The Power of a Collective Pause

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.5 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Explore how students are using simple mindful breathing practices to navigate stress, stay grounded, and support their classmates.

Summary: Classrooms often are confronted with difficult topics that can leave students overwhelmed and anxious. In this episode of The Science of Happiness, we highlight how college student Evelyn Mata brought calm to herself and peers during an Immigration Studies class through simple collective breathing practices.

How to Do Box Breathing:

Sit comfortably: Find a quiet spot and focus on your breath, keeping a relaxed posture.
Inhale (4 counts): Breathe in slowly through your nose, letting the air fill your belly and chest. Keep the pace steady, not strained for a count of four.
Hold (4 counts): Pause gently at the top of the inhale. This isn’t a tense hold, just a moment of stillness to let the body register calm. Hold your breath for four slow counts.
Exhale (4 counts): Release the breath through your nose or mouth in a smooth, even flow. Imagine tension leaving the body as the breath moves out for a count of four, emptying your lungs.
Hold (4 counts): Let yourself rest briefly in the empty space before the next inhale. This completes the “box.”
Repeat: Continue this cycle for several minutes, or for 3-4 rounds, until you feel calmer. Stop sooner if you feel lightheaded; return to natural breathing when you’re done.

Scroll down for a transcription of this episode.

Today’s Guests:

EVELYN MATA is an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley, studying Psychology and Public Policy.

DR. PABLO GONZALEZ is a professor in the Ethnic Studies department at UC Berkeley.

Learn more about Pablo here: https://ethnicstudies.berkeley.edu/people/pablo-gonzalez

Related The Science of Happiness episodes:

Breathe Away Anxiety (Cyclic Sighing): https://tinyurl.com/3u7vsrr5

How To Tune Out The Noise: https://tinyurl.com/4hhekjuh

What To Do When Stress Takes Over: https://tinyurl.com/mskvfmv4

Related Happiness Breaks:

Make Uncertainty Part of the Process: https://tinyurl.com/234u5ds7

A Meditation for When You Feel Uneasy: https://tinyurl.com/4x27ut3p

A Mindful Breath Meditation, With Dacher Keltner: https://tinyurl.com/mr9d22kr

Tell us about your experience with this practice. Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or follow on Instagram @HappinessPod.

Help us share The Science of Happiness! Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/4wz4vbc3

Transcript

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0:00.0	I remember that day, it was probably like a Wednesday around 8, so I had just finished my Mexican immigration course.
0:10.0	And I got back to my apartment and like, was almost in tears.
0:17.0	And this had been probably the third four time that I had come back from that
0:23.1	class just like emotionally devastated. And that particular day when I got back from class, I was
0:29.4	like, let me actually like meditate on this. Let me ground myself. And as I was doing it, I was like,
0:35.5	well, I feel really good now after doing this.
0:38.9	I think my classmates could really benefit from also partaking in this.
0:44.8	As a facilitator of the space, it's not my intention, of course,
0:48.8	to ever just leave them either in tears or definitely more stressed than they come in.
0:57.0	But I feel the moment calls for us to have these conversations.
1:02.0	But the moment also calls for us to have all of the different ways that we can be there for each other
1:07.0	and collectively breathe together as Evelyn has brought to the classroom.
1:12.8	It was about how can I make this classroom a safer space for myself and for my classmates.
1:18.9	And for my professor too, because I know that even just speaking about our teaching my Mexican
1:24.4	immigration course is difficult. As 2025 ends, many of us are reflecting on what's happened this year.
1:33.3	The good times, the joy, and also the constant uncertainty and stream of really heavy news.
1:39.3	We cannot consider it yet a ceasefire.
1:43.3	A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of Israeli forces.
1:48.0	Earlier this year, the administration has been mounting the subgressive crackdown on legal immigration.
1:53.0	I was taken to the first detention center in chains.
1:58.0	When I got there, I was like, where am I?
2:00.0	It was like a prison.
	...

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