A Still Quiet Place: A Mindfulness Program for Teaching Children and Adolescents to Ease Stress and Difficult Emotions

by Amy Saltzman MD, Saki Santorelli EdD, MA (Foreword by)

Overview

Teaching kids stress management skills early in life will help them to grow into happy and healthy adults. And if you work with children or adolescents, you know that kids today need these skills more than ever. The pressures they face in the classroom, on the playground, in their extracurricular activities, and at home can sometimes be overwhelming. So how can you help lay the groundwork for their success?

A Still Quiet Place presents an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program that therapists, teachers, and other professionals can use to help children and adolescents manage stress and anxiety in their lives, and develop their natural capacities for emotional fluency, respectful communication, and compassionate action. The program detailed in this book is based on author Amy Saltzman’s original curriculum, which has helped countless children and adolescents achieve significant improvements in attention and reduced anxiety.

One of the easiest ways to find the still quiet place within is to practice mindfulness—paying attention to your life experience here and now with kindness and curiosity. The easy-to-implement mindfulness practices in this guide are designed to help increase children and adolescents’ attention, learning, resiliency, and compassion by showing them how to experience the natural quietness that can be found within.

The still quiet place is a place of peace and happiness that is alive inside all of us, and you can find it just by closing your eyes and breathing. For more information, visit www.stillquietplace.com.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608827596
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	03/01/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Amy Saltzman, MD, is a holistic physician, mindfulness coach, scientist, wife, mother, devoted student of transformation, longtime athlete, and occasional poet. Her passion is supporting people of all ages in enhancing their well-being and discovering the Still Quiet Place within. She is recognized by her peers as a visionary and pioneer in the fields of holistic medicine and mindfulness for youth. She is founder and director of the Association for Mindfulness in Education, an inaugural and longstanding member of the steering committee for the Mindfulness in Education Network, and a founding member of the Northern California Advisory Committee on Mindfulness. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two teenage children. For more information, visit www.stillquietplace.com.
 
Foreword writer Saki Santorelli, EdD, MA, is executive director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and author of Heal Thyself.
Amy Saltzman, MD, is a holistic physician, mindfulness coach, scientist, wife, mother, devoted student of transformation, longtime athlete, and occasional poet. Her passion is supporting people of all ages in enhancing their well-being and discovering A Still Quiet Place within. She is recognized by her peers as a visionary and pioneer in the fields of holistic medicine and mindfulness for youth. She is founder and director of the Association for Mindfulness in Education, an inaugural and longstanding member of the steering committee for the Mindfulness in Education Network, and a founding member of the Northern California Advisory Committee on Mindfulness. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two teenaged children. For more information, visit http://www.stillquietplace.com.
Saki Santorelli, EdD, MA, is retired executive director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and author of Heal Thy Self.

Table of Contents

Foreword v

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

1 Why Offer Mindfulness to Young People? 5

2 Finding Your Way: Paths to Teaching and Facilitating 23

3 Sharing the Still Quiet Place 29

4 Session 1: Taking a Bite, Taking a Breath 47

5 Session 2: Beginning Again 63

6 Session 3: Thought Watching and Unkind Mind 71

7 Session 4: Feelings and Unpleasant Experiences 85

8 Session 5: Responding and Reacting: Holes and Different Streets 103

9 Session 6: Responding and Communicating 117

10 Session 7: Communication and Love 131

11 Session 8: The End of the Out-Breath 151

12 Am I Ready? Qualities and Qualifications for Visiting the Still Quiet Place With Children 159

13 Notes and Cautions 169

14 Teaching Children and Their Parents Simultaneously 179

15 An Academic Perspective and Research To Date 183

Appendices 197

A Presenting Or Pitching The Program 199

B Course Outline 207

Resources 213

References 217

Index 221

Interviews

Amy Salzman lives in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Editorial Reviews

“With wisdom, kindness, and inspiring clarity born from years of mindful living and teaching mindfulness, Amy Saltzman guides us through the research-proven, practical steps of how to help young people learn the fundamentals of resilience, focus, and compassion. Science-supported, clinically-sound, and educationally brilliant, this book will provide essential tools for all who wish to learn from a master about how children and adolescents can discover A Still Quiet Place, a source of emotional and social intelligence and a lifelong center of inner peace.”
—Daniel J. Siegel, MD, author of Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain and Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation; clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine; and codirector of the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center


“With great clarity and uncommon attention to detail, Amy Saltzman gives us much more than a first-rate mindfulness program. A Still Quiet Place is a portrait of a master teacher at work.”
—Richard Brady, MS, cofounder and president of the Mindfulness in Education Network and coauthor of Tuning In: Mindfulness in Teaching and Learning


“Amy Saltzman has produced a highly illuminative and extremely practical mindfulness-based program for children and adolescents. A Still Quiet Place provides step-by-step instructions for facilitators to administer the program in whole or in part. It is a must-have for mental health professionals, educators, and parents wishing to teach children and adolescents mindfulness and social and emotional learning. Highly recommended!”
—Sam Himelstein, PhD, director of the Mind Body Awareness Project and author of A Mindfulness-Based Approach to Working with High-Risk Adolescents


“Amy Saltzman's authoritative book provides the wisdom and building blocks you'll need to share mindfulness with children and teens. Far more than a workbook, it's a curriculum that you can pick up and use to teach a class, written by someone who has been instrumental in the movement to bring mindfulness to youth since its inception.”
—Susan Kaiser Greenland, JD, author of The Mindful Child


“A Still Quiet Place is exactly the guide that parents and professionals have been waiting for to take the mystery out of the practice of mindfulness. We all know that our children are too stressed, and we want it to change. A Still Quiet Place is an essential antidote and accompaniment for the stressed lives that our children lead today. This crystal-clear program teaches children exactly how to bring thoughtful, calming awareness to their day-to-day experiences and struggles, not only reducing pressure and strain but enhancing their quality of life. Filled with child-friendly explanations and exercises, every child will benefit from finding their still quiet place within. Amy Saltzman is the perfect guide to lead them there.” 
—Tamar Chansky, PhD, author of Freeing Your Child from Anxiety: Powerful, Practical Solutions to Overcome Your Child's Fears, Worries, and Phobias 


“In this clear and compassionate guide, Amy Saltzman offers a joyous path for leading children to peace and self-discovery through mindfulness.”
—Christopher Willard, PsyD, author of Child's Mind


“Amy Saltzman makes teaching mindfulness widely accessible with this wonderful book. It is a brilliant distillation of years of experience teaching mindfulness to children kindergarten through twelfth grade. Saltzman’s passion and experience flow through these pages. A Still Quiet Place is a must-read for anyone who desires teaching valuable life skills. It is one of the best and most complete books on teaching mindfulness that I’ve read.”
—Brian Despard, author of You Are Not Your Thoughts: Mindfulness for Children of All Ages


“What our busy modern world needs is for more adults to introduce more children to AStill Quiet Place. Finally, we have a step-by-step guide to building vital skills for children like kindness, resilience, attention, and stress management. Saltzman offers practical, everyday guidance to support children of any age and has created an irreplaceable resource in the field.” 
—Mark Bertin, MD, developmental pediatrician and author of The Family ADHD Solution. Learn more at www.developmentaldoctor.com.

From the Publisher