Learning to Breathe: A Mindfulness Curriculum for Adolescents to Cultivate Emotion Regulation, Attention, and Performance, Edition 2

Patricia C. Broderick

Jun 2021 · New Harbinger Publications

About this ebook

A fully revised and updated second edition, including new research and skills in the areas of trauma and compassion

Disruptive behavior in the classroom, poor academic performance, and out-of-control emotions: if you work with adolescents, you are well-aware of the challenges this age group presents, as well as how much time can be lost on your lessons while dealing with this behavior. 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. 

Since its publication nearly a decade ago, the L2B program has transformed classrooms across the US, and has received praise from educators, parents, and mental health professionals alike. This fully revised and updated second edition offers the same powerful mindfulness interventions, and includes compelling new research and skills in the areas of trauma and compassion.

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. 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 book is structured around six themes built upon the acronym BREATHE, and each theme has a core message: Body, Reflection, Emotions, Attention, Tenderness, and Healthy Mind Habits, and Empowerment.

Along with The Learning to Breathe Student Workbook, this is the perfect tool for empowering students as they grapple with the psychological tasks of adolescence. Make this new edition a part of your professional library today!

About the author

Patricia C. Broderick, PhD, is a research associate at the Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development at Penn State University, and founder of the Stress Reduction Center at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. A graduate of the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) advanced practicum at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Broderick is a licensed clinical psychologist as well as a certified school psychologist and counselor for grades K through 12. She is the author of The Life Span—a textbook for graduate-level students and mental health professionals—as well as Mindfulness in the Secondary Classroom.

Foreword writer Myla Kabat-Zinn, RN, BSN, spent a number of years assisting at births both in the hospital and at home. During those years, she also taught childbirth education classes based on mindful awareness. She is coauthor, with her husband Jon, of Everyday Blessings. She has led workshops on mindful parenting in the US and in Europe.

Foreword writer Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, is internationally known for his work as a scientist, writer, and meditation teacher engaged in bringing mindfulness into the mainstream of medicine and society. He is professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and author of numerous books, including Full Catastrophe Living, Arriving at Your Own Door, and Coming to Our Senses.