xiv • PREFACE
scripts, figures, and tables to help you implement your own program or strengthen the
program you have.
Part IV addresses mindful self-care for students and teachers. The mindful self-care
scale is presented as a framework for presenting actionable self-care goals for students and
teachers. Both the longer form and the shorter form are offered with a scoring system and
research on each of the aspects of self-care. This chapter provides a centered focus on the self
and closure for the text.
I love this work because, in its essence, it brings us to the best versions of ourselves,
fully present, aware, and embodied. Mindfulness and yoga practices help us be on-purpose,
intentional in our teaching and in our lives. That said, this book is for you. It is designed not
only to help you be the best version of you in the classroom, but also to help you be the best
version of you in your life. In this way, you will be able to teach without even using words.
You will be exactly what and where you are asking your students to be—right here—in this
moment, learning, and in the beautiful creation of your life.
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening
that is translated through you into action,
and because there is only one of you in all time,
this expression is unique.
And if you block it,
it will never exist through
any other medium and will be lost.—Martha Graham
(Martha Graham in De Mille, 1979)REFERENCES
De Mille, A. (1979). Dance to the piper: A promenade home: A two-part autobiography. New York, NY: Da
Capo Press.
Eiseley, L. (1969). The unexpected universe: The starfish thrower. New York, NY: Harcourt.
Graham, M. (1991). Blood memory. New York, NY: Doubleday.
Graham, M. (1998). I am a dancer. In A. Carter (Ed.), Routledge dance studies reader (pp. 66–71).
New York, NY: Routledge.