PRIVATE TEACHING | EVENTS | TALKS | WRITING
Hello dear friends,
I just wanted to let you know that my new children’s book, Weather Any Storm (Bala Kids, an imprint of Shambhala Publications), is out today. I’m not a children’s author, by any stretch, but I’ve worked with kids my whole life and after leaving Zen Mountain Monastery, I was approached by Bala Kids to do a book. They wanted a How To book on Zen for kids and I wanted to write stories, so after a coupe of failed attempts on my part and my finally offering that maybe I wasn’t the best person to write that particular book, we met somewhere in the middle. I ended up crafting a Dr. Seuss-y verse meditation to help kids work with difficult emotions based on a visualization I’ve used with both kids and adults: imagine yourself floating in the vast ocean of your mind. If you’re the boat, then your breath is the anchor keeping you steady through life’s many ups and downs.
As for the Billies (a kid asked me recently what these furry creatures were), I’d say that they’re the many thoughts we tend to have about our feelings—thoughts that make the storm much worse. So, while the waves need to be ridden, the Billies need to be tamed. That’s what this meditation does.
Fun fact: I’d originally called the beasties the Wildering Willies, which has a better ring to it, but we didn’t want to risk the double entendre. Therefore, Billies they were named, and Billies they’ll remain.
The book, geared toward kids 4-8 but hopefully useful for any age, is beautifully illustrated by the talented Paddy Donnelly. I can’t wait for you to see it in person! (And if you do end up ordering it, please consider leaving a review on Amazon and Goodreads—it really makes a difference.)
Thank you, always, for your practice and support.
With love and gratitude,
Zuisei
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