Transformative Mindfulness in Education

Rhiannon Kim, Ed.D., M.S. CCC-SLP, E-RYT 200, RYT 500, has worked within the public education system in various roles for 18 years. She has taught graduate level courses to future educators and current educators as an adjunct lecturer and has facilitated professional development centered on mindfulness, implicit bias, trauma and trauma-informed practices and anti-oppressive practices with educators, future educators, and mental health service providers for over eight years. She has taught meditation and yoga for nearly 15 years and her methods are rooted in anti-oppressive and healing-centered practices.

"Transformative Mindfulness in Education is the social emotional learning that all adults need to do social justice work in schools. Creating change for equity requires deep self-knowledge, the willingness to sit with discomfort, and the tools to have hard conversations with others. Dr. Rhiannon Kim provides a step-by-step guide to this inner work, lovingly but firmly challenging us to know better and do better. You'll want a journal and a pen to immediately use her practical and provocative reflection exercises, and a trusted colleague to talk through the many important conversation-starters. Everyone from pre-service teachers to thirty-year veteran educators will benefit from pausing to reflect with Rhiannon throughout this book."—Alex Shevrin Venet, bestselling author of Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education"In this courageous and deeply reflective book, Rhiannon Kim reframes mindfulness as a justice-centered practice rooted in awareness and accountability. With honesty, research, and lived experience, she reveals how identity, power, and bias quietly shape our schools and the choices we make within them. This is not a manual for managing behavior or performing resilience. It is an invitation to slow down, to see more clearly, and to take responsibility for the educational spaces and world we are co-creating. For educators committed to healing, equity, and trauma-informed practice, these pages offer both a necessary reckoning and a steady path forward."—Arlène Elizabeth Casimir, Founder, Reveye™, The Awakened Teacher"Weaving together mindfulness, nervous system regulation, somatic healing, and evidence-based practices, Transformative Mindfulness in Education: Caring for Ourselves While Kindling Change is an accessible and multidimensional resource, a full tool box for all educators striving for justice and equity. Humbling and comforting, this book will transform you, and in the process, guide your healing."—C. V. Dolan, Ph.D.

• Introduction 1. Mindfulness: Learning to Be in the Moment 2. Applied & Relational Mindfulness Practices 3. Beginning to Explore Our Emotional Landscape 4. Exploring Social Identities 5. Identifying Our Values 6. Are We Well? 7. Reflecting on Power in the System 8. Identifying Bias in Our Schools 9. The Impact of Biased Perceptions of Emotions 10. Addressing Control in Schools 11. Creating a Culture to Engage in Collaborative Changework 12. Engaging in Generative Conflict 13. Relational Repair Work 14. We Are the Changemakers Appendix: Notes on Introducing Mindfulness to Others