Mindful Breathing Institute

Changing Lives...... One Breath At A Time.

The Mindful Breathing Institute is an educational organization which focuses on mindful living practices, responding to the need for health promotion and mental health education to enhance psychological well being.  Mindful Breathing endeavors to promote a healthful mindset so you can cope with emotional and physical challenges.  Engaging in mindfulness will help you to reduce the stressors in your life and allows you to harness your own ability to respond to emotions and illness in positive ways.   

Mindful breathing allows us to observe our breathing more closely without responding or reacting to it.  It teaches us self compassion so we can be less reactive to our emotions. This gently enhances our feelings of self control, resulting in a powerful feeling of contentment that can improve our physical and emotional health.  Whether you are learning about mindfulness for the first time, or continuing to learn more to refine your practice, you will find that mindful breathing is be a suitable and relaxing meditative practice for regulating attention and emotions, and a psychological intervention for improving mood and enhancing well being.

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Visit the Mindful Breathing Institute FREE video library on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/showcase/9074985 

A Book Can Change Your Life!  

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Book Reviews:  Mindful Breathing

"What is Mindful breathing, how to practice it, and cultivate it. The author delves deep into the scientific aspect of it but explains the concept with utter lucidity. His experience and understanding of the subject reflects itself on each page. The book explores the importance and dimensions of concentration, focus and mindfulness. It helps you train your mind and eliminate white noise and distractions through meditation. And all this through an interactive form of narration. It makes you think deep, makes you take the responsibility and work on it. It is indeed a holy grail for all the people suffering from any kind of stress related issue. I myself suffer from anxiety and bipolar disorder and found this book extremely helpful.  I connected with the essence of the book.. It is filled with practical advice. The narrative is interesting and is thus a fast read. The writing is beautiful, gripping, inspirational and most importantly very significant."  Abantika

Chris Griffin

5.0 out of 5 stars

A Simple, Organic Way to Manage Stress and Be More Mindful


Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 28, 2021 - Verified Purchase


I wish I had this book when I was managing my company! Several of my employees were very high maintenance and constantly stressed out. I would often end our discussions with the reminder to “Just keep breathing.” The problem with that was I didn’t really tell them how to breathe to manage their stress or explain why it actually helps. Dr. Matthews explains it all in this concise yet very thorough book.


This book provides a great overview of the benefits of mindful breathing, or being aware of how you breathe. Dr. Matthews explains how being aware of our breath can help us become more aware of our emotions and reactions to situations we find ourselves in. He also explains how that awareness can help us regulate our behavior and help us lower stress levels. After the year we have all experienced, I think just about everyone could benefit from that!


The author lays out simple, easy to follow breathing exercises to help you become more focused on your breath and less reactive to what could be stressful situations. The book goes into enough detail to explain how and why the breathing techniques work, but doesn’t overload the reader with theory and exhaustive information. I was looking for something that could help me get started with mindful breathing quickly without having to spend a lot of time reading about it. This book was exactly what I was looking for. I was surprised to see a comment in another review that the book was too short. I’ve always judged what I read by quality, not quantity, but that didn’t seem to be the case for him.


As I mentioned, I wish I had a copy to give my employees when they came to me all stressed out. The techniques taught in the book have helped me lower my pandemic stress levels; I know they could have done the same for my high maintenance employees. If you are looking for a way to manage your stress levels without resorting to prescription drugs, give this book a try. You won’t be disappointed.


Cricket

5.0 out of 5 stars

Good for both beginning and established practices - Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 24, 2021


I've practiced mindful breathing and meditation for years. Sometimes you start to feel a little 'stale' in your practice; this book helped me get back on my path. But it's not just for experienced practitioners; if you're new to mindfulness and/or meditation, this book is a great guide!  You learn (and re-learn) about the true beauty of mindful breathing: there's no pressure. It's a joy, not a regimen. And Matthews teaches (or reminds) you that breathing and quieting doesn't mean emptying your mind, but truly existing in a moment, then another, than another. Your brain can be both still and active at the same time. I highly recommend this book for everyone!

The Mindful Breathing book (2nd edition) is available in Large Print Paperback for $4.99 or as a Kindle ebook for $2.99 at Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/dp/1654771589

Mindful Self Care

Take control of your wellness and well being! 

Mindful Self Care will help you learn strategies to improve your physical wellness and your psychological well being. The book explores the mindset of wellness and well being, and how to create a self care practice. Mindset and practice work together to help us focus more clearly on our goals as we move toward improving our physical and mental health. Achieving our wellness goals, whether they be about physical wellness or mental well being, requires a balanced approach. Mindful Self Care will help you develop a positive growth mindset that will propel you toward meeting the goals you have set and make those goals more attainable. It will help you to stay motivated and engaged in a mind and body practice through daily affirmations, gratitude, self compassion and healthy self appraisals. You will also learn about how rituals, mindfulness, and coping strategies and skills can build self efficacy beliefs. These are the techniques used in positive psychology that will empower you to flourish and to feel engaged and in control of your own psychological well being. 

Mindful Self Care is available at Amazon.com in print or ebook formats.   https://a.co/d/hhz2aDt

Trauma Informed Practices:  Teaching Self Regulation through Mindfulness to Children and Adolescents

This book is meant to be a primer for teachers and educational professionals, paraprofessionals and school leaders who work with children every day. It provides an introduction to trauma informed practices that promote self regulation. The book gives an overview of concepts that are critical to the understanding of trauma informed practice including attachment theory, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), toxic stress, trauma informed practices and trauma informed schools. It also provides the reader with a conceptual framework for trauma informed teaching practices and how they promote resilience and neuroplasticity. Teachers and school practitioners can use this book to become more informed about trauma-centered interventions and mindfulness strategies which can be used for teaching self regulation. It also explores mindfulness teacher training and building a trauma informed community.


Donald D. Matthews, Psy.D is an academic psychologist, certified cognitive coach and mindfulness practitioner with a decade of experience teaching workshops and coaching students and teachers in metacognitive thinking strategies, social-emotional learning and self regulation through mindfulness.  

Dr. Matthews is the founder of the Mindful Breathing Institute and a professional affiliate of the American Psychological Association (Division 15) Educational Psychology and the International Society of Coaching Psychology

Learn more about me at www.ddmatthewspsyd.com