Adams Slammed For ‘Mindful Breathing’ School Mandate

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was criticized last week for his new rule that the city’s public schools must lead students in two to five minutes of “mindful breathing” work each day.

Adams announced Tuesday that students all the way from kindergarteners to high school seniors will be required to do the “mindful breathing” exercises during class starting this fall. The idea behind the exercises is to help the kids cope with stress.

“Thousands of years ago, other cultures were learning how to breathe,” Adams said at a press conference Tuesday. “We have never been taught … We think that it’s just, air goes through your nostrils and you move. No, there’s a science to breathing.”

“The mayor should save his oxygen for the real crisis in our schools — our children are not being taught how to read, if they’re even showing up to class at all,” wrote Tim Hoefer, president and CEO of the Empire Center for Public Policy, in the New York Post.

“Students aren’t learning basic functions, if they’re even showing up at all. Kids learn to breathe whether they’re in a classroom or not. Math and literacy are not so instinctual. Let’s focus on the fundamentals and get butts back into seats. Then we can all collectively take a deep sigh of relief,” Hoefer wrote.

“I just can’t get on board,” said Kayleigh McEnany, who served as White House press secretary during the Trump administration, Wednesday on Fox News. “I somehow made it through many academic institutions without learning about breathing. I just think this is ridiculous. I think it comes from Mayor Adams having a pet project. Apparently he showed up for the debate, and he was doing his breathing and he was calm, and his opponents looked at him, according to the New York Post and said, ‘We can’t beat that guy. He’s too calm.’”

“It may work for some. Absolutely. I’m not dismissing that. I just don’t think it belongs in schools where we’re talking about reading and math,” McEnany said. “If you think the violence in our schools is going to be stopped from breathing, good luck, Mayor Adams.”