'Wellness with Woowi’ is a digital animated storybook filled with ways to incorporate mindfulness into your children's everyday lives.
Wellness with Woowi incorporates the positive mindfulness techniques that have been taught to school groups during the sessions that I deliver in primary schools (both SEN & mainstream), and have been read at the end of learning sessions.
They are mindful based stories written specifically for the program , with the aim that the children would learn a new technique and leave the session feeling relaxed, empowered, accepted or simply at ease. When developing the programme, it was crucial that all parts of the session supported the children to discover the benefits of mindful living in as many ways as possible.
We used yoga exercises to begin, to work with our breath and to invigorate the beginning of the session, as well as the many other benefits of yoga, including increased focus and strengthened mobility.
Following this the children would be guided to learn a mindfulness exercise: walking, eating, thoughts, kindness etc.
Finally, we would end the session with a story about meditation, affirmations, gratitude etc.
The children would look forward to the end of session story and practice what had been shown to them. The stories gave the children ways to develop mindful living, by waking each morning and allowing the mind to become aware of the new day, to become aware of the room they are in and the moment they are in. The stories support children to discover the joy of the moment and how to breathe into it. Some stories will teach how to use your senses to feel the moment and hear the birds, the trees, the wind, the rain...if only we listen; the peace gained from the sounds of nature holds many positive benefits.
The taste of the moment is precious and when children from a very young age can develop skills to wake-up and be in the moment, to be still and breathe! To feel gratitude, to be kind and compassionate (to themselves and others). Then children's foundations are strengthened and they have the potential to develop self-managing skills that will positively impact their mental/emotional-wellbeing benefiting them the opportunity to become balanced well-rounded adults.
My stories have supported lots of children to learn mindfulness. The Woowi team have now put them together into a digital animated storybook, in the hope your child can engage with the Woowi bears and enjoy and learn from the thoughtfully tales Woowi has to tell.