Praise for From Stressed Out to Stress Wise: How You and Your Students Can Navigate Challenges and Nurture VitalityThis book is a powerful combination of grounded scholarship, practical methods, and heartfelt advocacy for both teachers and students. It contains engaging case examples, excellent summaries on the science of stress, and clear descriptions of what teachers and students need to thrive in the classroom and in their lives. —David Treleaven, PhD, author of Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness: Practices for Safe and Transformative Healing A beautiful, straightforward guide to helping young people and those who love them to coregulate their way to mindful resilience. Widely inclusive in its explanation of often invisible stressors on all nervous systems, the wisdom in this book is both timeless and up-to-the minute in terms of its understanding of physiology, neuroscience, and strategies for addressing society's biggest challenges, starting with our students. —Dr. Chris Willard, author of Alphabreaths and faculty at Harvard Medical School From Stressed Out to Stress Wise is simply the best book I have seen on the market for middle school classrooms. The collective wisdom of Wills, Deva, and Saccareccia will no doubt become the benchmark for social and emotional learning. Clearly, they are experts in communicating with middle schoolers and those who teach them. I highly recommend this book. —Joanne Spence, MA, author of Trauma-Informed Yoga: A Toolbox for Therapists: 47 Practices to Calm, Balance, and Restore the Nervous System and executive director of Yoga in Schools From Stressed Out to Stress Wise condenses years of classroom experience into a thoughtful, usable, powerful guide to growing embodied wellness, belonging, and sustainability in yourself, your students, your school, and your community. This masterfully sequenced, multifaceted exploration of stress engages teens in cultivating greater awareness, social-emotional intelligence, compassion, and competence such that they can successfully navigate a stress-filled world by making wise choices for themselves. —Leah Kalish, MA, ERYT, ECYT, Family Constellation & Embodiment Process The authors' extensive experience working with children and in schools is evident on every page of this excellent book. Practical yet impactful advice is coupled with accessible methods to help teachers and administrators embody wisdom and compassion and infuse it into their school culture. —Susan Kaiser Greenland, author of The Mindful Child and Mindful Games and cofounder of Inner Kids An incredibly timely and constructive book that will have a positive impact on the social-emotional growth of young learners. As we become more cognizant of the effects stress has on our mental, physical, and emotional health, we can either let stress paralyze and defeat us or harness its energy and use it to our advantage. Each chapter in this book provides valuable tools and examples to help educators guide young learners in becoming more aware of their emotional reactions to stress. "Stress-wise" learners will take this skillset into adulthood. I can only envision a world where, as adults, they will continue to employ these abilities in their daily lives as models of social and emotional balance. —Jasmin Saidi-Kuehnert, MBA, founder, president, and CEO, Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc. (ACEI) This is the book that educators, administrators, and parents need to read and experience. It combines theory, science, and many new paradigms for managing stress that I have never seen before in 25 years of teaching. This book is revolutionary in that it combines ancient wisdom with modern methods when becoming wise to stress. There is a breadth and depth to this book that allows for deep digestion of the material while still keeping the language simple and implementable. The authors have spent time on the ground in the classroom, and it shows. —Amy Wheeler, past president of the International Association of Yoga Therapists and founder of Optimal State What an exciting approach to helping students and teachers engage in lifelong practices to positively identify and manage the many stressors of daily life. The authors share not only a framework but also specific strategies, activities, and classroom examples in clear, manageable segments, making effective implementation imminently doable. I highly recommend this book to all educators who want to transform their classroom daily practices to build vitality, balance, and caring relationships for themselves and their students. —Dr. Patrice Pujol, retired teacher, principal, and school superintendent A powerful read that transforms educational mindsets, captivates the heart, and meets readers where they are in understanding and using liberatory practices. The authors offer compelling research, practical strategies, and inspirations for holistic approaches to stress-wise wellness, including race-equity-based frameworks, class discussions, and developmentally responsive exercises. Do not bother putting it on your shelf; leave it on your desk or a place you frequent because this is a resource you will turn to again and again for planned or in-the-moment inspiration, grounding, and impact. Bringing to the forefront what we should all embrace for the health, wellness, and resilience of students and ourselves as educators and school leaders. —Senta Greene, MA, CCLS, leading expert in educational reform and diversity, equity, and inclusion strategist, Full Circle Consulting Systems, Inc. Stress and mental health are both invisible forces that shape every school and classroom. While we understand the impact of stress on learning and classroom dynamics, there are simply too few resources to support teachers with practices that can foster well-being. From Stressed Out to Stress Wise offers a brilliant pathway for classrooms and schools to transform how educators and students connect and learn. The stress-wise approach in this book offers readers profound insights and useful practices that cultivate the joy, belonging, and well-being we all need and deserve. This book is a must-read for teachers, educators, and practitioners searching for a fresh and deeply authentic model for transforming classrooms and schools. —Shawn Ginwright, PhD, Jerome T. Murphy Professor of the Practice Chair, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Chief Executive Officer, Flourish Agenda, Oakland, CA Stress is inevitable. This book doesn't argue with that, but rather lights the way for us to skillfully be with what is. From Stressed Out to Stress Wise isn't simply a powerful educational resource—it's a treasure trove of practices that take working with stress out of the realm of theory, grounding it in the everyday classroom. This book is practical and transformative. From Stressed Out to Stress Wise belongs in the hands of everyone working with youth! —Caverly Morgan, founder of Peace in Schools and author of A Kids Book About Mindfulness and The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together From Stressed Out to Stress Wise is a timely, accessible, and essential guide for educators that has the potential to not only enhance student flourishing, but impact the well-being of the entire ecosystem of a classroom and beyond. Beautifully grounded in holistic, indigenous wisdom traditions as well as evidence-based approaches for supporting social-emotional learning, this book is full of practical applications, heartfelt practices, and insightful explorations that support self-care and collective caring. It provides an elegant framework for honoring the complexities of guiding young learners in their wholeness. —Rashmi S. Bismark, MD, MPH, preventive medicine consultant, mindfulness and yoga educator, and author of Finding Om (illustrated by Morgan Huff) Rising rates of depression, anxiety disorders, and self-injurious behavior attest to the harmful levels of stress experienced by today's students. Wills, Deva, and Saccareccia's accessible and captivating new book provides educators with a detailed roadmap for cultivating in their students stress awareness and a trove of self-regulation skills to manage stress, informed by yogic, mindfulness, and compassion-based approaches. The authors' clear, engaging content, powerful metaphors, and multiple options for implementation will position educators to equip students with the long-neglected wellness and stress-management skills so sorely needed in our schools. —Drew Erhardt, PhD, professor, Pepperdine University, Graduate School of Education & Psychology Printed by for personal use only |
