There are times when we feel sad, angry or worried. This is normal and happens to everyone. But it can prevent us from doing well at school, sports, or from enjoying our time with friends and family. Here’s how to calm your body, clear your mind, and deal with troubling feelings. Let’s learn how to focus and feel good again. Sitting still and concentrating for long periods of time is not easy. This gets even more difficult when our hands are tired from writing and our bodies feel tired from staying in the same seated position. Relaxing our bodies can give our brains a break, and help us focus better afterward. Let’s try this technique to relax our minds AND our hands. Close your eyes. Make a fist with your hand. Think about the bones in your hand and how they connect together as you slowly curl your fingers. Squeeze. Keep your fist clenched and feel the tension in your fingers, hand, and forearm. Now relax. Slowly let the fingers of your right hand become loose. Notice how the tension releases all the way from your elbow, through your forearm and hand, to the ends of your fingers. Breathe in …and breathe out. Good. Now do the same with the other hand. This is something that you can do when you start to lose focus.