52 • PART I: A MODEL FOR SELF-REGULATION AND ENGAGEMENT
the mantra (i.e., mind tool), “I am worth the effort.” When practice becomes difficult, it is
especially important to remind students that they are worth the effort. Reminding students
that they are worth the effort helps them pair challenge and difficulty with thoughts of self-
worth rather than excuses or reasons to quit. Try this in your mindfulness work, yoga class,
or classroom today. It will not take long before you notice the children internalizing this
empowering tool. In our work with school-age children, we have observed them remind-
ing each other, “Hey Joey, remember you are worth the effort,” during interpersonal and
academic situations.
Principle 2: Breath: “My breath is my most powerful tool”
Breath is an essential component of mindful embodiment. Breath work comes primarily
from yogic traditions. Breath is so important to yoga practice, it has been said, “If there is
no focus on breath, there is no yoga.” Breath is the bridge between the body and the mind.
Breath is central to yoga teachings, and you can find instruction on breath work in the tradi-
tional yoga texts (Cook-Cottone, 2015). For example, Yoga Sutra 1.34 reads, “The mind may
also be calmed by expulsion and retention of the breath” (Prabhavananda & Isherwood,
2007, p. 70). Decades of research tell us that breath is an antidote to the stress response, as
well as a potent tool in emotional regulation.
Breath is the access point to the relaxation response first described by Benson in 1976.
Specifically, your breath aligns with your internal activation, your feelings state, and your
state of arousal. You have control of both your voluntary breath and involuntary, automatic
breath (Harper, 2013; Simpkins & Simpkins, 2011). This fundamental truth of voluntary and
involuntary breath control is the source of the power of intentional breath (Cook-Cottone,
2015; Harper, 2013; Simpkins & Simpkins, 2011). For students, skill development in breath
control can help them learn how to voluntarily shift out of psychological activation, down
regulate the chronic stress response, and move themselves into the relaxation response
(Simpkins & Simpkins, 2011; Weintraub, 2012). This means that they can learn to calm them-
selves down by simply breathing. In these ways and more, the breath is very powerful. It is
so powerful, that my research team has given it the label of the most powerful tool.
Principle 3: Awareness: “I am mindfully aware”
Mindful awareness is a way of being—“a way of inhabiting one’s body, one’s mind, one’s
moment-by-moment experience” (Shapiro & Carlson, 2009, p. 5). More obviously central to
mindfulness-based practice, mindful awareness is also fundamental to yoga (Cook-Cottone,
2015). In fact, the yoga sutras’ first teaching is, “Yoga is the control of the thought-waves in
the mind” (Yoga Sutra 1.2; Prabhavananda & Isherwood, 2007, p. 14). Students, even many
adults, do not have a developed skill of noticing the mind. Harper (2013) refers to this skill
as keeping the “thoughtful brain” in charge (p. 13).
Mindful awareness is the state of being attentive to and aware of what is taking place
in the present (Brown & Ryan, 2003). More specifically, students who are mindfully aware
learn how to notice when their minds begin wandering and are able to bring them back
(Harper, 2013). Siegel (2010) describes mindful awareness as a conscious and intentional
approach to what we do, allowing us to be creative with possibilities. It involves an aware-
ness of the present moment without judgment. It has been described as a flexible, receptive,
and open presence (Brown & Ryan, 2003; Siegel, 2010). Mindful awareness and focus are
skills that students can learn and then practice (Harper, 2013). Recent research has found