working with in house interventions, I believe MH Yoga & Coaching can offer a tiny piece for this societal jigsaw.
If you or your organisation feels like you could use the support, please contact to begin the process of collectively placing a wellbeing framework around your organisation and its people.
Michael
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