ALA Booklist (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

Through meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, and five-day mindfulness challenges, this book gives middle-graders effective mindfulness techniques geared toward helping them combat stress and make good life choices. Color-coded chapters allow readers to pick and choose what mindfulness practice they want to try. The same exercises are repeated throughout the book, so practitioners may find it more useful to skip around by color rather than read straight through. Colored sketches and black-and-white illustrated exercises are clear and not too difficult for beginners. Some mindfulness exercises include doodling and writing prompts. To illustrate the mind-body connection, readers are asked to imagine eating a lemon, listening to a song, observing nature, or focusing on what they feel as they taste chocolate or brush their teeth. Students' anecdotes on how certain mindfulness techniques help them cope are particularly helpful. With its appealing combination of physical exercises and journaling activities, this is a valuable addition to the topic for young people.

Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)

Your life is only ever happening right here, right now.

Kirkus Reviews

Life comes with challenges, but with mindfulness, young people can learn to ride life's ups and downs with clarity and calm.In an encouraging and conversational tone, Gates straightforwardly presents mindfulness to a young audience without oversimplifying the content. The first part of the book explains the science of mindfulness and presents breathing techniques, yoga, and meditation as practice methods. Interspersed are appealing graphics: quirky illustrations of people of diverse shapes, gender representations, and skin tones; memelike quotes that offer encouragement; and short statements from young people using the practices in their own lives. The book ends with several mindfulness "challenges"—practice sequences that build daily. The practices instructed are a blend of traditional mindfulness techniques (body scan, mindful walking, etc.) and new strategies particularly relevant for young people (listening mindfully to one's favorite music). Gates never strays toward dogma; readers are constantly encouraged to try the practices and notice their experiences. She makes it clear throughout that mindfulness is not about changing one's life but about being more present for life as it is, one breath at a time. One unfortunate drawback is that some of the examples of potential stressors do reveal an assumption of privilege (schools offering modern dance, going on a ski trip with friends).Overall, a worthy contribution not only to the market, but also within the broader canon of resources on Western yoga and mindfulness. (Nonfiction. 11-16)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Learning to exist in the present moment is a difficult yet rewarding task, Gates suggests in this clear and instructive handbook. Chapters focus on mindfulness, yoga, breathing, and meditation, with detailed descriptions of techniques and best practices. The mindfulness section explores living with intentionality through refocusing the mind. Journal prompts, self-assessments, and other activities urge readers to apply the ideas to their own lives. Meditation activities include a -Meditative Body Scan,- or paying attention to different parts of the body, and -Naming Thoughts,- which involves quietly observing, labeling, and releasing detrimental thoughts. In Vanderploeg-s warm illustrations, brightly clothed figures demonstrate the yoga poses and breathing exercises. Gates emphasizes that mindfulness is a way of seeing one-s self and the world, which can be achieved through taking basic steps. An end section offers -5-Day Mindfulness Challenges- for readers seeking additional structure as they embark on their own mindfulness journeys. Ages 10-14. (May)