Susan Kaiser Greenland - Mindful Games: Sharing Mindfulness and Meditation with Children, Teens, and Families

Sign up to receive news and special offers from Shambhala Publications.

Or visit us online to sign up at shambhala.com/eshambhala.

PRAISE FOR MINDFUL GAMES

The practical benefits of mindfulness are wide-ranging and undeniable. This wonderful book helps bring this transformative practice into the routines of those who will carry it into the future: our children.

Congressman Tim Ryan

Mindful Games is a remarkable book. It interweaves engaging and practical mindfulness exercises for children with a sophisticated and nuanced exploration of the psychology and insight wisdoms underlying them. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone with children in their livesindeed, for anyone at all. Highly recommended.

Joseph Goldstein, author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

In Mindful Games, Susan Kaiser Greenland offers a highly engaging and easy-to-understand set of activities to use with groups of children. All the games support understanding and empathyand seem like fun! Susan draws on her own deep understanding of meditation and mindfulness practice, as well as her extensive knowledge of child development and research. Although written for adults working with groups of children, this book is certain to enrich the lives of any reader.

Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness

Susan Kaiser Greenland captures the essence of mindfulness in a way that very few people can. As an experienced practitioner and teacher, her insight shines through on every page, and Mindful Games will undoubtedly be a wonderful resource for every parent and child alike.

Andy Puddicombe, founder of Headspace

We adults have a moral responsibility to do all we can to help young people develop the cognitive and emotional skills that will enable them not only to survive but to flourish in the world they have inherited from us. Susan Kaiser Greenlands latest book, Mindful Games, is a very welcome and important companion volume to her groundbreaking earlier book, The Mindful Child. I recommend it highly for its bountiful wisdom and skillful means, based on many years of her pioneering work in this field.

B. Alan Wallace, author of The Attention Revolution

Susan Kaiser Greenland, the pioneer in bringing mindfulness to young children, has done it again! Mindful Games is not only a fun way to teach and learn mindfulness but a truly wise way as well. Buy an extra copy because Mindful Games is destined to be one of the most beloved, well-worn references for parents, professionals, and kids alike.

Christopher Willard, PsyD, author of Growing Up Mindful

Illuminating ancient contemplative principles and applying them for serious and playful everyday use in practical exercises for youth and their families, this magnificent book offers us a powerful means for utilizing science-proven ways to strengthen a child or teens mind by supporting the development of their brains and interpersonal relationships. You may even find, as I have, that these insightful ideas and games will enhance your own life as well. Soak in these words of wisdom, and enjoy the journey!

Daniel J. Siegel, MD, author of Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human

A wonderful, fun, and engaging way to bring mindfulness into a childs life.

Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence

Susan Kaiser Greenland has played a foundational role in making mindfulness practices developmentally appropriate for young people. In Mindful Games, she builds on her previous work by emphasizing play and creativity in teaching mindfulness skills. This is truly the way forward for making mindfulness a real exploration rather than just another chore or to do for our kids.

Chris McKenna, Program Director, Mindful Schools (www.mindfulschools.org)

In her marvelous new book, Susan Kaiser Greenland provides a whole new alphabet for raising better children as well as our best selves.

Surya Das, author of Awakening the Buddha Within

Mindful Games teaches mindfulness just as it should be taughtplayfully. Its about the curiosity, exploration, and discovery that unfold with mindfulness, but mostly its about the fun of it all!

Susan L. Smalley, PhD, Professor Emeritus, UCLA

mindful games

sharing mindfulness and meditation

with children, teens, and families

Susan Kaiser Greenland

Games edited by Annaka Harris

SHAMBHALA

BOULDER

2016

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

4720 Walnut Street

Boulder, Colorado 80301

www.shambhala.com

2016 by Susan Kaiser Greenland

Illustrations 2016 by Lindsay DuPont

Cover design by Kathleen Lynch/Black Kat Design

Cover illustration istockphoto

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Names: Greenland, Susan Kaiser, author. | Harris, Annaka, editor.

Title: Mindful games: sharing mindfulness and meditation with children, teens, and families / Susan Kaiser Greenland; games edited by Annaka Harris.

Description: First edition. | Boulder: Shambhala, [2016. |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016007217 | eISBN 9780834840522 | ISBN 9781611803693 (pbk.: alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Mindfulness (Psychology) |

Meditation. | Stress management.

Classification: LCC BF637.M4 G73 2016 | DDC 158.1dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016007217

To Seth, Allegra, and Gabe

Meditation looks easy. How could sitting on a cushion and doing nothing be hard? Yet when I first learned to meditate, it reminded me of playing with a Russian nesting doll: open it and theres another just like it inside, only smaller, and then another, and several more, until the littlest doll is finally revealed. There seemed to be layers beneath layers of theory that I needed to understand before I could truly practice. Friends and colleagues had recommended several books, and I was having a hard time sorting through the different methods and terms; the progression of concepts and techniques seemed endless. But I stayed with it, and eventually meditation became a respite rather than a struggle. I finally had the littlest doll in hand. I wrote this book with the hope that it would make unpacking these ideas easier for other parents than it was for me and simple enough to share with their children.

A growing body of scientific research supports what contemplatives have known for centuries: mindfulness and meditation develop a set of life skills that allow children, teens, and parents to relate to whats happening within and around them with more wisdom and compassion. Mindful Games teaches six of these life skillsFocusing, Quieting, Seeing, Reframing, Caring, and Connecting. I present them in a circle with Focusing at the center because steady, flexible attention supports the other five.