The Mindful Breathing Program

The Mindful Breathing Program is my true passion project. It began with an idea that if I trained in Mindfulness then I could bring the strategies back to offer to our students struggling with school stress, anxiety, or even those with behavioral issues.  After sending the research on the benefits of Mindfulness from other school districts across the country to the superintendent, Dr. Jeff Bearden, the Mindful Breathing Program was born. Picking four schools in different parts of Forsyth County to measure the effectiveness of this program regardless of SES, or any labels such as Special Ed, or Gifted. The pilot was opened up to General Education students, Gifted Students, 504 students with ADHD, students with Asperger’s as well as students who struggled with anxiety or  trauma, and the outcomes were impressive. 

Upon hearing my plan to implement mindful breathing and movement into a public school system when I attended a Behavior Intervention Training provided by GA State University’s School, Dr. Emily Graybill from the school of Public Health and Dr. Andrew Roach from the School of Psychology reached out to me to offer their help. They helped guide us to measure that what we were doing had impact and the rest is history- a partnership was born. The University conducted and published a scientific study to measure the benefits of The Mindful Breathing Program, and the results showed the program had significant impact.

The Mindfulness Pilot Program was offered to four schools in the Forsyth County School system in the fall of 2019.  Juniors at Forsyth Central High School participated as a daily elective as well as to 8th graders at Lakeside Middle School. During the Spring Semester, it was offered to Denmark High Juniors and Seniors as a daily elective and to 4th and 5th graders at Coal Mountain Elementary. This was a two-year program designed to measure the effectiveness of mindfulness as a daily class.

While I had worked at the district level in both Fulton and Forsyth Counties after having left the classroom in 2012, seven years later I went back into a classroom to teach students skills to help develop and improve their attention, focus, and manage their stress.  Each class began with mindful movement, and breath, as well as journaling for integrating these life skills.

After two years teaching the pilot, The Mindful Breathing Program expanded into all of Forsyth County Schools. Additionally, I teach teachers how to implement mindful strategies for explicit attention building and emotional regulation within a classroom setting. The results have been inspiring. Teachers report this is a life-changing practice which can not only improve their self-care practices but report that implementing these simple skills will transform a classroom. This is truly a full-circle moment for me as I offer these life changing practices to both students and teachers daily to help them live their best lives.

To receive training in your school district on how to implement The Mindful Breathing Program, contact Ashley below.