21st September Pause the World Day; World Gratitude Day

Pause the World Day is a day to turn off all the extra noise in our lives that raises our blood pressure and stresses us out. On this day, the world should be paused and our troubles should be forgotten. True silence is a rarity in our modern lives, but it can help us connect with ourselves and listen to our emotions.

World Gratitude Day is also observed each year on September 21st. It began in 1965 and was created by the spiritual and meditation leader Sri Chinmoy. The purpose of this holiday is to foster feelings of appreciation, positivity, worthiness, and connection, which can create a ripple effect of benefits for everyone involved. 

Can we combine these days into one celebration? Is it a time for all those mindfulness books? Can we think of all the things we are grateful for while enjoying the silence? We show gratitude to the people in our lives by giving them the space and time for some silence. I'm reminded of poor Mrs Large in Five Minutes Peace who just needed a short time out for herself. 

If you are good at meditation or creating calm with your students you will have a handful of go-to picture books that you use. If you don't and would like to explore these sort of books look at my Mindfulness Pinterest. Here's some books to look for in the library.

12th September Mindfulness Day

Mindfulness Day is celebrated annually on September 12th and has been since its inauguration in 2011.

Mindfulness is the practice of intentionally focusing on the present moment and accepting it without any judgment.

Mindfulness helps build self-awareness, awareness of others, and awareness of the world.

A major benefit of mindfulness is that it encourages you to pay attention to your thoughts, your actions and your body. 

To practise mindfulness

 • pay attention - slow down and notice things in the busy world.

• live in the moment - bring a concentration to the task in hand

• accept yourself - treat yourself the way you would treat a good friend

• focus on your breathing

Of course, none of this is particularly easy to practise with young children, but at school we do try and the library has a big focus on it, labelling books that may help teachers with these concepts. We affix a sticker to the front cover that simply says 'mindfulness'. 

We do this because mindfulness practice helps alleviate stress, worry, and anger, and improves focus and sleep. It can also give children strategies to alleviate their own stress and anxiety.

The easiest books to locate and label are the ones about focussing on breathing, but books about living in the moment or being present are probably the books you will need to revisit and refocus on often.

Look for:

Here and Now 

Explore identity and connection, inspire curiosity, and prompt engaging discussions about the here and now.

I Am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness

Breathe, taste, smell, touch, and be present.

What Does it Mean to be Present? 

Being present means...
Noticing when someone needs help
Waiting patiently for your turn
Focusing on what's happening now.

NB The new cover is different from this one.

Charlotte and the Quiet Place

Sometimes children need a break from our noisy, over-stimulating world.This book shows how a child learns and practices mindful breathing on her own and experiences the beauty of silence.

Silence

Silence encourages children to stop, listen, and reflect on their experiences and the world around them. Using qualities of mindfulness, readers are asked to pay attention to what otherwise gets drowned-out in our noisy environment and use those sounds as a means to develop imagination and curiosity, and learn a little more about themselves.

Now

This is my favourite cloud...because it's the one I am watching.

This is my favourite tree...because it is the one where I'm swinging.

This is my favourite tooth...because it's the one that is missing.

 

Someday

Someday I am going to be a great artist. Today I am off to help my dad paint the shed.

Breathe and Be: A Book of Mindfulness Poems

I breathe slowly in, 
I breathe slowly out. My breath 
is a river of peace. 
I am here in the world. 
Each moment I can breathe and be.

Puppy Mind

A young boy discovers his mind is like a puppy, always wandering away, into the past or the future. He sets about learning to train his puppy mind to heel to the present moment. Through remembering to breathe, the boy becomes a stronger and more caring master of his puppy mind, keeping it in the present, if only for a moment.

Today

The moments that make up the day are filled with surprises, joy, fun, and memories. This book guides young readers to keep their eyes and ears open so the day doesn’t slip by.

If you are looking for more titles see my Pinterest page.

31st March RIP Tomie dePaola

"In this gorgeous and contemplative New York Times bestselling picture book, legendary author-illustrator Tomie dePaola reminds us that mindfulness--being quiet, still, and present with one another--is a very special thing. Everything is in such a hurry, busy as busy can be.  
The birds are flying so fast, the dragonfly is zooming over the water--even the trees are waving their leaves. 

So what if we sit here, you next to me...and we can just be? "

This is what I did when I heard the sad news about the passing of Tomie dePaola, who was such a 'giant' in the  children's picture book world. Everyone is getting more time to sit, notice things around them and just be at the moment so how fitting that we have this book to remind us of wonder, awe, beauty and the skills of an author illustrator!

Pause and remember his brilliance while you watch and read.

21st May World Meditation Day

This year World Meditation Day is being celebrated today the 21st May. It was Open Day at school with masses of visitors and very hard to keep students focussed. However, I bravely tried out  Meditate With Me and My Magic Breath with a preschool class and was pleasantly surprised. It is a large group of children and they can be quite noisy. We breathed in and out. We scrunched up our bodies, wiggled our fingers and used our magic breath beautifully. I would happily use these two books again.

The library has a large collection of books on mindfulness. See here.

21st June International Day of Yoga

Yoga is something I would like to be much better at. I love the stretching and exercise component but I am hopeless at the 'switching off' component. Schools are beginning to incorporate many of the good aspects of yoga into daily practice though, and I am asked by teachers and parents what book resources are in the library on yoga. Here is my pinterest page listing many of the books I have managed to collect. The teachers seem to like ones where the movements equate with animal shapes, like You Are a Lion by Taeeun Yoo and I Am Yoga by Susan Verde and Peter Reynolds is a particularly good introduction for any teacher or child wanting to learn what yoga is all about.