Master of Mindfulness
How to Be Your Own Superhero in Times of Stress

About the Book

Faster than a speeding spitball, more powerful than a playground bully, able to breeze through homework and finish nightly chores in a single bound, it’s Master of Mindfulness—here to conquer stress, worry, and any trouble that comes your way!

Do you ever feel angry, disappointed, or stressed out about family problems, school, bullies, or trouble with friends? If so, mindfulness can help. Master of Mindfulness is a unique and empowering book written forkids by kids, with cool illustrations and tips that show you how to be confident, get focused, stay calm, and tap into your own inner strength so that you can be your own superhero—no matter what life throws your way!

Childhood is supposed to be a carefree time, but the truth is that all kids have stress—especially when dealing with difficulties at school, at home, or with friends. Sometimes things happen in life that are hard, and you can’t stop thinking about them or you react too fast. You might be mad, sad, irritated, embarrassed, anxious, jealous, or even disappointed with yourself when things don’t go the way you would’ve hoped. And when you’re really upset, it’s hard to make good decisions—you may end up doing something that you regret later or that gets you into trouble. You could probably use some help—and fast!—but where can you turn? This book will give you the skills you need to bring up your own superpowers by showing you how mindfulness, like stopping to take a few deep, mindful breaths, can help you calm down and deal with things differently.

Written by Laurie Grossman, cofounder of Mindful Schools and director of program development at Inner Explorer, and Mr. Musumeci’s fifth grade class at Reach Academy in Oakland, California, Master of Mindfulness presents helpful practices—mindful activities proven to make it easier to pay attention, accept yourself and others, manage your anger, and even get to sleep at night. The book features cool, mixed media illustrations with real kids’ drawings and stories about how mindfulness can help in different stressful situations. It even covers some of the brain science behind why mindfulness helps kids to feel better, stay in the present moment, be kind, and make good decisions. The book includes easy and fun practices, like mindful breathing, noticing your feelings, paying attention to your body, and mindful eating, as well as links to engaging audio recordings produced by Mr. Musumeci’s students. And once you become a master of mindfulness, you can help others by sharing your superpower and teaching them how to do it, too—your parents, your teachers, and your friends.

When things go wrong, or when you have scary thoughts or strong feelings, you may need help to sort it all out, no matter how old you are. Learning and practicing mindfulness can make it easier to deal with the issues you face every day by showing you how to tap into your own inner strength in times of stress. So, why not use mindfulness and start being your own superhero today?

Authors

Laurie Grossman, one of the founders of the mindfulness in education movement, has been an activist since 1975—she believes that mindfulness in schools is the tool most likely to help achieve social justice. Over the last two decades, she started... Read more

Books by Laurie Grossman

Angelina Alvarez holds a degree in photography from the San Francisco Art Institute. She believes that every child should have the opportunity to grow up with a foundation of mindfulness practice. Alvarez works with Mindful Life Project in Richmond... Read more

Books by Angelina Alvarez

Mr. Musumeci has spent two decades teaching, caring, and advocating for children in New York, NY, and Oakland, CA. As teacher at Reach Academy in East Oakland from 2009 to 2014, he was a proponent of mindfulness, and was delighted when one of his... Read more

Books by Mr. Musumeci's 5th Grade Class

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... Read more

Books by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Praise

 

“Given the landscape of today’s teen’s mental and physical health difficulties, the earlier you can plant the seeds of mindfulness the stronger the roots become and the sprouts more prodigious. After working with thousands of teens in education and therapy, I believe that if they had been offered these skills earlier, they would have fared better and had stronger roots from which to approach and manage the landscape of today’s adolescent. Master of Mindfulness gets it! It gets that these skills know no age boundaries, class boundaries, or race boundaries. Mindfulness helps children to fare well in this growing, fast-paced, and technologically stimulated lifescape that we call the 21st century. Bravo Grossman, Alvarez, Musumeci, and most prominently the 5th grade children!”
Gina M. Biegel, MA, LMFT, researcher, author of The Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens, founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program for Teens (MBSR-T) and Stressed Teens program