New Book Reveals How to Help Students Overcome Trauma and Stress to Succeed in School

Bloomington, Ind. (September 6, 2018)—In Mindfulness Practices (published by Solution Tree) authors Christine Mason, Michele M. Rivers Murphy and Yvette Jackson detail how to build compassionate school communities that prioritize high levels of achievement and high levels of well-being.

“Far too many children and adults carry an insurmountable weight of stress or past traumatic experiences that can negatively impact the way that they interact, learn, teach, lead, and live,” explain the authors in the book’s introduction. “Mindfulness is an organic, practical, and accessible life tool that they can use to calm the mind and body and counteract the high levels of stress and trauma associated with school, work, and life.”

Mindfulness Practices is conveniently divided into three thematic parts, each part consisting of three individual chapters:

• Part I provides foundational information, describing why creating a compassionate and supportive classroom is beneficial, while highlighting the latest neuroscience research that supports the recommendations throughout the book.
• Part II focuses on the “how” and includes information on mindfulness, as well as mindfulness strategies and exercises, including breathing exercises, yoga for the classroom, meditation for students, and cognitive reflection and awareness.
• Part III focuses on the implications of and procedures for suffusing the practice of mindfulness into academic instruction, while also considering approaches for schoolwide or districtwide implementation.

The book’s mindfulness exercises and practices are easily adaptable across grade levels—from prekindergarten through high school—as well as across urban, suburban and rural school settings.

Eric Cardwell, principal of Besser Elementary School in Michigan, gave high praise to the book, stating, “Mindfulness Practices is a pivotal read that outlines the tremendous impact trauma has on the brain and the moral imperative that we have, as educators, to meet the challenge of educating with our hearts and minds. [The book] provides a powerful rationale for transformational change, coupled with practical examples from the field and a host of exercises that can be immediately implemented from the classroom to the district level.”

Mindfulness Practices is now available to order at SolutionTree.com.

About the Authors

Christine Mason, PhD, is an educational psychologist, researcher, consultant and mindfulness yoga meditation instructor. She facilitates dynamic workshops for educators that incorporate the latest neuroscience research with practical strategies for improving school climate and academic achievement. Dr. Mason is also the executive director of the Center for Educational Improvement.

Michele M. Rivers Murphy, EdD, is an independent educational consultant, workshop presenter and a research associate and consultant for the Center for Educational Improvement. Dr. Rivers Murphy has served as a transformational change agent since prior to 2000 in some of the highest-needs neighborhoods and districts, cultivating a compassionate, community education and shared-responsibility approach to facilitate positive school culture.

Yvette Jackson, EdD, is an adjunct professor at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York and senior scholar for the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, as well as a highly regarded international speaker on urban education. Her research is in literacy, gifted education and psychologist Reuven Feuerstein’s cognitive mediation theory. She has applied her research to develop an integrated process to motivate and elicit potential in underachievers.

Learn more about Solution Tree.