Most Viewed Resources in 2020
Most viewed resources in 2020.
If you measure what people care about by who's clicking on what, it's no surprise that our readers are most interested in materials to help them share mindfulness and meditation with youth. For your reading, listening, and watching pleasure, here are our most popular links of last year.
For two consecutive years, the top 3 articles on our website:
Universal Themes: In mindfulness and meditation, we explore universal themes that help us navigate life's ups and downs with wisdom and compassion. Read
Tips for Leading Mindful Games: Tips for leading mindful games with children and teens. Read
FAQ: Helpful questions and answers about mindfulness and meditation, how to play mindful games with kids, how to navigate obstacles, and much more. Read
Top 3 Shout-Out Profiles
Meet Ron Purser: A somewhat controversial post that highlights the work of Ronald E. Purser, Ph.D and his book McMindfulness. Professor Purser's work engages critical perspectives on mindfulness in society and how it can become a reflective pedagogy for social and political change towards a more just society and inhabitable earth. Read
Meet Daniela Labra Cardero: In this profile, Daniela explains cross-border perceptions of mindfulness,AtentaMente'sexpansive curriculum, and the importance of both individual and collective approaches to mindfulness, meditation, and social-emotional learning. Read
Meet Diana Winston: Diana Winston, the Director of Mindfulness Education at the Semel Institute's Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC), co-author of Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness and the author of The Little Book of Being, discusses natural awareness, digital distractions, and finding quiet moments amidst busyness. Read
Top 10 Audio Lessons and Guided Practices for Kids
Just Like Me: We think of things we have in common with someone who seems different than us and silently say, "He or she is just like me." Listen
Your Special Star: In this guided meditation for young children, we imagine that everyone has a special star that's with them all the time. Listen
Listen to the Rain: In this guided mediation young children learn how everything changes, even when they focus their attention on just one thing. Listen
Stop Breathe Be: This 10-minute guided meditation helps adults and children learn how our minds and bodies feel when we stop, breathe, and just be. Listen
Zip-Up, Tic-Toc & Fading Tone: In this guided practice for young children, Susan sequences together three mindful games to make a single, somewhat longer, mindfulness practice. First, we zip-ourselves up to find a comfortable upright posture. Next, we sway side-to-side while chanting a rhyme to feel what it's like to sit centered on the cushion, and last we listen to the sound of a tone fade raising our hand when the sound has stopped. Listen
Breathing on Purpose - A Cooling Out Breath: A mindful game for children where we explore how focusing on a long out-breath can help us feel more relaxed and calm. Listen
Everything Changes in the Rain: In this guided practice, kids and adults listen to the rain and notice whether the sound stays the same or if it changes. Listen
Awareness of Sound and Emotion: When emotions run high, awareness of sound can be a more useful practice than mindful breathing. In this recording, parents pause and listen to what is happening in and around you for six short minutes. Listen
Breathing with a Pinwheel: A fun game that helps young children notice how different ways of breathing can change the way their minds and bodies feel. Listen
Stargazing: In this seven-minute guided practice, children and teens get comfortable, relax, and gaze at the sky to explore what's happening within and around them. Listen
Top 5 Audio Lessons and Guided Practices for Adults
Mindfulness First: When we get caught up in the grip of strong emotions our nervous systems shift to high alert. Then it is difficult, if not possible, to be open and flexible, to listen and learn. What do you do? You practice mindfulness first. Listen
A Ladle of Self Compassion: A guided mediation inspired by the lessons of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. In this visualization, we cool strong emotions by filling an imaginary coconut shell with compassion and pouring it over our heads. Listen
Backwards Law: In this live, half-hour track from Mediation for Busy Parents, we reflect on the Backwards Law and practice letting go without giving up. Listen
5 Enthusiastic Yesses for Every No: Scientists don't agree how much good news it takes to balance out a single piece of bad news, but five positive inputs for every negative input is a ratio I have seen cited by several researchers. If we use a five-to-one ratio as our rule of thumb, that means let's give ourselves five enthusiastic "yesses" for every "no." Listen
Change Your Mind, Change The World: When our minds change- when we feel more relaxed, less stressed, and less reactive - our bodies change too. And when our minds and bodies change our behaviors change, which shifts outcomes, which in turn affects what happens in the world. Listen
Top 10 Video Lessons and Guided Practices
A Lesson in Perspective Taking Using a Toy Bat: In this brief video from Susan's Zoom classes for children, she uses a toy bat to demonstrate how the same thing can look very different depending on your perspective. Watch
Ice Cube Meditation: In this mediation with an everyday object, we notice what happens in our minds and bodies when we put a cube of ice in the palm of our hand. Watch
Minds Change Bodies and Bodies Change Minds: When our bodies are tense and feel tight, our minds tense and tighten, too. But when our bodies relax our minds become more spacious. Then, it's easier to take in the full picture by looking at what's happening with kindness and curiosity. Watch
Pizza Meditation: The more we try NOT to think about something the more it comes to mind. In this meditation, we learn why we let thoughts come and go when we meditate. Watch
Planting Seeds Lesson: When we plant seeds of confidence, patience, and kindness, those are the qualities that grow. When we plant seeds of doubt, restlessness, and cruelty, those qualities grow instead. Watch
A Lesson on Same and Different: A lesson on seeing and reframing based on the children's book about friendship by Chris Rashcka entitled Yo! Yes?. Watch
Why are We Happier When We Focus on the Present?: When our minds wander we only think of positive thoughts about a third of the time. In this video we learn how to use an awareness meter and a barrel of plastic monkeys to demonstrate how to work with thoughts and emotions that bubble up when we meditate. Watch
Even Obi-Wan Kenobi Feels Unsteady Sometimes: We usually think of Obi-Wan Kenobi as a cool, calm, and collected Jedi Master, but even Obi-Wan Kenobi feels unsteady sometimes. It's natural to feel unsteady, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic - mindful awareness can help you feel more grounded. Watch
Balloon Arms: Paying attention can be hard. Here's a strategy that can help children watch, listen, and learn at home and in school. We practice focusing by slowly moving our arms up and down, or back and forth, in sync with each other's movements. Watch
Zoom Tips from the Inner Kids Collaborative: Zoom and other platforms help us stay connected, but they also take a toll on our minds and bodies. In this video, members of the Inner Kids Collaborative suggest ways to participate in Zoom meetings in a way that support rather than deplete us. Watch
Top 3 Blog Posts
Be Grateful for Everything. Really?: A blog post that recalls the story of the Clumsy Tea Boy and reminds us to be patient and compassionate. Read
A Gratitude Walk: We don't have to be outside to take a gratitude walk; you can ground yourself by walking slowly and deliberately anywhere, even upstairs at your in-law's house. Read
A Quiet Joyful Noise: A reflection on the peaceful moments of joy and connection hidden inside festive, yet sometimes hectic, family activities. This blog post explores the delightful moments of silence found in Deborah Underwood's The Christmas Quiet Book. Read
Top 4 Songs
I Stop and Feel My Breathing (also our most listened to track): We sing a song to learn that when we stop and feel our breathing, we often feel calm and focused. Listen
Breathe-In, Breathe-Out: Affectionately known as "breathe-in, breathe-out" children sing this song to help them calm down if they're upset, to concentrate if they're having a hard time focusing, or just for fun. Listen
Peace Like a River: A fun and lively folk song taught to Susan by Tom Nolan from the Crossroads School and the Council in the Schools program. Listen
My Peace: A classic folk song about inner and outer peace for children of all ages. Listen
Top 3 Podcasts
Sharon Salzberg Metta Hour: In this episode, Susan and Sharon discuss many of the challenges that kids today face with the rise of technology and social media, as well as the nuances of parenting in today's fast-moving digital culture. Listen
10% Happier - Parenting in a Pandemic: We’re in the middle of one of the greatest tests for parents in modern memory. Tens of millions of us, cooped up in our homes with our kids, as a consequence of the coronavirus. Susan Kaiser Greenland can help. She’s a former corporate attorney who transformed herself into one of the world’s leading experts in meditation for kids, teens, and parents. In this episode, she delivers tons of practical tips for formal and informal meditation practices — for all age groups. She also talks about practices that can help parents not turn on one another in this excruciatingly stressful time. Listen
Insights at the Edge - Nothing is More Important than Teaching Mindfulness to Kids: In a fun, lively conversation, Susan talks with Tami Simon, the founder of Sounds True, about all things related to mindfulness for kids and parents, including ways to lead a kinder, wiser, and happier life. Listen.