In chaotic times, a deep breath can bring calm to your classroom.

As the pandemic recedes and the world gradually returns to “normal,” it’s more important than ever to make your classroom a place that supports mental health and improves overall wellness.

With this practical, research-based guide, you’ll incorporate age- and grade-appropriate meditation, breathing, mindfulness, and secular yoga activities into your teaching, in ways that work for in-person as well as virtual and hybrid settings. Features include

·       Adaptations for special populations, including those who have experienced trauma

·       Recommendations for family involvement in social-emotional learning

·       Guidance on self-care for teachers and school staff

·       Data from successfully implemented programs

·       Dozens of illustrations, QR codes, and reflective questions

Mindfulness isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a time-tested, teacher-tested technique for reducing anxiety and improving your students’ outcomes.

“This book is a much-needed roadmap for educators who instinctively knows that they must teach more than academics. It provides a wealth of self-help tools for teachers, students, families, and others. Most importantly, it engages us as educators to implement these practices ourselves; to meet the changing needs of modern education, even as we realize that all of us deserve a chance to learn more about ourselves and to experience the mind-body harmony that these practices support. This is all a part of the “joy factor,” to shine — to feel the internal glow of being in sync with our breath, moment-by-moment, day-by-day, year-after-year, for a lifetime.”

— Ruschelle S. Reuben, Chief of Teaching and Learning, Office of Teaching Learning and Schools, Montgomery County Public Schools

“As a parent, I know how strongly we hope our children will thrive and flourish.  With the enormous challenges facing our world today, I am very worried, as many are, about the world we will be leaving them.  How can we best equip our children to navigate their challenges today, and the world’s challenges tomorrow?  For centuries, meditation and yoga have provided a gateway to calmness and insights that can guide our actions and interactions, as we strengthen our health and well-being. To protect and support them, and for our collective future, these teachings must reach our children.  Dr. Mason and her team of dedicated yoga-meditation teachers have written a manual to help schools implement practices that can make a profound difference for each and every child and for our planet. Filled with hundreds of photos and time-tested yoga sets, breathing exercises, and meditations, Cultivating Happiness provides a pathway to a better, brighter future as it addresses student and teachers’ immediate needs. Cultivating Happiness will be useful for yoga instructors as well as public and private school teachers, counselors, and administrators. I encourage you to read, practice, and reflect, watching in wonder at the significant improvements in your own happiness, resilience, and well-being, as well as in all the children in your life! “

— Amrit Singh Khalsa, Kundalini Research Institute CEO

“I am so excited to hear that Cultivating Happiness will be available to practitioners across K-12 settings. Chris Mason and her colleagues share practical, sensible, and you can "do today" strategies in a beautiful way that adds a spirit of calm at a much needed time in schools. Educators looking for a compassionate approach to supporting their students in a developmentally appropriate and engaging way, need to look no further- you found your resource.”

— Dr. Susie DaSilva, Superintendent of Schools, Ridgefield, CT

“An excellent, informative, and well-researched book.  This is a must-read for all future and current teachers, counselors, and administrators.  The book is well organized and without question one of the best books written on the topic. The book is a valuable guide to improve teacher training, schools, and personal happiness.  Cultivating Happiness and Well Being Through Meditation, Mindfulness, and Movement will be added to my classes’ reading lists.”

— Dr. Sandra McElroy, Professor of Early Childhood Learning, Pine Manor Campus, Boston College

“I have had the pleasure of working with Chris Mason and have benefitted from her expertise in engaging educators in much needed reforms. Her visioning and holistic, human-centered approach are skills that we need more of in our work. As we work to prevent and alleviate the impact of trauma, we must build skills like mindfulness to best prepare current and future generations in our ever-changing world.” 

— Jesse Kohler, Executive Director, Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice

“The practice of using meditation, mindfulness and movement should be in every educator’s toolkit of strategies under the labels of self-preservation and decision-making. Cultivating Happiness, Resilience, and Well-being Through Meditation, Mindfulness and Movement: A Guide for Educators is the workbook they need to learn these stress-reducing techniques.  Cultivating Happiness, Resilience, and Well-being Through Meditation, Mindfulness and Movement is situated on a stable foundation of theory and then what theory looks like in practice. The authors provide validating research and align it with evidence-based activities educators can easily incorporate during their working hours. Educators who use meditation, mindfulness and movement develop a much-needed space between thought and action. Cultivating Happiness, Resilience, and Well-being Through Meditation, Mindfulness and Movement demonstrates how these techniques decrease the risks of empathic distress and burnout while increasing an educator’s capacity to become more compassionate and impartial when making judgements about their students.”

— Victoria E. Romero, Educational Consultant & Author

Building Resilience in Students Impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences and

Race Resilience: Achieving Equity Through Self and Systems Transformation