“This program is really phenomenal.  The proven mindfulness techniques that I worked to learn as an adult have been adapted in this program to teach them to children.  I wish I had learned any of this when I was a child!  What a blessing to be planting these seeds in our young.  As a third grader, my daughter has learned deep breathing exercises, and to practice mindfulness, and gratefulness, and patience, and learning to reframe disappointment… and honestly I’m learning right along with her!  

Perhaps most importantly, from my parental perspective, this is like teaching the brain muscle good exercises for the common childhood challenges of ADHD and anxiety.  

This class taught focus during each session with very fun videos and questions that my daughter LOVES – the graphics and animations are really beautiful and the questions really require that you pay attention and give such a feeling of joy and accomplishment!    This class also taught very important skills for managing anxiety.  I think a lot of kids have trouble expressing anxiety or even realizing when it is happening.   We have pulled skills from this class to help – star breathing, taking a quiet moment, and reframing the situation differently.  I also really liked when we all looked for circles in the room – I had never thought of that before and it’s a great exercise to refocus your mind.

As a family we all really enjoyed the gratefulness exercise, and we did this together at the dinner table.  One of our favorite things to do now is to say around the dinner table “what was your favorite part of today?”.  Hearing what our kids are grateful for (and they hear from us too), and making this a mostly daily habit, teaches our kids to look for the good in each day and also lets us as parents get a broader glimpse into their lives and thoughts.  I liked that we had simple homework each week, one task to learn or practice between classes.  One that was particularly special was making it a point to tell a family member or friend that they are special to us – quite simply something we all need to remember to do and it was a good reminder for me as well.

Unexpectedly, this class seems to have also led to increased independence.  At first, my daughter wanted me to join each time and she was a little nervous before each class.  By the end, she was asking me why it was over and how we could get the class extended AND she was participating on her own without needing me there.  She booted me out of the room last week because I was distracting her!  The virtual format was also really great because it allowed us to participate from Florida – a totally different state and time zone – without travel.

Gauri’s personality is absolutely perfect for this.  She is approachable, kind, gentle, supportive, and so positive.  The kids gravitate to her – I’m pretty sure my daughter, Sabrina, thinks Gauri hung the moon and the stars!  She makes this very relatable for the kids, and goes out of her way to be inclusive of everyone.  She’s like the big sister the kids participating have all adopted!  One of my favorite things she said was if you burn your pizza crust, just cut it off and eat the middle J.  This is a brilliant and very understandable metaphor for so many things in life!

Amit and Gauri – I want to sincerely thank you for putting this together and allowing us to participate and be a part of this.  Amit – you have a great daughter!”