Today Ashley speaks with two women who are making a significant difference in the lives of children. Children today need to have ways to work through stress, be more at peace, and be comfortable with who they are. Maleku’s Gift, A story about consciousness and the power of your own breath, helps parents and children learn how to come together and do the necessary work to help children. Join Ashley and Children’s Author, former child educator, and Doctor of Educational Psychology, Jill Reed, and Patricia Coester, Children’s Book Illustrator, breathwork teacher, coach, and psychotherapist, as we discuss the book and how it is going to help parents empower our children.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-ashley-berges-show--1272964/support.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-ashley-berges-show--1272964/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
You're in a good place now.You are listening to Perspectives with Ashley Burgess.
Welcome back life to litera True LifePerspectives, and I'm your host,
Ashley Burgess. On today's show,we have an amazing interview. We have
two women who are doing some amazingwork that are working to change the lives
(00:27):
of many children. And it's interestingbecause I think today more so than not,
and I think we've always had stressors, and we've always had anxiety,
and we've always had fear, andwe've all had these things our whole life.
But I think nowadays even more childrenneed to have ways of being able
to work through this. They needto have that ability to understand how to
(00:48):
create peace, to feel better,you know, just to feel more at
peace and more comfortable in their ownskin. And so I ran across this
amazing new children's book and it's calledMala Who's Gift, A story about consciousness
and the power of your own breath. And it's an amazing book and the
illustrations are quite remarkable, and it'snot just the illustrations, it's what the
(01:11):
book is about. It it's reallyhelping us to tell a story. It's
to really help children, but it'salso to help you know, parents,
and it's also to encourage, youknow, just being able to come together
and have this conversation, but alsoto be able to do this work that's
going to help kids across the world, across the country. And so joining
me first off, Jill Read.Jill is a children's book author and former
(01:34):
educator, a doctor in educational psychology, and Patricia Custer is a children's book
illustrator. She's also a breath workteacher, a coach, and a psychotherapist.
And both Jill and Patricia have cometogether to create this amazing book that
I think is going to help alot of children. It's going to also
help a lot of parents out therefeel better about how their children are and
(01:57):
what their children are going through.And it's going to also inspire I think,
you know, a change in oursociety where we're going to give power
and empower our children. Jill,Patricia, so happy to have you on
Live your True Life Perspectives. Thankyou, thank you. It's wonderful to
be here. It's amazing to haveyou both on. And let's start off
(02:17):
first off, because I know thatyou know you've created this, You've created
this amazing book. You've come togetheron this project together, and so let's
start off. You know, firstoff, Patricia, you know what is
some of the reasons why you createda Malacu's gift. Let's talk about it
from your perspective, and then Jillafter that about your perspective. Sure,
(02:38):
thank you. Well, it's along story. Actually it started like this
that in front of my window,like I saw monkeys because we both live
in Constrica, so I saw themand they kind of inspired me because they
are sitting here in nature and theyhaving a good time here. They are
(03:00):
so curious, and I just wantedto go back to to paintings and I
needed and I wanted to have aproject, and those monkey inspired me.
So I had an idea to createa children's book and the story about a
little monkey here in Costa Rica,and I knew I wanted to do that,
(03:25):
and I'm not a writer. Iam storyteller, but I'm not a
writer. So I found Chill,which was my really good luck, and
I'm asked her if she would liketo do with me a children's book,
and by surprise, she said yes. I always wanted to do that,
(03:47):
so I couldn't believe that in thebeginning, because I felt, really,
are you are you kidding me?And then we really did not together and
we started Actually it's all it's morethan a year ago. It must March
twenty two with our project, andyeah, I mean it goes on and
(04:09):
on. It's a beautiful project.And we learned so much in that project.
And for me personally, my passionabout this book is the longer I
am with our book, the moreI learn. And really it is for
me to really give the people,the educated, the children, all the
(04:29):
persons who want to read that bookmore consciousness about how they can use their
own breadth and how they can takeresponsibility for their own health. That's powerful.
Jill. I want your take onit too, because this is so
amazing. It's like you both cometogether for this project and both of you
have these streaks, various different streaks. So tell me more, Jill,
(04:51):
about your perspective. Sure. So, I have been a teacher or an
educator for or a coach those thingsfor a very long time, and I've
taught from very young children all theway up to adults, and I am
(05:11):
passionate about education and being in theclassroom and reaching students, And I think
for me, I love the factthat as a classroom teacher you have the
opportunity every day to work with children, work with people, make a difference,
be impactful. And when approached aboutan idea for a children's book,
(05:35):
and I've always wanted to write abook, so that was a no brainer,
but more importantly, a children's bookwhich has the potential to not just
reach twenty two or twenty five orthirty students in a classroom, but actually
beyond the classroom out into the worldlike globally. And so for me that
(05:56):
was really an important part of joiningthis project was the fact that we could
take a very powerful message and deliverit in such a way that it would
reach a very large audience. Andso for me, that's the piece that
brought me to the table to dothis project. And the message is so
(06:17):
timely and so important coming out ofthis, you know, the last few
years where we've experienced a lot ofanxiety and a lot of uncertainty, and
certainly our children, our young people, feed off of that, and so
this is just a way to reachkids and give them a tool that they
(06:40):
can use for a lifetime. Itotally agree with that, and I agree
with you, after everything that we'vegone through these last few years, it's
very timely at this point. Ithink it's always been important actually, but
I think now we're actually seeing howvery important it really is. And so,
you know, I find it interestingthat the parts of the book first
of all, you know, asfar as an educator, as far as
(07:01):
from a parent's perspective. But let'sjump in first. Um, you know,
thinking about first off, you know, with U with Malichu's gift and
the power of the breath understanding that, Patricia, you are a breathwork teacher.
Um, you know when when youstarted teaching this, do you work
(07:21):
with a lot of children for aperiod of time? I mean, and
then you saw how this can reallyimpact children? Or was it more from
a perspective of working with adults andseeing how they could have used breath work,
you know, at a certain ageand really had developed their life.
Because I think sometimes when you workwith adults you see what wish they could
have had when they were kids.Where where did that kind of perspective come
(07:43):
in and saying Okay, this needsto be adapted for children immediately at the
age of four or the age offive or the age of six. Yes,
I am coming from the perspective ofworking with adults. I was for
many many years I had a companyfor coaching, and I was only working
with adults. So breeding, Iteach to adults. And then when I
(08:07):
met my daughter got a child,I have a grandchild, that prospective came
very close to me because I sawall these children. You know, it
just was like again being with youngchildren. And that has inspired me too,
because I felt not only the breeding, but also to use, how
to use technology and all this thing, but getting back to breathing, how
(08:31):
important it is to give them atool, as still already said, for
their life. And I felt it'sso easy. Everything a child learns when
the child is small, it islike natural then to use It's like a
language. If you learn it fromthe beginning, it will be so natural.
(08:52):
If you learn it as an adult, it's always you always have to
kind of okay, I had thattool, but it's amazing when you learn
it from small it's just something youhave strayed with you and it's available.
So that was really my point.I wanted to give that to young children.
(09:13):
And now working with the book ofcourse, I get in contact much
more with young children, and it'sso beautiful how they how they how they
use the breath because a young child, like a baby, they always breeze
perfectly. Almost any child breezes likethat. And as soon they get older
(09:35):
they come into school, the breedingis changing because the mindset is changing.
And that's the interesting thing. Wecan help those Children's very powerful, you
know, Joe, coming from yourperspective, you know, being in the
educational system, you know, workingin education for a long time. I
(09:56):
bet this is something that I'm assumingbecause I haven't it often taught within schools.
This is something that's been missing fora while. Yes, I think
that's exactly right. It is somethingthat has been missing, and we've been
so fortunate, I think, inthe last few years to see classroom teachers
start to add some of these practicesinto mindfulness practices into their morning meetings if
(10:24):
they're so fortunate to do morning meetingsin their classroom. So we are starting
to see some of that come intothe classroom, and I think it is
so beneficial to help children learn thatit is okay to pause and be still.
We just don't see that very often, and so bringing this breathwork to
(10:46):
them, gives them an opportunity tojust relax and take a moment and pause
and listen to themselves, listen totheir own inner voice. And I think
that that is such a powerful toolto have in the classroom. You know,
often it gets very chaotic and noisyand rambunctious, and we think a
(11:07):
lot about classroom management and those sortsof things. But when we take the
time to add these small mindfulness piecesinto our regular routines, it can be
so impactful, and it can reallymake a difference in how these children perform
and how they behave, and howthey learn to take responsibility for themselves in
(11:28):
the classroom. I think it's justit's magical. Really, it is so
very powerful, it is, andI think there's something that definitely is necessary
for all humans for that matter.You know, Patricia, let me ask
you, because I think some peopleout there, you know, they're listening
to the show here on Literature lifeperspectives, maybe they don't understand exactly what
(11:48):
mindful breathing is. Can you kindof give us an explanation? Of course,
for me, it always starts likethere are so many breathwork teachers out
there and For me, it alwaysstarts with mindfulness and awareness because there are
a few exercises and if you don'tknow why you are doing them, it
(12:11):
doesn't really make sense. So mindfulbreeding for me means to pay attention to
my breath. We are breathing abouttwenty five thousand times a day unconsciously,
which makes totally sense that we don'thave to think about our breathing. But
to pay attention to our breath bringsus very close to ourselves and then in
(12:35):
that pose, in that stillness,we can make We can make a decision,
We can make a better decision.So mindful breeding first step is really
to become aware of your breath.How do I breathe? How do I
breathe? For example? Do Ibreathe into my chest, into my belly?
Do I breathe fast? Slow?It's only observing my breath, And
(13:00):
then the second part would be okay, how do I breathe for example when
I am in front of the screenor when I am in a conflict situation.
So my breathing is changing, justto be aware of that, and
step by step, when you knowyourself better, you become more aware of
(13:20):
everything around you, about anything aboutcommunication, about just everything. So it
is a wonderful tool to really startand it never ends. You know,
It's not something you start and thenin a year you are done with that.
You start, and that door willnever close again because it's just like
(13:41):
a path. True. That's sotrue. And when we return to be
talking more about this, more aboutthe power of breath. So stay tuned,
don't change the channel. Literal TrueLife Perspectives, your host me asking
Verdus will be back in I'll beback this time and two shakes, jurn
(14:07):
it up and jump in the deepend on Perspectives. Now here's Ashley.
Welcome back live to Literature Life Perspectivesand I'm your host, Ashley Burgess.
On today's show, two amazing children'sauthors joined me illustrators breath Work Masters.
You know, it's really interesting JillPatricia, when we were talking earlier in
(14:28):
the show, talking about what breathwork is and understanding that also talking about
you know, your time in theclassroom and understand what's necessary. I think
this is obviously a passion for bothof you, you know, Jill from
your perspective, you know, writingthis book, putting together this book,
working with Patricia you know what ignitesthat, what passion is ignited through this
(14:48):
process? Oh, for me,that's that's an awesome question. I think
for me, it just really ishas been such a journey to see how
well received this message is and justhow open people are to trying this not
(15:09):
only in the classroom, but inthe home and outside of the home and
just working to really take charge ofum being active and involved in their kids'
lives and putting down their phone andreally spending more impactful time with their kids.
So for me, it's been awesometo see that blossom. That's really
(15:33):
cool, Patricia, your passion behindthis, what is ignited? You know
when y'all were putting together this bookand co creating this, you know what
was really ignited through that work thaty'all did together. Well, it's a
lot about especially really really to givethe people and and everybody who wants to
(15:54):
see that or read the book togif like a tool, you know,
because it's it is a children's book, but first of all, the adults
can use it too, And wealways speak about that the parents have to
be a role model. And sowhen you start with breathing exercise with very
(16:15):
very young children, you kind ofhave to do with them together, so
you spend time with them while you'redoing something very funny and beautiful. So
it helps you as a parent,and it helps the child. It brings
you also closer together, and itbrings you also into nature because breathing is
nothing else than using your pure nature. So for me, there are like
(16:40):
a lot of aspects. It's beautifulfor me to do it together with Ill.
Also, it's very important that weare a very good king and bring
that together into the world. Travela lot for the book and have the
opportunity to share it with so manypeople. That's beautiful. It's it's really
a dream coming true for me.I think that's powerful as being able to
(17:03):
share that, being able to connectwith that, you know, Jill,
coming from you know, I knowas an educator, you're an educator.
We can talk more about that herein this next segment. But coming as
from a mother's perspective, you know, as a mother, what do you
want to see mother's gain from,you know, from having this book and
sharing this book with their children?Oh gosh, um So, I you
know, I'm passionate about it becauseI feel so strongly that children need the
(17:26):
opportunity to be out in nature andjust play and grow and and be challenged
and be bored sometimes and be curious. And that's part of the whole reason
I moved my kids to Costa Rica, and so I'm very passionate about that.
And I love that this tool breathwork is so simple, so easy,
(17:47):
so quick, and you can learnit so fast, and it gives
you the opportunity to spend more timewith your child and to engage in that
way. It's just it's it's wonderful, Ashley. That's powerful. When we
were term, we have a lotto talk about. So I don't want
anybody changing the channel. Don't changethat. You want to stick with us
here because I'll live your true lifeperspective. We're interviewing some of the most
pertinent relevant authors and artists and peoplethat are actually doing the things that we
(18:11):
really need to connect with. AndI think that you know, being able
to listen to Patricia and Jill's passionand understanding where they're coming from and how
they're trying to work to not onlyhelp children, but help our society today.
And I think that many of usand many of you that are listening
to the show. Have had alot of stress, have dealt with anxiety,
have dealt with your children, havinganxiety and fear because of the things
that have changed in this world,and being able to connect with that and
(18:33):
also being able to do something together. And that's what this is all about.
Being able to share experiences and sharethis type of situation together and that's
what's powerful. So stay tuned.We have a lot more coming up.
Don't change the channel. Live yourtrue life Perspectives with me. Your host,
Ashley Burgess, will be back inI'll be back this time. I'll
be back this time in two shakes. This is Jake Busey and you're listening
(19:10):
to Perspectives with Ashley Burges. Welcomeback live to look at true life perspectives
and I'm your host, Ashley Burgess. On today's show, I have the
ability to talk with Jill Read andPatricia Customer, which are amazing children's book
authors, but also breathwork. Wehave education in psychology. We also you
know, psychotherapy coaching, so wehave not only people that are very educated,
(19:34):
but they're using their abilities to reallyput it into something that's really not
only palatable, but also something that'sfunctional and that helps children and also helps
adults and helps parents and help schooldistricts and helps everybody to try to get,
you know, just a better fingeron the pulse, just to be
able to calm. And I thinkone of the things that we need is,
(19:55):
you know, is that breathwork andthat ability to be mindful and that
consciousness and that conscious effort in thethis goes for kids very much as well
as parents. And so when welook at the book, first off,
I love this book, and it'samazing, and there's in the book there's
actually a party that's really cool,and you can see the matter horn obviously,
and you can see you Malku's climbedthe steep matter horn and after she's
(20:17):
hungry, she hopes her new friendswould show her how to eat this new
food, but she saw they werebusy, and then all of a sudden,
a little scared, she looks aroundand she sees a bee. And
so, okay, from both y'all'sperspective, Jill, if you want to
start, tell me a little bitabout this, and then I want to
jump in with Patricia, tell mea little bit more about this part and
kind of the background behind this,because I think this is this is pretty
(20:37):
profound and this is something that evenadults could be scared about, but also
kids as well. Oh my gosh, absolutely. I mean if I can't
even tell you the number of timesmy kids have refused to eat something,
right. So this was this wasan idea that we had. We wanted
Malaiku to be traveling around the worldand one of the places we have her
(21:00):
stop as Switzerland, and of coursethere is a food there that we all
know, fondue, but Malayku ofcourse has no clue. So she is
very nervous about trying this new food. And I think that resonates with everyone.
I don't care how old you are, how young you are, everyone's
been nervous about trying something new,food or otherwise. So this was a
(21:22):
great opportunity for us to incorporate abreathwork exercise that is very simple and can
be done anywhere, anytime. Andso that's sort of where we are here
in this picture. And it wasalso important to us to point out that
when Malayku looks to her friends forassistance, they're too busy and part of
(21:48):
that and every time I read thisstory to children, I say, what
are their friends doing? And thekids are very quick to say they're on
their phone, and so obviously wehave hit the nail on the head here.
And it's just it's really a greatlittle exercise. And I'm going to
pass it over to Patricia because shedoes this exercise so well with these kids
(22:11):
when we visit in classrooms. Sure, sure, thank you. Yeah.
I mean, there are a lotof breeding exercises, but this one is
funny because it's the humming sound.It's all exercise. It comes from yoga.
I have not invented. That's thatbreeding exercise, but of course that
(22:33):
the young children love if there isanother animal flying around. And actually what
you are doing is you are inhaling, very important, always through the nose,
not through the mouse. And whileyou are exhaling, you put your
hands over your ears and then youmake the humming sounds, so you imitate
the bee and that creates like asound inside of you because you can hear
(23:02):
yourself doing the humming sound, andit really really calms your nervous system.
You can feel it straight away.It calms your very nervous system. And
after that exercise, repeating it twoor three times, you feel very calm
but also focused. Not just sleepy, very focused and it's easy. I
(23:25):
agree, you cannot do it everywhere, but it's because it's a little bit
loud, you know. But youcan do it softly, you know,
but just very very soft voice andyou hear yourself breathing, and it's kind
of difficult to do it right nowhere. It would kind of sound a
little bit weird. But just imaginea bee and imitate that bee. And
(23:49):
you can also play with your voice. You can make a higher or a
lower voice, and it's really funnyand it's so useful. That's cool,
mean, like being able to createthat and then having not only having like
that sound, but also kind ofthat that pulsation or that you know,
that kind of that feeling as well, that vibe as well when you're when
(24:10):
you're doing that exercise. Yeah,that's really cool. That's really need.
That's that's I guess you can't doit everywhere, that's true. That's pretty
funny. Yeah, you're like you'reyou're you're on the airplane. You're like,
okay, here we go. We'regonna like stress on being on a
plane or something like that. Sothere's like lots of different types of exercises
(24:33):
you could do almost like if youwere doing like active or passive um.
You know, meditation, Patricia,is that kind of like you have all
kinds of different avenues to be ableto take the breath work. You can
make it very interesting, very fun, that type of thing um that can
actually get you know, a childmore interested in actually pursuing this. Yes,
(24:53):
and also I mean usually the childif we talk about children, I
would say you actually the child wantsto have an exercise or needs to have
an exercise, especially in classroom whenthey calm down and they can focus better.
But we as an adult, wesometimes need to have more energy,
you know when we get up inthe morning and we don't need to be
(25:15):
calmed down. We need to haveenergy. So we are breathing totally different.
That's the nine thing with breath work. You know, you choose what
you need. So if you needto have energy, you are not going
to do long and soft exhale.You are going to put energy in your
breath. You might breathe a littlebit faster and fuller to bring more more
(25:38):
really like energy into your body.And that's the amazing thing. Or we
have also an exercise in the book, which we call when when sometimes our
children are angry. You know,it's normal we are angry sometimes too.
So we have another breathing exercise whereyou really exhale very strongly all these emotions,
(26:00):
you know, and it's really helpful. It is helpful, and we
can use it as an adult andas a child. There are boths for
bows. That's very cool, andyou're right, you need different type of
breathing for different situations. If youwant to have more energy or you want
to calm down. Definitely totally oppositedirections. Um so, let's let's jump
(26:22):
a minute to the concept of balancingthe screen time. I see that a
lot of us at any age needsto balance screen time. You know.
I'll go into a restaurant and it'sfunny how you see everybody's on their phone.
And I actually have a thing inmy family where we go to a
restaurant. It's like, okay,we all everybody you know puts our phone
to the right or the left togetherturned over and it's funny because the first
(26:48):
person that grabs our phone, itcauses a domino effect. But anyway,
so you know, start off,you know, Jill, if you want
to start off you know, youknow, I like this because you know,
you see that there's a need forthis, and this is a big
thing because screen time is huge withadults and children. I mean, I
see it constantly, and so tellme more about the need to balance that
or you know, and how toreally do that. Yeah, it really,
(27:12):
you know, it's become such apowerful thing for us, especially in
the last few years when we've transitionedto doing everything online zoom meetings and classroom
online, and you know, ourkids have just gotten more and more used
to having the screen in their life. And I think that the purpose of
(27:33):
our book is not to say thatthe screen is necessarily a bad thing.
In fact, what we're saying isthat technology is a great tool. It's
a great tool for exploring our worldand informing our minds. But you know,
it's also extremely beneficial when we stepaway from it and we're able to
listen not only to ourselves, butalso to others around us, be observant
(27:56):
and reconnect. And so you know, we have we've come up with a
few a few ideas to help yourchild manage that screen time and you manage
that screen time. And so oneof those things is to offer alternatives,
you know, find out, talkto your child, ask your child questions,
(28:18):
what's your child passionate about, andoffer alternatives that speak to that passion
for your child. And number twowould be to set up a screen free
zone in your home. And oneeasy way to do that is to say,
okay, the dining room or thekitchen table is a screen free zone.
And then the third would be toset limits and set expectations. So
(28:42):
not just say to your child,you know, don't sneak in the back
way and set on your Apple settings. Okay, my kid's phone turns off
after an hour, but actually talkto your child about that, set the
expectation, explain why we're doing this. And then step four, of course,
would be the model you are modelingall day long, every day for
(29:03):
your child, whenever you're with yourchild. So it's it's up to us
as parents and caregivers and educators toput our screens down in a very conscious
way and use that time to engagewith our kids, read together, go
outside, play games. My kidsjust got this new game, Exploding Kittens,
(29:26):
and they are all about it rightnow, so we play that every
evening. Make time for that.It's really quite simple. I agree with
you, and it's interesting how weYou know you are a role model for
your child. Actually, you know, we're all role models for everybody.
I was in a meeting the otherday and literally people were like they were
picking up their phone, putting theirphone down, picking up their phone,
(29:47):
putting their phone down. I waslike, oh my gosh. I mean
I saw somebody pick up their phonelike sixty times, and it almost made
me start doing it too. Iwas like, well, I want to
as well. Just hold on themine because I'm gonna need it. You
know, Patricia, what are yourthoughts on screen time? Because I think
I think this is very relevant nowadaysfor everybody listening. Yeah, I mean
you said that very well, Chill, and I would say, you know,
(30:08):
we don't know. We have somany options today. We I mean,
our world has become so complex andactually we don't know how it's going
to be in five years. Everybodyspeaks now about artificial intelligence, and so
we need to take care of ourselvesbecause if we don't, I don't know
(30:29):
where we are going to end.Because we can't stop that. And as
Chill said, it's not about thatit's bad, but we have to be
conscious about that. And we mustkind of teach ourself and our children,
because if I say it from aperspective of breeding, when we spend a
lot of time starring at screens,we really tend to breathe shallow and unconsciously.
(30:53):
So this can really lead to stress, anxiety, and a lot of
tension in our body, and eveneye problems and neck pain. So again,
when you focus on your breath,you can bring yourself into the present
moment and cultivate a sense of calm. So again here, if you really
(31:15):
voluntarily change the rights or the depthand pattern of your breathing, you can
change the messages being sent from yourbody's respiratory system to your brain. You
can actually hack into your nervous system. And it's all here. We just
have to use it. And Ithink that's what it is. You know,
we are getting As you said,Ashley, you know it's the same
(31:40):
for everybody you are somewhere and thepeople including me. Sometimes we are addicted
to that phone. We cannot beanymore without it. So we have to
teach our children the world is notinside the phone. The world is around
us, and the phone is atool and not more. And I think
(32:00):
that's the message also from our book. It's a tool. So that's kind
of my sharing about that. You'reright, it's a tool, and a
lot of times people have it whereit's taking over their life. And I
think that's I mean, because therereally is, you know, cell phone
addiction. I mean, this isreally really prevalent, and nowadays, you
know, I see people like crossingthe street and not even looking in their
(32:22):
face, their eyes are stuck inthe screen. You know, It's it's
unbelievable. And I think our abilityto be able to remember or to retain
information is kind of going by thewayside too, because of all the screen
time and all the stuff that's happening. So first of all, I want
to ask, because we need tomake sure we can get this out there.
(32:42):
Where do we find you? Andhow do we find the book and
and all that information. Sure,so we have a website, Malaiku's Gift
dot com, where we have plentyof free breathing exercises that you can find
there, and also you can reachout to us if you're interested and learning
more. Our book is available inpaperback on Amazon dot com and hardback on
(33:06):
Barnes and Noble dot com and weare very exciting. We're also on Instagram
sorry at Malaku's Gift on Instagram andwe're also very excited. We are planning
right now our Costa Rica edition ofour books, so we have a lot
of cool things coming up that wewill be putting on our website. So
(33:28):
do check there for updates about newsand events around malak Wu's gift. That
is awesome. That is awesome,So cool that y'all are in Costa Rica's
so neat. And for everybody justlistening to the show, I mean,
this is what you know, Thisis what it's about. It doesn't it
doesn't just apply to children, Itapplies to adults as well. It applies
to the whole family dynamic. AndI think that when we start seeing that,
and I think that many of youlistening you understand, you know,
(33:50):
we have that screen time addiction andit's and sometimes you know, you know,
we learn something from our phone,sometimes we need to take the call,
and sometimes we're just on it becauseit's it's habit for me and it's
addictive, and so this can reallyhelp. And then being that example to
your children and working with the breathworkand being able to do that too.
It's going to help you too.It's everybody's going to have benefits. So
when we return, Jill and Patriciaare actually going to give us their nuggets
(34:14):
of wisdom, a concept that theyhaven't shared with us yet, but something
that they want to share with ourcommunity. They want to share with my
listeners, with all of us sothat we can really connect and get to
understand them as well as learning somethingthat's interesting because we all have those nuggets
of wisdom that we can share withothers that make their life even better.
So stay tuned, don't change thechannel. We have that coming up.
We want to talk about that.And you know, this is something that
(34:36):
we can all share together and understand. This is a human right of passage.
This is who we are. We'rebreathing human beings that have this capability.
We might as well use it tocalm ourselves down, to lessen our
anxiety, and to be even happier. So stay tuned. Literatrue Life Perspectives
with me, your host, AshleyBurgess will be back in I'll be back
this time. I'll be back thistime Into Shapes. Get in here.
(35:10):
You're listening to Perspectives with Ashley Burgess. Welcome back live to Ligatrue Life Perspectives
and I'm your host, Ashley Burgess. I've been talking to Patricia and Jill
in our show and they're amazing howthey came together and created this amazing book.
And it's not just a book.I think it's a movement. And
you know, at this point it'stime to do the deeper dive because you
(35:30):
know, when somebody creates this typeof concept, creates this type of amazing
you know, something that you cantouch, something that you can use,
something that you can integrate in yourlife. We want to know a little
bit more about them. So Patricia, give me one nugget of wisdom that
you would like to share with theLigatue Life community. Yeah, sure,
thank you. Well. For meespecially, it is really to take responsibility
(35:53):
for myself for my health because Isee sometimes that many many people think,
okay, anybody who else can solvethis problem for my for you or I
just have a problem, I goto the doctor, or I have a
conflict, so it's it's it's theother person who makes a conflict. So
for me, it is really reallyto take responsibility and that is actually what
(36:15):
Maleku is doing. She kind oftakes responsibility and she's really caring about herself.
She's using her breath, and that'sreally my point. You know.
It sometimes feel like if in anysituation, you have something, let's say
you have a conflict with your partner, and you think, oh, he
(36:36):
doesn't understand me. It's always him, but it's not true. It's you.
You have to adapt to the otherperson that the other person can understand
you, and that is kind oftaking responsibility for anything in your life.
And that's what I that's really reallywhat I try to live. I'm not
(36:57):
always able, but it's really myway of and that's what I really would
like to share with all of you. I love that taking responsibility, taking
responsibility for your life, and that'sa big thing. That's a huge thing
actually in Patricia, I love thatyou share that because that is really something
that we all need to be doing. And I think many of us here,
especially everybody that's listening to this show, is really trying to do that
in their own life and it reallybuilds self awareness and character. I really
(37:21):
appreciate that, Jill. I wantto hear You're not gonna wisdom absolutely so
for me, it's really about listeningto your heart and making space for self
discovery and peace, and also allowingyourself to walk through your fear. I
(37:42):
had never written a children's book.I have never written a book. I've
written a dissertation, but not abook. And it's always been a dream
of mine to do that, butfor whatever reason, I've been afraid to
do that. And meeting Patricia andmaking our partnership made that opportunity possible.
And it really has opened up somany doors and so many conversations and just
(38:07):
a world of really wonderful opportunities.And I think that's what Malaiku is doing.
You know, she's curious, she'salso listening to her heart. She's
also embracing the world around her andwalking through her fears. And I think
that's a lesson all of us cantake away from the book and all of
(38:28):
us can employ in our own lives. Yeah, that's definitely powerful and and
and it's interesting when you know thesenuggets of wisdom or so I ask these
because it's interesting to get kind ofjust a deeper dive and you know,
lasting thoughts. I mean, youknow, you'll you'll put this book together.
Do you all have other um,do you have other books in mind
that you're gonna be working on,Jill Patricia, we do. We've been
(38:51):
talking about how we can incorporate moreideas around UH Costa Rica and sustainability and
how we listen to ourselves and howwe're able to again take responsibility. So
those are some of the topics we'vebeen discussing. I like that, I
really like that. That's that's areally good direction. I think that's going
(39:14):
to be well received. I haveappreciated having y'all on the show, I
mean amazing, and I'm just Ilove the book. I love what you're
doing to open the doors, youknow, mentally, emotionally, spiritually for
children and their parents, and Ijust think that this is going to be
super well received. Thank you verymuch for having us. Thank Ashley.
(39:34):
I'm so glad to have y'all on. I look forward to having you on
in the future and your future projectsand definitely keep me on breast of what's
going on there. Amazing, youknow, Jill Patricia are amazing folks and
just amazing women doing some really goodwork. And so for everybody, let's
listened to this show today. Youknow, it's about it's about connecting with
your family, connecting with your children. You know, remember we have to
be responsible for ourselves and also rememberthat we are role models to our children,
(39:59):
to the people around us, andpeople do look up to us.
And sometimes even when we don't knowthat people are looking, or even if
we don't think our children are looking, they are, and so being able
to be aware of that and knowingthat we can use that in a powerful,
safe, healthy way to inspire andso this is so neat. So
definitely check out the book, goon Amazon and you're gonna be able to
find the links, and if you'relistening to later on in the podcast after
(40:22):
the radio show, the links willbe in the podcast description so that you
can go and find that directly andimmediately. So for everybody listening, thank
you for tuning in, thank youfor keeping the channel on there and listening
to the full interviews. We haveanother show for you up next week.
But in the meantime, remember it'sabout you. It's up to you and
guess what. We have the abilityto do what we want to do,
and we have the ability to empowerourselves and empower those around us. Live
(40:44):
your true life perspectives with your hostme Astley Burgess will be back in I'll
be back this time in three shakes,
You're in a good place now.You are listening to Perspectives with Ashley Burgess.
Welcome back life to litera True LifePerspectives, and I'm your host,
Ashley Burgess. On today's show,we have an amazing interview. We have
two women who are doing some amazingwork that are working to change the lives
(00:27):
of many children. And it's interestingbecause I think today more so than not,
and I think we've always had stressors, and we've always had anxiety,
and we've always had fear, andwe've all had these things our whole life.
But I think nowadays even more childrenneed to have ways of being able
to work through this. They needto have that ability to understand how to
(00:48):
create peace, to feel better,you know, just to feel more at
peace and more comfortable in their ownskin. And so I ran across this
amazing new children's book and it's calledMala Who's Gift, A story about consciousness
and the power of your own breath. And it's an amazing book and the
illustrations are quite remarkable, and it'snot just the illustrations, it's what the
(01:11):
book is about. It it's reallyhelping us to tell a story. It's
to really help children, but it'salso to help you know, parents,
and it's also to encourage, youknow, just being able to come together
and have this conversation, but alsoto be able to do this work that's
going to help kids across the world, across the country. And so joining
me first off, Jill Read.Jill is a children's book author and former
(01:34):
educator, a doctor in educational psychology, and Patricia Custer is a children's book
illustrator. She's also a breath workteacher, a coach, and a psychotherapist.
And both Jill and Patricia have cometogether to create this amazing book that
I think is going to help alot of children. It's going to also
help a lot of parents out therefeel better about how their children are and
(01:57):
what their children are going through.And it's going to also inspire I think,
you know, a change in oursociety where we're going to give power
and empower our children. Jill,Patricia, so happy to have you on
Live your True Life Perspectives. Thankyou, thank you. It's wonderful to
be here. It's amazing to haveyou both on. And let's start off
(02:17):
first off, because I know thatyou know you've created this, You've created
this amazing book. You've come togetheron this project together, and so let's
start off. You know, firstoff, Patricia, you know what is
some of the reasons why you createda Malacu's gift. Let's talk about it
from your perspective, and then Jillafter that about your perspective. Sure,
(02:38):
thank you. Well, it's along story. Actually it started like this
that in front of my window,like I saw monkeys because we both live
in Constrica, so I saw themand they kind of inspired me because they
are sitting here in nature and theyhaving a good time here. They are
(03:00):
so curious, and I just wantedto go back to to paintings and I
needed and I wanted to have aproject, and those monkey inspired me.
So I had an idea to createa children's book and the story about a
little monkey here in Costa Rica,and I knew I wanted to do that,
(03:25):
and I'm not a writer. Iam storyteller, but I'm not a
writer. So I found Chill,which was my really good luck, and
I'm asked her if she would liketo do with me a children's book,
and by surprise, she said yes. I always wanted to do that,
(03:47):
so I couldn't believe that in thebeginning, because I felt, really,
are you are you kidding me?And then we really did not together and
we started Actually it's all it's morethan a year ago. It must March
twenty two with our project, andyeah, I mean it goes on and
(04:09):
on. It's a beautiful project.And we learned so much in that project.
And for me personally, my passionabout this book is the longer I
am with our book, the moreI learn. And really it is for
me to really give the people,the educated, the children, all the
(04:29):
persons who want to read that bookmore consciousness about how they can use their
own breadth and how they can takeresponsibility for their own health. That's powerful.
Jill. I want your take onit too, because this is so
amazing. It's like you both cometogether for this project and both of you
have these streaks, various different streaks. So tell me more, Jill,
(04:51):
about your perspective. Sure. So, I have been a teacher or an
educator for or a coach those thingsfor a very long time, and I've
taught from very young children all theway up to adults, and I am
(05:11):
passionate about education and being in theclassroom and reaching students, And I think
for me, I love the factthat as a classroom teacher you have the
opportunity every day to work with children, work with people, make a difference,
be impactful. And when approached aboutan idea for a children's book,
(05:35):
and I've always wanted to write abook, so that was a no brainer,
but more importantly, a children's bookwhich has the potential to not just
reach twenty two or twenty five orthirty students in a classroom, but actually
beyond the classroom out into the worldlike globally. And so for me that
(05:56):
was really an important part of joiningthis project was the fact that we could
take a very powerful message and deliverit in such a way that it would
reach a very large audience. Andso for me, that's the piece that
brought me to the table to dothis project. And the message is so
(06:17):
timely and so important coming out ofthis, you know, the last few
years where we've experienced a lot ofanxiety and a lot of uncertainty, and
certainly our children, our young people, feed off of that, and so
this is just a way to reachkids and give them a tool that they
(06:40):
can use for a lifetime. Itotally agree with that, and I agree
with you, after everything that we'vegone through these last few years, it's
very timely at this point. Ithink it's always been important actually, but
I think now we're actually seeing howvery important it really is. And so,
you know, I find it interestingthat the parts of the book first
of all, you know, asfar as an educator, as far as
(07:01):
from a parent's perspective. But let'sjump in first. Um, you know,
thinking about first off, you know, with U with Malichu's gift and
the power of the breath understanding that, Patricia, you are a breathwork teacher.
Um, you know when when youstarted teaching this, do you work
(07:21):
with a lot of children for aperiod of time? I mean, and
then you saw how this can reallyimpact children? Or was it more from
a perspective of working with adults andseeing how they could have used breath work,
you know, at a certain ageand really had developed their life.
Because I think sometimes when you workwith adults you see what wish they could
have had when they were kids.Where where did that kind of perspective come
(07:43):
in and saying Okay, this needsto be adapted for children immediately at the
age of four or the age offive or the age of six. Yes,
I am coming from the perspective ofworking with adults. I was for
many many years I had a companyfor coaching, and I was only working
with adults. So breeding, Iteach to adults. And then when I
(08:07):
met my daughter got a child,I have a grandchild, that prospective came
very close to me because I sawall these children. You know, it
just was like again being with youngchildren. And that has inspired me too,
because I felt not only the breeding, but also to use, how
to use technology and all this thing, but getting back to breathing, how
(08:31):
important it is to give them atool, as still already said, for
their life. And I felt it'sso easy. Everything a child learns when
the child is small, it islike natural then to use It's like a
language. If you learn it fromthe beginning, it will be so natural.
(08:52):
If you learn it as an adult, it's always you always have to
kind of okay, I had thattool, but it's amazing when you learn
it from small it's just something youhave strayed with you and it's available.
So that was really my point.I wanted to give that to young children.
(09:13):
And now working with the book ofcourse, I get in contact much
more with young children, and it'sso beautiful how they how they how they
use the breath because a young child, like a baby, they always breeze
perfectly. Almost any child breezes likethat. And as soon they get older
(09:35):
they come into school, the breedingis changing because the mindset is changing.
And that's the interesting thing. Wecan help those Children's very powerful, you
know, Joe, coming from yourperspective, you know, being in the
educational system, you know, workingin education for a long time. I
(09:56):
bet this is something that I'm assumingbecause I haven't it often taught within schools.
This is something that's been missing fora while. Yes, I think
that's exactly right. It is somethingthat has been missing, and we've been
so fortunate, I think, inthe last few years to see classroom teachers
start to add some of these practicesinto mindfulness practices into their morning meetings if
(10:24):
they're so fortunate to do morning meetingsin their classroom. So we are starting
to see some of that come intothe classroom, and I think it is
so beneficial to help children learn thatit is okay to pause and be still.
We just don't see that very often, and so bringing this breathwork to
(10:46):
them, gives them an opportunity tojust relax and take a moment and pause
and listen to themselves, listen totheir own inner voice. And I think
that that is such a powerful toolto have in the classroom. You know,
often it gets very chaotic and noisyand rambunctious, and we think a
(11:07):
lot about classroom management and those sortsof things. But when we take the
time to add these small mindfulness piecesinto our regular routines, it can be
so impactful, and it can reallymake a difference in how these children perform
and how they behave, and howthey learn to take responsibility for themselves in
(11:28):
the classroom. I think it's justit's magical. Really, it is so
very powerful, it is, andI think there's something that definitely is necessary
for all humans for that matter.You know, Patricia, let me ask
you, because I think some peopleout there, you know, they're listening
to the show here on Literature lifeperspectives, maybe they don't understand exactly what
(11:48):
mindful breathing is. Can you kindof give us an explanation? Of course,
for me, it always starts likethere are so many breathwork teachers out
there and For me, it alwaysstarts with mindfulness and awareness because there are
a few exercises and if you don'tknow why you are doing them, it
(12:11):
doesn't really make sense. So mindfulbreeding for me means to pay attention to
my breath. We are breathing abouttwenty five thousand times a day unconsciously,
which makes totally sense that we don'thave to think about our breathing. But
to pay attention to our breath bringsus very close to ourselves and then in
(12:35):
that pose, in that stillness,we can make We can make a decision,
We can make a better decision.So mindful breeding first step is really
to become aware of your breath.How do I breathe? How do I
breathe? For example? Do Ibreathe into my chest, into my belly?
Do I breathe fast? Slow?It's only observing my breath, And
(13:00):
then the second part would be okay, how do I breathe for example when
I am in front of the screenor when I am in a conflict situation.
So my breathing is changing, justto be aware of that, and
step by step, when you knowyourself better, you become more aware of
(13:20):
everything around you, about anything aboutcommunication, about just everything. So it
is a wonderful tool to really startand it never ends. You know,
It's not something you start and thenin a year you are done with that.
You start, and that door willnever close again because it's just like
(13:41):
a path. True. That's sotrue. And when we return to be
talking more about this, more aboutthe power of breath. So stay tuned,
don't change the channel. Literal TrueLife Perspectives, your host me asking
Verdus will be back in I'll beback this time and two shakes, jurn
(14:07):
it up and jump in the deepend on Perspectives. Now here's Ashley.
Welcome back live to Literature Life Perspectivesand I'm your host, Ashley Burgess.
On today's show, two amazing children'sauthors joined me illustrators breath Work Masters.
You know, it's really interesting JillPatricia, when we were talking earlier in
(14:28):
the show, talking about what breathwork is and understanding that also talking about
you know, your time in theclassroom and understand what's necessary. I think
this is obviously a passion for bothof you, you know, Jill from
your perspective, you know, writingthis book, putting together this book,
working with Patricia you know what ignitesthat, what passion is ignited through this
(14:48):
process? Oh, for me,that's that's an awesome question. I think
for me, it just really ishas been such a journey to see how
well received this message is and justhow open people are to trying this not
(15:09):
only in the classroom, but inthe home and outside of the home and
just working to really take charge ofum being active and involved in their kids'
lives and putting down their phone andreally spending more impactful time with their kids.
So for me, it's been awesometo see that blossom. That's really
(15:33):
cool, Patricia, your passion behindthis, what is ignited? You know
when y'all were putting together this bookand co creating this, you know what
was really ignited through that work thaty'all did together. Well, it's a
lot about especially really really to givethe people and and everybody who wants to
(15:54):
see that or read the book togif like a tool, you know,
because it's it is a children's book, but first of all, the adults
can use it too, And wealways speak about that the parents have to
be a role model. And sowhen you start with breathing exercise with very
(16:15):
very young children, you kind ofhave to do with them together, so
you spend time with them while you'redoing something very funny and beautiful. So
it helps you as a parent,and it helps the child. It brings
you also closer together, and itbrings you also into nature because breathing is
nothing else than using your pure nature. So for me, there are like
(16:40):
a lot of aspects. It's beautifulfor me to do it together with Ill.
Also, it's very important that weare a very good king and bring
that together into the world. Travela lot for the book and have the
opportunity to share it with so manypeople. That's beautiful. It's it's really
a dream coming true for me.I think that's powerful as being able to
(17:03):
share that, being able to connectwith that, you know, Jill,
coming from you know, I knowas an educator, you're an educator.
We can talk more about that herein this next segment. But coming as
from a mother's perspective, you know, as a mother, what do you
want to see mother's gain from,you know, from having this book and
sharing this book with their children?Oh gosh, um So, I you
know, I'm passionate about it becauseI feel so strongly that children need the
(17:26):
opportunity to be out in nature andjust play and grow and and be challenged
and be bored sometimes and be curious. And that's part of the whole reason
I moved my kids to Costa Rica, and so I'm very passionate about that.
And I love that this tool breathwork is so simple, so easy,
(17:47):
so quick, and you can learnit so fast, and it gives
you the opportunity to spend more timewith your child and to engage in that
way. It's just it's it's wonderful, Ashley. That's powerful. When we
were term, we have a lotto talk about. So I don't want
anybody changing the channel. Don't changethat. You want to stick with us
here because I'll live your true lifeperspective. We're interviewing some of the most
pertinent relevant authors and artists and peoplethat are actually doing the things that we
(18:11):
really need to connect with. AndI think that you know, being able
to listen to Patricia and Jill's passionand understanding where they're coming from and how
they're trying to work to not onlyhelp children, but help our society today.
And I think that many of usand many of you that are listening
to the show. Have had alot of stress, have dealt with anxiety,
have dealt with your children, havinganxiety and fear because of the things
that have changed in this world,and being able to connect with that and
(18:33):
also being able to do something together. And that's what this is all about.
Being able to share experiences and sharethis type of situation together and that's
what's powerful. So stay tuned.We have a lot more coming up.
Don't change the channel. Live yourtrue life Perspectives with me. Your host,
Ashley Burgess, will be back inI'll be back this time. I'll
be back this time in two shakes. This is Jake Busey and you're listening
(19:10):
to Perspectives with Ashley Burges. Welcomeback live to look at true life perspectives
and I'm your host, Ashley Burgess. On today's show, I have the
ability to talk with Jill Read andPatricia Customer, which are amazing children's book
authors, but also breathwork. Wehave education in psychology. We also you
know, psychotherapy coaching, so wehave not only people that are very educated,
(19:34):
but they're using their abilities to reallyput it into something that's really not
only palatable, but also something that'sfunctional and that helps children and also helps
adults and helps parents and help schooldistricts and helps everybody to try to get,
you know, just a better fingeron the pulse, just to be
able to calm. And I thinkone of the things that we need is,
(19:55):
you know, is that breathwork andthat ability to be mindful and that
consciousness and that conscious effort in thethis goes for kids very much as well
as parents. And so when welook at the book, first off,
I love this book, and it'samazing, and there's in the book there's
actually a party that's really cool,and you can see the matter horn obviously,
and you can see you Malku's climbedthe steep matter horn and after she's
(20:17):
hungry, she hopes her new friendswould show her how to eat this new
food, but she saw they werebusy, and then all of a sudden,
a little scared, she looks aroundand she sees a bee. And
so, okay, from both y'all'sperspective, Jill, if you want to
start, tell me a little bitabout this, and then I want to
jump in with Patricia, tell mea little bit more about this part and
kind of the background behind this,because I think this is this is pretty
(20:37):
profound and this is something that evenadults could be scared about, but also
kids as well. Oh my gosh, absolutely. I mean if I can't
even tell you the number of timesmy kids have refused to eat something,
right. So this was this wasan idea that we had. We wanted
Malaiku to be traveling around the worldand one of the places we have her
(21:00):
stop as Switzerland, and of coursethere is a food there that we all
know, fondue, but Malayku ofcourse has no clue. So she is
very nervous about trying this new food. And I think that resonates with everyone.
I don't care how old you are, how young you are, everyone's
been nervous about trying something new,food or otherwise. So this was a
(21:22):
great opportunity for us to incorporate abreathwork exercise that is very simple and can
be done anywhere, anytime. Andso that's sort of where we are here
in this picture. And it wasalso important to us to point out that
when Malayku looks to her friends forassistance, they're too busy and part of
(21:48):
that and every time I read thisstory to children, I say, what
are their friends doing? And thekids are very quick to say they're on
their phone, and so obviously wehave hit the nail on the head here.
And it's just it's really a greatlittle exercise. And I'm going to
pass it over to Patricia because shedoes this exercise so well with these kids
(22:11):
when we visit in classrooms. Sure, sure, thank you. Yeah.
I mean, there are a lotof breeding exercises, but this one is
funny because it's the humming sound.It's all exercise. It comes from yoga.
I have not invented. That's thatbreeding exercise, but of course that
(22:33):
the young children love if there isanother animal flying around. And actually what
you are doing is you are inhaling, very important, always through the nose,
not through the mouse. And whileyou are exhaling, you put your
hands over your ears and then youmake the humming sounds, so you imitate
the bee and that creates like asound inside of you because you can hear
(23:02):
yourself doing the humming sound, andit really really calms your nervous system.
You can feel it straight away.It calms your very nervous system. And
after that exercise, repeating it twoor three times, you feel very calm
but also focused. Not just sleepy, very focused and it's easy. I
(23:25):
agree, you cannot do it everywhere, but it's because it's a little bit
loud, you know. But youcan do it softly, you know,
but just very very soft voice andyou hear yourself breathing, and it's kind
of difficult to do it right nowhere. It would kind of sound a
little bit weird. But just imaginea bee and imitate that bee. And
(23:49):
you can also play with your voice. You can make a higher or a
lower voice, and it's really funnyand it's so useful. That's cool,
mean, like being able to createthat and then having not only having like
that sound, but also kind ofthat that pulsation or that you know,
that kind of that feeling as well, that vibe as well when you're when
(24:10):
you're doing that exercise. Yeah,that's really cool. That's really need.
That's that's I guess you can't doit everywhere, that's true. That's pretty
funny. Yeah, you're like you'reyou're you're on the airplane. You're like,
okay, here we go. We'regonna like stress on being on a
plane or something like that. Sothere's like lots of different types of exercises
(24:33):
you could do almost like if youwere doing like active or passive um.
You know, meditation, Patricia,is that kind of like you have all
kinds of different avenues to be ableto take the breath work. You can
make it very interesting, very fun, that type of thing um that can
actually get you know, a childmore interested in actually pursuing this. Yes,
(24:53):
and also I mean usually the childif we talk about children, I
would say you actually the child wantsto have an exercise or needs to have
an exercise, especially in classroom whenthey calm down and they can focus better.
But we as an adult, wesometimes need to have more energy,
you know when we get up inthe morning and we don't need to be
(25:15):
calmed down. We need to haveenergy. So we are breathing totally different.
That's the nine thing with breath work. You know, you choose what
you need. So if you needto have energy, you are not going
to do long and soft exhale.You are going to put energy in your
breath. You might breathe a littlebit faster and fuller to bring more more
(25:38):
really like energy into your body.And that's the amazing thing. Or we
have also an exercise in the book, which we call when when sometimes our
children are angry. You know,it's normal we are angry sometimes too.
So we have another breathing exercise whereyou really exhale very strongly all these emotions,
(26:00):
you know, and it's really helpful. It is helpful, and we
can use it as an adult andas a child. There are boths for
bows. That's very cool, andyou're right, you need different type of
breathing for different situations. If youwant to have more energy or you want
to calm down. Definitely totally oppositedirections. Um so, let's let's jump
(26:22):
a minute to the concept of balancingthe screen time. I see that a
lot of us at any age needsto balance screen time. You know.
I'll go into a restaurant and it'sfunny how you see everybody's on their phone.
And I actually have a thing inmy family where we go to a
restaurant. It's like, okay,we all everybody you know puts our phone
to the right or the left togetherturned over and it's funny because the first
(26:48):
person that grabs our phone, itcauses a domino effect. But anyway,
so you know, start off,you know, Jill, if you want
to start off you know, youknow, I like this because you know,
you see that there's a need forthis, and this is a big
thing because screen time is huge withadults and children. I mean, I
see it constantly, and so tellme more about the need to balance that
or you know, and how toreally do that. Yeah, it really,
(27:12):
you know, it's become such apowerful thing for us, especially in
the last few years when we've transitionedto doing everything online zoom meetings and classroom
online, and you know, ourkids have just gotten more and more used
to having the screen in their life. And I think that the purpose of
(27:33):
our book is not to say thatthe screen is necessarily a bad thing.
In fact, what we're saying isthat technology is a great tool. It's
a great tool for exploring our worldand informing our minds. But you know,
it's also extremely beneficial when we stepaway from it and we're able to
listen not only to ourselves, butalso to others around us, be observant
(27:56):
and reconnect. And so you know, we have we've come up with a
few a few ideas to help yourchild manage that screen time and you manage
that screen time. And so oneof those things is to offer alternatives,
you know, find out, talkto your child, ask your child questions,
(28:18):
what's your child passionate about, andoffer alternatives that speak to that passion
for your child. And number twowould be to set up a screen free
zone in your home. And oneeasy way to do that is to say,
okay, the dining room or thekitchen table is a screen free zone.
And then the third would be toset limits and set expectations. So
(28:42):
not just say to your child,you know, don't sneak in the back
way and set on your Apple settings. Okay, my kid's phone turns off
after an hour, but actually talkto your child about that, set the
expectation, explain why we're doing this. And then step four, of course,
would be the model you are modelingall day long, every day for
(29:03):
your child, whenever you're with yourchild. So it's it's up to us
as parents and caregivers and educators toput our screens down in a very conscious
way and use that time to engagewith our kids, read together, go
outside, play games. My kidsjust got this new game, Exploding Kittens,
(29:26):
and they are all about it rightnow, so we play that every
evening. Make time for that.It's really quite simple. I agree with
you, and it's interesting how weYou know you are a role model for
your child. Actually, you know, we're all role models for everybody.
I was in a meeting the otherday and literally people were like they were
picking up their phone, putting theirphone down, picking up their phone,
(29:47):
putting their phone down. I waslike, oh my gosh. I mean
I saw somebody pick up their phonelike sixty times, and it almost made
me start doing it too. Iwas like, well, I want to
as well. Just hold on themine because I'm gonna need it. You
know, Patricia, what are yourthoughts on screen time? Because I think
I think this is very relevant nowadaysfor everybody listening. Yeah, I mean
you said that very well, Chill, and I would say, you know,
(30:08):
we don't know. We have somany options today. We I mean,
our world has become so complex andactually we don't know how it's going
to be in five years. Everybodyspeaks now about artificial intelligence, and so
we need to take care of ourselvesbecause if we don't, I don't know
(30:29):
where we are going to end.Because we can't stop that. And as
Chill said, it's not about thatit's bad, but we have to be
conscious about that. And we mustkind of teach ourself and our children,
because if I say it from aperspective of breeding, when we spend a
lot of time starring at screens,we really tend to breathe shallow and unconsciously.
(30:53):
So this can really lead to stress, anxiety, and a lot of
tension in our body, and eveneye problems and neck pain. So again,
when you focus on your breath,you can bring yourself into the present
moment and cultivate a sense of calm. So again here, if you really
(31:15):
voluntarily change the rights or the depthand pattern of your breathing, you can
change the messages being sent from yourbody's respiratory system to your brain. You
can actually hack into your nervous system. And it's all here. We just
have to use it. And Ithink that's what it is. You know,
we are getting As you said,Ashley, you know it's the same
(31:40):
for everybody you are somewhere and thepeople including me. Sometimes we are addicted
to that phone. We cannot beanymore without it. So we have to
teach our children the world is notinside the phone. The world is around
us, and the phone is atool and not more. And I think
(32:00):
that's the message also from our book. It's a tool. So that's kind
of my sharing about that. You'reright, it's a tool, and a
lot of times people have it whereit's taking over their life. And I
think that's I mean, because therereally is, you know, cell phone
addiction. I mean, this isreally really prevalent, and nowadays, you
know, I see people like crossingthe street and not even looking in their
(32:22):
face, their eyes are stuck inthe screen. You know, It's it's
unbelievable. And I think our abilityto be able to remember or to retain
information is kind of going by thewayside too, because of all the screen
time and all the stuff that's happening. So first of all, I want
to ask, because we need tomake sure we can get this out there.
(32:42):
Where do we find you? Andhow do we find the book and
and all that information. Sure,so we have a website, Malaiku's Gift
dot com, where we have plentyof free breathing exercises that you can find
there, and also you can reachout to us if you're interested and learning
more. Our book is available inpaperback on Amazon dot com and hardback on
(33:06):
Barnes and Noble dot com and weare very exciting. We're also on Instagram
sorry at Malaku's Gift on Instagram andwe're also very excited. We are planning
right now our Costa Rica edition ofour books, so we have a lot
of cool things coming up that wewill be putting on our website. So
(33:28):
do check there for updates about newsand events around malak Wu's gift. That
is awesome. That is awesome,So cool that y'all are in Costa Rica's
so neat. And for everybody justlistening to the show, I mean,
this is what you know, Thisis what it's about. It doesn't it
doesn't just apply to children, Itapplies to adults as well. It applies
to the whole family dynamic. AndI think that when we start seeing that,
and I think that many of youlistening you understand, you know,
(33:50):
we have that screen time addiction andit's and sometimes you know, you know,
we learn something from our phone,sometimes we need to take the call,
and sometimes we're just on it becauseit's it's habit for me and it's
addictive, and so this can reallyhelp. And then being that example to
your children and working with the breathworkand being able to do that too.
It's going to help you too.It's everybody's going to have benefits. So
when we return, Jill and Patriciaare actually going to give us their nuggets
(34:14):
of wisdom, a concept that theyhaven't shared with us yet, but something
that they want to share with ourcommunity. They want to share with my
listeners, with all of us sothat we can really connect and get to
understand them as well as learning somethingthat's interesting because we all have those nuggets
of wisdom that we can share withothers that make their life even better.
So stay tuned, don't change thechannel. We have that coming up.
We want to talk about that.And you know, this is something that
(34:36):
we can all share together and understand. This is a human right of passage.
This is who we are. We'rebreathing human beings that have this capability.
We might as well use it tocalm ourselves down, to lessen our
anxiety, and to be even happier. So stay tuned. Literatrue Life Perspectives
with me, your host, AshleyBurgess will be back in I'll be back
this time. I'll be back thistime Into Shapes. Get in here.
(35:10):
You're listening to Perspectives with Ashley Burgess. Welcome back live to Ligatrue Life Perspectives
and I'm your host, Ashley Burgess. I've been talking to Patricia and Jill
in our show and they're amazing howthey came together and created this amazing book.
And it's not just a book.I think it's a movement. And
you know, at this point it'stime to do the deeper dive because you
(35:30):
know, when somebody creates this typeof concept, creates this type of amazing
you know, something that you cantouch, something that you can use,
something that you can integrate in yourlife. We want to know a little
bit more about them. So Patricia, give me one nugget of wisdom that
you would like to share with theLigatue Life community. Yeah, sure,
thank you. Well. For meespecially, it is really to take responsibility
(35:53):
for myself for my health because Isee sometimes that many many people think,
okay, anybody who else can solvethis problem for my for you or I
just have a problem, I goto the doctor, or I have a
conflict, so it's it's it's theother person who makes a conflict. So
for me, it is really reallyto take responsibility and that is actually what
(36:15):
Maleku is doing. She kind oftakes responsibility and she's really caring about herself.
She's using her breath, and that'sreally my point. You know.
It sometimes feel like if in anysituation, you have something, let's say
you have a conflict with your partner, and you think, oh, he
(36:36):
doesn't understand me. It's always him, but it's not true. It's you.
You have to adapt to the otherperson that the other person can understand
you, and that is kind oftaking responsibility for anything in your life.
And that's what I that's really reallywhat I try to live. I'm not
(36:57):
always able, but it's really myway of and that's what I really would
like to share with all of you. I love that taking responsibility, taking
responsibility for your life, and that'sa big thing. That's a huge thing
actually in Patricia, I love thatyou share that because that is really something
that we all need to be doing. And I think many of us here,
especially everybody that's listening to this show, is really trying to do that
in their own life and it reallybuilds self awareness and character. I really
(37:21):
appreciate that, Jill. I wantto hear You're not gonna wisdom absolutely so
for me, it's really about listeningto your heart and making space for self
discovery and peace, and also allowingyourself to walk through your fear. I
(37:42):
had never written a children's book.I have never written a book. I've
written a dissertation, but not abook. And it's always been a dream
of mine to do that, butfor whatever reason, I've been afraid to
do that. And meeting Patricia andmaking our partnership made that opportunity possible.
And it really has opened up somany doors and so many conversations and just
(38:07):
a world of really wonderful opportunities.And I think that's what Malaiku is doing.
You know, she's curious, she'salso listening to her heart. She's
also embracing the world around her andwalking through her fears. And I think
that's a lesson all of us cantake away from the book and all of
(38:28):
us can employ in our own lives. Yeah, that's definitely powerful and and
and it's interesting when you know thesenuggets of wisdom or so I ask these
because it's interesting to get kind ofjust a deeper dive and you know,
lasting thoughts. I mean, youknow, you'll you'll put this book together.
Do you all have other um,do you have other books in mind
that you're gonna be working on,Jill Patricia, we do. We've been
(38:51):
talking about how we can incorporate moreideas around UH Costa Rica and sustainability and
how we listen to ourselves and howwe're able to again take responsibility. So
those are some of the topics we'vebeen discussing. I like that, I
really like that. That's that's areally good direction. I think that's going
(39:14):
to be well received. I haveappreciated having y'all on the show, I
mean amazing, and I'm just Ilove the book. I love what you're
doing to open the doors, youknow, mentally, emotionally, spiritually for
children and their parents, and Ijust think that this is going to be
super well received. Thank you verymuch for having us. Thank Ashley.
(39:34):
I'm so glad to have y'all on. I look forward to having you on
in the future and your future projectsand definitely keep me on breast of what's
going on there. Amazing, youknow, Jill Patricia are amazing folks and
just amazing women doing some really goodwork. And so for everybody, let's
listened to this show today. Youknow, it's about it's about connecting with
your family, connecting with your children. You know, remember we have to
be responsible for ourselves and also rememberthat we are role models to our children,
(39:59):
to the people around us, andpeople do look up to us.
And sometimes even when we don't knowthat people are looking, or even if
we don't think our children are looking, they are, and so being able
to be aware of that and knowingthat we can use that in a powerful,
safe, healthy way to inspire andso this is so neat. So
definitely check out the book, goon Amazon and you're gonna be able to
find the links, and if you'relistening to later on in the podcast after
(40:22):
the radio show, the links willbe in the podcast description so that you
can go and find that directly andimmediately. So for everybody listening, thank
you for tuning in, thank youfor keeping the channel on there and listening
to the full interviews. We haveanother show for you up next week.
But in the meantime, remember it'sabout you. It's up to you and
guess what. We have the abilityto do what we want to do,
and we have the ability to empowerourselves and empower those around us. Live
(40:44):
your true life perspectives with your hostme Astley Burgess will be back in I'll
be back this time in three shakes,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!