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Learning to Breathe: A Mindfulness Curriculum for Adolescents to Cultivate Emotion Regulation, Attention, and Performance

$118.14  Paperback
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Patricia C Broderick, Myla Kabat-Zinn, Jon Kabat-Zinn

  • Learning to Breathe
  • Learning to Breathe
    A program for teaching mindfulness, tailored to the developmental needs of adolescents.

288 pages
2013
ISBN: 9781608827831

Disruptive behaviour in the classroom, poor academic performance, out-of-control emotions: if you work with adolescents, you are well-aware of the challenges this age group presents. What if there was a way to calm these students down and arm them with the mindfulness skills needed to really excel in school and life?

Written by mindfulness expert and licensed clinical psychologist Patricia C. Broderick, Learning to Breathe is a secular program that tailors the teaching of mindfulness to the developmental needs of adolescents to help them understand their thoughts and feelings and manage distressing emotions. Students will be empowered by learning important mindfulness meditation skills that help them improve emotion regulation, reduce stress, improve overall performance, and, perhaps most importantly, develop their attention. The book also includes a website link with student handouts and homework assignments, making it an ideal classroom tool.

The book is structured around six themes built upon the acronym BREATHE, and each theme has a core message. The program allows for themes to be delivered in 6 longer or 18 shorter sessions, depending upon time and needs of students. The 6 core lessons are: Body, Reflection, Emotions, Attention, Tenderness, and Healthy Mind Habits.

The book integrates certain themes of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, into a program that is shorter, more accessible to students, and compatible with school curricula. Students will learn to pay attention in the moment, manage emotions as they are perceived, and gain greater control over their own feelings and actions. These mindfulness practices offer the opportunity to develop hardiness in the face of uncomfortable feelings that otherwise might provoke a response that could be harmful (e.g. acting out by taking drugs, displaying violent behaviour or acting in by becoming more depressed).

This easy-to-use manual is designed to be used by teachers, but can also be used by any mental health provider teaching adolescents emotion regulation, stress reduction and mindfulness skills. The author is a graduate of the MBSR advanced practicum at the Center for Mindfulness in Massachusetts, led by Jon Kabat-Zinn. She is also a clinical psychologist and a certified school psychologist and counsellor for grades K-12. In the book, Broderick calls on her years of experience working with adolescents to outline the best strategies for dealing with disruption in the classroom and emotions that are out of hand.

Learning to Breathe is the perfect tool for empowering students as they grapple with the psychological tasks of adolescence.

"I have seen first-hand the transformational potential Learning to Breathe has for a wide range of students in the high school setting. Broderick has done an amazing job of creating a mindfulness-based universal prevention program for high school applications. Those looking for a program to use to bring mindfulness to high school students in a curricular way need not look further than Learning to Breathe."
- Todd D. Cantrell, house principal at Central Bucks High School West in Doylestown, PA

"Learning to Breathe is an extraordinary curriculum, grounded in a deep understanding of adolescent learning, adolescent growth, and the daily experience of adolescent life. The brilliant design of the BREATHE program provides teachers with ease in implementation and flexibility to adapt for the uniqueness of each class, while at the same time providing the quintessential elements of mindfulness-based well-being in each lesson. Educators and school systems that adopt this creative program will be giving a gift to themselves and to the adolescents in their care for a healthier, more positive and productive future."
- Irene McHenry, PhD, licensed psychologist, author, international speaker and workshop presenter, and currently executive director of Friends Council on Education

"Engaging, varied, and user-friendly lessons make this an essential resource for any educator who wishes to bring mindfulness into the curriculum. From theory to practice, this guide provides teachers with the necessary information to make mindfulness come to life in their classrooms and in the lives of their students. A must-have for all those committed to the social and emotional health of adolescents."
- Karen Bluth, research fellow at the Program of Integrative Medicine at the School of Medicine at University of North Carolina, NC

"Broderick's years of real-world experience with teenagers shine through on every page of her wonderful new book, Learning to Breathe. When it comes to teaching mindfulness, adolescents can be an especially challenging group and Broderick has developed wise, practical, and time-tested methods that help teens manage stress and develop attention as they integrate mindfulness into their daily lives."
- Susan Kaiser Greenland, author of The Mindful Child