Just as deer feed their bodies for strength and endurance particularly leading up to colder weather, we can also feed our minds! As we immerse ourselves in the winter season, let’s tune in to our breath to help with calm and resilience while we build our brains. All that’s needed are a few moments to reset and refocus, enabling us to continue with a clearer mind and greater sense of inner peace. Let’s be resilient like deer!

The cold winter months and busyness of the holidays can sometimes leave us feeling blue and overloaded. We can turn to nature and to our breath for help! Think of bright yellow and orange Wintergold pines and firs that light up dreary skies and bring warmth to the landscape. We can bring this warmth and light into our lives too, while practicing gratitude for what’s within us and around us.

Learn evidence-based mindfulness activities and exercises that bring calm, connection and healing to you and the little ones you support, as well as tools to help build resilience.

This creation of a safe space can allow an individual to feel supported, able to let go of worries and stresses, and just simply be. We believe that when an individual feels calm and safe in a space, this can help open up communication and develop creativity, allowing them to be seen and heard.

Learn evidence-based mindfulness activities and exercises that bring calm, connection and healing to you and the little ones you support, as well as tools to help build resilience.

As the world begins to regenerate around us, we too can encourage growth and expansion within ourselves. We can choose to support ourselves by bringing light and warmth into our everyday through mindfulness practices. We can use this time of the year to get outside more and notice the beautiful changes in nature, draw in some morning movement perhaps, write in a journal, or begin daily practices to positively bookend morning and night.

Let’s talk about social prescribing, something being trialled by the NHS in the UK to help reduce demands on GP’s and the system overall. This model involves connecting individuals to link workers and prescribing them what they need to bring into their lives to feel more connected to themselves and the community around them. The crux of social prescribing is to work with people to identify how they can support their wellbeing and social relations, and in a move away from medication to meditation, we at HERE are aware of the connective qualities that mindfulness can bring into someones life.

Choosing to live mindfully has never been more important for us all. Whether you are at the start of your mindful living journey, or you have practiced this way of being all of your life, here are as few tips we wanted to share with you to help draw some practices into your daily life. These can help to boost your health, wellbeing, and allow you to move through the most challenging of moments with greater control of your body and mind.

Join Olivia the Otter on her mindful journey with creative activities, mantras, yoga poses, meditation and more. Build self-confidence and find calm with Olivia! Learn about her adventures in the sea and kelp forests too. A character education and emotional literacy tool. (27 pages)

Written and designed by HERE Co-Founders Jen Armstrong (MSc Developmental and Educational Psychology, 95 hour RCYT Kids Yoga and 200 hour RYT Yoga instructor) and Dana Dyksterhuis.

Creating a garden of respect helps put things in perspective and allows you and your family members to take a step back and remember the simple things that are so important in life.

Through times of hardship and struggle such as what many of us are experiencing now, creating mandalas are a great way for kids and adults alike to focus their minds through this therapeutic activity.

"It felt natural to share the practice of self-loving kindness in the guided Ho'oponopono; the ancient practice of self-forgiveness, acceptance and unconditional love. Very often we feel inadequate and not a good enough parent, guardian or human, and the simple but beautiful meditative words: “I'M SORRY, PLEASE FORGIVE ME, THANK YOU, I LOVE YOU” are to remind us and bring us back to our core practice of love, humility and assurance."

Whether it’s feeling your blood pressure rise during a long queue at the store, or experiencing overwhelming feelings of sadness and stress due to family trauma, we can all feel overloaded, particularly during the holidays. We understand, and have created some simple breathing techniques, mantras and yoga poses for those moments you need some inner peace.

A very special time of year is upon us, that brings families, loved ones and friends together, feelings of gratitude and hope and new beginnings. At least, in a perfect world that’s what the holidays are like. In reality, it’s also the most trying time of year for many and even painful due to life circumstances current and past. It’s why we are focusing a special Christmas Om:Pop series on “Resilience and Healing For the Holidays” with Family Support, Hammersmith & Fulham.

With the holiday season upon us, we are embracing the theme of resilience and giving yourself a break. When times get tough, one mindful method you can try to bring yourself some peace, is to give yourself a time-out!

Mindful family sessions can offer clarity and calm amid the chaos that family life will inevitably bring. We’ve just completed an OM:POP series with Family Support in Hammersmith & Fulham and can confirm that mindful practices deliver a sense of wellbeing even with a whole host of tiny tots in the room.

Once you have expanded your awareness back into the space where you are sitting or standing, notice whether there is a shift in your breath and/or your mood. Then remember that a mindful awareness practice, such as this yogic humming bee breath, can calm your nerves and release feelings of frustration, anxiety and even anger.

Cultivating self-love is a practice that takes patience and acceptance of our own vulnerability. The following brief meditation provides a platform to welcome in acceptance, recognition and love for our most vulnerable self.