Chef Dan Marek, from Whole Foods Foundation, teaches JCPS teachers easy healthy recipes for healthful eating (such as homemade hummus, fruit and veggie smoothies, and delicious root vegetables).
Joe Mitchell, founder of The Earth and Spirit Center, teaches JCPS teachers personal practice for mindfulness in education.
Mindfulness eating resource books are available in the JCPS Professional Library thanks to the Whole Foods' Whole Kids Foundation Grant.
Whole Foods Chef Kate Horning demonstrates how to eat healthfully and mindfully.
JCPS teachers prepare breakfast oatmeal jars and lunch salads in a jar for meals on-the-go.
Susan Sampson, from Louisville Water Company, helps teachers and their students choose tap water instead of sugary or energy drinks.
Deep gratitude to Whole Kids Foundation for our Taste of Mindfulness grant!
101 Mindful Ways to Build Resilience by
Did you ever wish you knew the secret to bouncing back from life's toughest roadblocks, wounds, and obstacles? According to psychotherapist, international mindfulness teacher, and former Buddhist monk Donald Altman, there is no secret. There is simply the skill of applying mindfulness to whatever new problem knocks on your door each day. It works because mindfulness rewires your brain and dramatically changes your relationship to the problem. The 101 mindfulness 'tools' in this book will give you newfound hope, optimism, and strength. These are simple, yet powerful mindfulness practices that you can apply in just a minute or two -- whether you're facing something extremely annoying or seemingly insurmountable. Those you know may think you've found a secret elixir to wash away your problems. But you'll know the secret is just retraining your brain with 101 Mindful Ways to Build Resilience.
Helping Kids Live Mindfully by 
Mindful Games by
A playful approach for cultivating mindfulness in kids, with sixty simple games to develop attention and focus, and identify and regulate emotions--by the author of The Mindful Child. Playing games is a great way for kids to develop their focusing and attention skills and to become more mindful. Susan Kaiser Greenland has had a lot of success bringing mindfulness to the classroom, and in this book she shares her experience, showing how parents, caregivers, and teachers can cultivate these qualities at home or in a school setting. She includes fifty mindfulness games that develop what Greenland calls the "new A, B, C's" for learning and for a happy and successful life: Attention, Balance, and Compassion. In a playful way, the games introduce kids to breathing practices and techniques for developing focus, concentration, and sensory awareness, and identifying and self-regulating emotions, among others skills. They include "anchor" games that develop concentration; visualization games that encourage kindness and focus; analytical games that cultivate clear thinking; and awareness games that develop all of these qualities and give greater insight into ourselves, others, and relationships. Greenland contextualizes each game and offers guidance for the parents/caregivers throughout. Even though the games are written for kids, they can be just as fun and transformative for adults. Greenland encourages parents and caregivers to develop their own attention, balance, and compassion and explore the universal concepts that she presents. She points out that as caregivers, our own mindfulness has a powerful effect on everyone in our lives, especially our children. They notice when we're calmer, more composed, and more joyful, and learn by our example.
Mindfulness and the Art of Drawing by
Everyone can draw. And everyone can be mindful. Mindfulness & the Art of Drawing is an engaging and enlightening insight into why the everyday process of setting pencil to paper is a meditative act by its innate nature. An enjoyable and discursive text offers an absorbing read and is accompanied by exercises that offer the reader practical experience in drawing mindfully. A lively, surprising and inspirational creative journey.
Mindfulness and Yoga in Schools by 
Mindfulness for Teachers by
Teaching is one of the most rewarding professions, but also one of the most demanding. This book offers simple, ready-to-use, and evidence-proven mindfulness techniques to help educators manage the stresses of the classroom, cultivate an exceptional learning environment, and revitalize both their teaching and their students' knowledge acquisition. Drawing on basic and applied research in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and education, as well as the author's extensive experience as a mindfulness practitioner, teacher, and scientist, it includes exercises in mindfulness, emotional awareness, movement, listening, and more, all with real-time classroom applications.
Planting Seeds by
Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness with Children is the fruit of decades of development and innovation in the Plum Village community's collective practice with children. Based on Thich Nhat Hanh's thirty years of teaching mindfulness and compassion to parents, teachers, and children, the book and enclosed CD cover a wide range of contemplative and fun activities parents and educators can do with their children or students. The activities are designed to help relieve stress, increase concentration, nourish gratitude and confidence, deal with difficult emotions, touch our interconnection with nature, and improve communication. Planting Seeds offers insight, concrete activities, and curricula that parents and educators can apply in school settings, in their local communities or at home, in a way that is meaningful and inviting to children. The key practices presented include mindful breathing and walking, inviting the bell, pebble meditation, the Two Promises or ethical guidelines for children, children's versions of Touching the Earth and Deep Relaxation, eating meditation and dealing with conflict and strong emotions. Also included, are the lyrics to the songs on the enclosed CD that summarize and highlight the key teachings, as well as a chapter on dealing effectively with conflict in the classroom or difficult group dynamics, based on a conference with Thich Nhat Hanh, teachers and students. The accompanying CD has inspiring recordings of all the songs in the book as well as a guided pebble meditation, total relaxation, and children's touching the earth. Beautiful, color illustrations by Wietske Vriezen Illustrator of Mindful Movements (ISBN-13: 978-1-888375-79-4) accompany the various practices. Any adult wishing to plant seeds of peace, relaxation, and awareness in children will find this book and CD helpful. It is full of wisdom on how to simply be with children and nourish their compassion for themselves and others. Illustrated by Wietske Vriezen Illustrator of Mindful Movements (Mindful Movements – Ten Exercise for Well Being, ISBN-13: 978-1-888375-79-4). Includes 1 audio CD.
Teaching Mindfulness in Schools by 
Teacher Resource Center
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