A Discussion with Veronica Moya Making Mindfulness Fun for Children

Summary In this inspiring interview, Veronica Moya, children's emotional wellness expert and mindfulness educator, shares her journey, insights, and practical tools for nurturing emotional resilience and inner calm in children. Discover how mindfulness can transform young lives and how parents and educators can implement simple, effective practices to foster inner peace and self-love.

#mindfulness, #children, #emotionalwellness, #meditation, #self-love, #resilience, #mentalhygiene, #innerpeace, #mindfulness #education

key topics

• Veronica Moya's journey from Argentina to children's wellness
• The importance of early emotional resilience
• Simple mindfulness practices for children
• The role of intuition and inner guidance
• Impact of social media and devices on children's mental health

guest name

Veronica Moya

Sound Bites

• "Trust your inner guidance; it's a superpower."
• "Self-trust is indescribable and powerful."
• "The soul knows and the body is intelligent."

Chapters

00:00

Introduction to Emotional Wellness for Children

01:24

Veronica's Journey and Early Influences

10:52

The Power of Mindfulness in Children

17:11

Mental Hygiene: A Daily Practice

22:31

Navigating Modern Influences on Children

30:51

Resources for Mindfulness and Self-Love

35:13

The Importance of Self-Care for Parents

37:59

Introducing Mindfulness to Children

41:28

Vision for a Wellness Center for Children

44:05

Overcoming Resistance to Mindfulness

48:05

Integrating Spirituality and Mindfulness

51:58

The Power of Breath and Self-Awareness

56:02

Processing Emotions and Self-Love

Guest links

• Veronica's Website:  https://veronicamoya.com/
• Mindful V.org
• Veronica Moya's YouTube Channel
• Boom Finds His Happy Place (Book)

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Hello, and welcome back to Shaman Radio Podcast. And my very special guest today is Veronica Moya, and she's a children's emotional wellness expert, mindfulness educator, author, and founder of the nonprofit Mindful V. She helps kids ages 5 to 12 build emotional resilience, confidence, nervous system regulation, and inner calm through practical mindfulness tools in today's overstimulated world. Veronica is the author and illustrator of Goom Finds His Happy Place and is passionate about making emotional wellness accessible and essential to every child, like daily mental hygiene for the mind. And I love it, and I'm so happy to have you here, Veronica, and share your work. I think it's so important right now. So welcome. Thank you for coming.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Thank you, John. Very happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Great. And I'd love to start by having you tell us a little bit, you know, how did you get involved in this and why you decided it was so important to work with children? Because I I agree, I think it's so important to start people early. I was fortunate that that happened for me in ways. Tell us about yourself.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

Right. Yes. So everything usually when things are right, they happen organically, right? So uh I'm originally from Argentina. I I was born and grew up very aware, very self-aware, uh, remembering my essence as a spirit, uh, not as a person. So being aware of this experience, right? The experience of life on earth. And and that's an interesting thing because you know, I was in a I grew up in a third world country with wonderful parents, nice family, good family values, everything was right, but you know, the country is really very slow. Um, there's no opportunities, and there's not a lot of opportunities there. And um I learned to rely on, I mean, my inner guidance, my inner strength, uh where I don't know how to, I never said this, but it's a gift. It was it was uh a superpower for me. Right. Um, so very early on I was aware of how much my mind um mattered in the sense of if we talk about getting bullied or everybody, everybody goes through something like that at some at one point or another. Everybody is made fun of, everybody has some story where they I don't know, they were the butt of a joker. But the way you react to it, you feel about it, it's completely up to you. So I was, like you said, fortunate just like you to uh grow up uh trusting my intuition, my inner guidance, because once you start using it and you realize, wow, you're right, you're always right. You're always right. Um, it's very powerful. It's it's just it's it's it's indescribable the feeling of self-assurance, yeah, the the self-trust, right? Uh for making decisions, making choices. So, of course, life took me so long. So let's fast forward. I moved to New York City when I was about, well, I came originally when I was 19 to study English. I came for a couple of months, and I and then abstained for a year, and then I went back, and I always went back and forth, and finally at the age of 24-ish, I moved, uh, definitely. And um, and I used to, so I wanted to be an actress, I wanted to be on Broadway. That was like the reason, quote unquote, why I went to New York. And while I was doing an audition, I came across I was reading there was a magazine, wisdom magazine. Oh, I'm making this too long. I I uh I went to the Edgar Casey. I think I so I started working at the Edgar Casey Center. I took a class on develop your intuition, which was wonderful, and then another class on title reading, and and as I said, I was already very intuitive, very intuitive.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Yeah, you're born with these gifts as certain people are, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:58

I was born, and what I learned with this class is is that there's no such thing as a psychic. We all have this ability. What happens is that we don't trust it, it gets you know junked out of us, it gets replaced with the intellect. Um, yeah, and this, you know, the the logical mind takes precedence. And this is why everybody, you know, puts it on a side. So I started doing readings for people and counseling for people, and it was not enjoyable for so I'm very good. I would say, oh, I'm the best. I'm very, very good. I'm very good at connecting with the other person and bringing forth um information that they need. But what happens is that my intention is to be of service and to help, not to be a fortune teller. I despise the fortune-telling aspect of I yeah, don't like it. And so I'm trying to give them guidance. I mean, after all, John, what does anybody want? Fulfillment, happiness, right? And many times we are misguided as to how we're gonna get it. So people will think, if I get this job, I'll be happy. If I get this relationship, I'll be fulfilled. And so I was trying to guide them and help them go within and find the truth. Um, so check in with their inner guidance instead of thinking, you know, keep focusing on the outside. And you know, this is New York City, 99% female clients. I was failing in this level. Nobody cares. Anyway, like I said, everything happens organically, and I always work with children. I work with children as a teacher, English teacher, English as a second language, and Spanish teacher, and as an entertainer. I found an entertainment company when I was 17 in Buenos Aires at Kids Center. So I am, you know, my my um my involvement in in the children's world has always been like very like second nature to me. I like stuffed animals, I like I just enjoy enjoy music. That's me. So it happened in 2011. I was invited to teach at the Omega Teens Camp. It's the Omega Institute in Rheinberg. Yeah, they closed since then, but they had a teens camp. Right. So this was my first aha moment. So I went there and I taught um develop your intuition and I had a title reading class. They had lots of title desk decks there, and they let me teach this class, and it was the most fantastic experience because these kids were so empowered, they they felt uh powerful, amazing, um, just to discover what they were able to do. They didn't think they didn't know they could do. So that was the that that springboarded everything. From there, a bunch of uh circumstances. I was invited to another thing where you know I was exposed to a lot of parents and teachers, and then they invited me to teach in after-school programs, and so then at this point, I I got licensed, I got certified in the mindfulness program. So I I went, I took the whole class, the whole course, I graduated to make it official.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

Right.

SPEAKER_03 8:31

And uh, yes, then I started teaching in schools and after school programs. I talked too much, I feel. But um no, no, this is wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

I appreciate the background because it's organic, like you said, and it's you know, that's a part of it, right? When when you can find yourself somewhat centered and present, the doors open that would otherwise, you know, be mysterious. So they say like God works in mysterious ways, right? Like you you can't always with your mind know exactly, but you can feel and you can stay centered. And then in in our shamanism, we say it finds you instead of you going out searching for it. And it's such a more elegant and graceful way to live, you know. And so I appreciate that you that's kind of been your story, and um, and I wanted to mention, you know, I like I like what you said about you know being of service to people, right? So from our shamanic perspective, it's about um empowering and freeing people to be the creators of their own experience, right? Never anybody above them telling them what to do. This is the danger people have with psychics, they give their power away and they just do what everyone else tells them that they should do, including psychics or anything like that. And and like even with tarot cards, you know, if we use them to track, here's what your your signal is and what you're attracting, then if you want to change it, then you can change the card, you know. So we even we even give them the power to sort of, and then the only other thing I really want to talk to you about with this this on that subject is the idea. I kind of figured out that it's all about influence, right? So if you think about it, like you said, people going through the world, and and this is influencing them, and that's telling them what to do, and and this external event is influencing how they're feeling, or energetically things are influencing us, or entities are influencing us. It's all about influence, and are you being influenced towards your what you want to experience in life, or are you being influenced away from it, right? So, given that, like tell me, you know, what your experience has been working with children with this mindfulness and meditation, and and if you've noticed that you know, anything like that, or if there's any any insight you have with that.

SPEAKER_03 11:16

Well, yes, thank you for that question. That's exactly this is the best part of what I do because the soul knows, and the body is intelligent, the body knows what it needs. So I'll show up at a class, nobody knows me, right? The teacher welcomes me, I'll do my little 15-minute thing. And it's quite incredible to see the commitment, the reaction, the response, and it is so much easier to teach children than to teach adults because that's amazing because a lot of people would think it's the opposite, right? Yeah, no, everybody thinks it's the opposite. Yeah, the parents fight me. It's fantastic to see the pay. I had the good chat, the good opport, the opportunity, and the good luck to work at this. It's called a quantum house. It's a house that hosts uh children that are in the hospital, so it hosts uh the parents and the families. So the parents and the kids are together, and they said they asked me to come and do a meditation twice a week before they go to bed. So it's kind of unwinding after the day. Well, John, I'll come, you know. I do like, hey, we're gonna do this. Everybody wants to come. Nah, it's fine. And the parent goes, no, we're okay. And the kid, I want to go. Huh? Yeah, okay. I had a room full of kids. I have eight kids, no parents. Now the parents, not also, it's not like the parents came one time, they didn't like it, they didn't come back. I would get, I understand that. That never happened. They didn't even try it. The kids came every single day, and I wish I had this on tape. You know, the ego tells you, oh, I wish I had this in video, because I feel the same. But the mother said to me, Oh my god, I never seen her put her tablet as fast, put her tablet down as fast as when you are here. Now, this is not about me. I know this. I know this. The only, I mean, this is about the activity, this is about the invitation to go within and to feel the magic inside. And this particular girl that always put the tablet away and came straight to the class. She used to, every time she'd come, because I always do a guided meditation, she'll say, Are you gonna say the white light? Are you gonna do the white light? Because I always say, close your eyes, picture a beautiful white light coming from the top of your head inside your body, and you know, and then the white light becomes um a protective shield, and this is the light everybody sees when they meet them, and all that. So I walk them through that, and she got it, and she was thirsty for it. So, yeah, so basically that's my work. My work is to help us not lose that because the kids have it, there's not a lot for me to do, it's really simple, it's very easy work, truly. Um, and the problems if so, what's interesting? So, when I go to school, so I start five years old, and then I go to the other classes, and when I get to the kids who are nine or ten-ish, wow, you see the difference they're very skeptical, they're cynical, and I always go. I say my same spiel, you know, you have magic inside. Do you believe it? Nah, nah. Right now, imagine you never have access to this. You're seven, eight, nine, twelve years old, thirteen, fifteen. Now, adolescence comes, and we all know it is tough for everybody because just changes in the body, they're annoying and very, very hard. Very it's hard for everyone. And you don't have this, right? You don't have this sense of the inner is what matters really, the inside is what's valuable about me. And of course, I mean it can go with it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Then you're just moved blown around every every minute by whatever's happening, right? And your hormones and things. Wow, that is, I mean, that's so good to hear. And and I I can see if if it's right, you know, like in other words, kids I think that age also kind of know what's true and what isn't, right? So, you know, teaching it in a way, what reminded me when you were describing the way you teach it is that that's the closest thing to what it's like when you're actually non-physical in between lifetimes, right? Like in other words, you're a ball of light, and you know, you're you're seeing the light, right? The light of God, the light of source, however you wanna, you know, the angels and so on and so forth. And so, you know, you you come back in uh to a body, and you know, it's it's like being asleep again, right? Because I've had death experiences, and it's like waking up from a dream, right? It's even more real than this is, and so I think what you're doing is you're tapping these children back in to, hey, remember a little bit where you just came from, and that, you know, all the wisdom teachings are enveloped in that. This is just a play, this is just a theater, this is not that, you know, uh important, the ego, life or death, you know, right? So I think it's really cool that you're tapping them into this basic truth about not only who they are, but the whole universe and the way that it works. And you know, I uh I love that. I love that. So, what do you do about the the teenagers and the adults? How do you, you know, I know I know you you pretty much but I think if you can catch them early, then you're then you're fine, I think is what you're saying, right? This is why it's so important.

SPEAKER_03 17:36

That's why I yeah, I I encourage parents to treat this. That's why I call it mental hygiene. I encourage parents to treat this the same way we treat brushing our teeth or taking a shower daily, right? Uh it's just as important. And with the teenagers, so with the teenagers, like I said, I um so I think I find that um showing the benefits showing the benefits is important, that they see they they it it needs to be something tangible. That's why uh I include some psychic development, I call it intuition development, meaning going back to so that's very empowering. So when we do exercises, so you uh ideally we want to do exercises with people we don't know, not close friends, because you want to truly see how you know things, you can know things even when you know with people you don't know the whole point of the exercise. So um I include that in the if it's teenagers classes, we don't just sit around and meditate because I already know it's not a sexy activity, nobody wants to come to the teeth. You entice them with some of these exercises, and yeah, then then they're into it, then they understand the power of the mind because they saw it completely.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

It's amazing, you know. You're right. I love the thing about hygiene and brushing your teeth because I I touch on this with people too, and and um it it's the idea that if you recognize that it's not just a mind and a body, right? So we go to school to strengthen our mind muscle, we do exercise, hopefully, to strengthen the body, keep it healthy, strong. You know, most people get that every day they gotta go for a walk or they gotta work out, or you know, they certainly have to eat, you know, they have to uh they have to try and you know learn things, keep their mind sharp and what have you. But you know, we are even the bigger part of us is the subconscious and the soul, right? Or our spirit, and you gotta exercise that too, the same way. I mean, it's the foundation of who we are, it's the part of the the iceberg that's under the under the water, you know, that the top's not gonna be very valuable if the bottom is gone, right? So I love that. I love that you're doing that.

SPEAKER_03 20:22

Well, I love that I know that that that that example is so perfect, it's perfect because we know a glacier is bigger underneath, right? Yeah, and so is the soul, the soul is eternal. Who we are, everything is flat, yeah, right, and that's what I say to them. You have everything you need to know is inside of you, you have wisdom. What is wisdom? So I teach wisdom to five-year-olds, and of course, in the beginning I realized a lot of them they don't know what that means, which is great. So I explain wisdom is the intelligence that you have inside, you don't learn from books, it comes from within, and it's better than the one you learn from books. You don't need the book, which is quiet, and the truth will come to you, you will know, and you know, be still and know, relax and know, everything will work out for you. So, all those positive reinforcements at a time where a child is being told no, no, no, no, more times than yes, and parents and teachers, because they are, you know, we are concerned for our kids, and you want them to do well and you want them to be safe, sometimes they over exaggerate with the precautions, so they want to limit the kids, extra, extra limit them, and uh this so a little five, three minutes a day of I can do it, I have everything I need, everything will work out for me. It's fine. Because I like I said to the parents, don't worry, life will tell them if there's anything they cannot do, they'll find out.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

You don't need to tell natural limits, obviously. Like, I'll never be an MBA player, like I have to just live with that, for example, at my height. But it's like um, you know, I yeah. Um have you so so the thing that is interesting to me, because I have a lot of discussions with people about this, you know, every generation going back as far as we know, they always said, Oh, you know, these kids, they're crazy they got these they got TVs now or they got this now and the older people are like oh my god the world's gonna you know gonna end and and um and it always the same you know and then this new generation comes on and they and they're fine they grow up fine and you know uh and then but I'm looking we're looking at this this generation now of kids and recognizing things like the the devices and social media and those influences right huge influence all the time right they have something in their hand yeah and it's not just cartoons in the morning like it was for me and then that's it I'm I there's you know no phones no nothing um you know and if I had a headache or I was upset I go lay down and you know zone out right natural meditation essentially and to to feel better so but now you've got this generation and it it seems so more so much more challenging in a way so are you what is your experience I guess is what I'm getting to feedback I guess from from the kids and from parents as to how is this balancing or mitigating this generations um constant influence from social media and you know the if they they might not have a divide like some parents might not even let their child have that kind of thing right but ten other kids and you know around them are talking about it.

SPEAKER_03 24:07

So one way or the other it's getting to them what what is your anecdote for that how how is what you're teaching them effect like effectively helping with that well it helps tremendously yeah yeah it affects obviously it helps a lot it is very needed like you said and yes the body knows and maybe this is why they are so receptive and so welcoming of the activity and to your point when you say some parents you know limit their usage and all that but the thing is we are underestimating what all these devices are doing to us now we all are underestimating we it's it's it's within us and whether the kid has it or not it doesn't matter because the parents do have it and the parents are influenced by it and it is such I don't want to say poison but it is it's not poison the word that I'm looking for but it's um garbage like uh you know when you have I just took the garbage out before we started it was all the way up so when you have so this is where we live right now the garbage is all around us and we don't know it we don't realize it it's like nothing it's it's hard to explain I'm not a doctor I'm not a scientist and I'm sure someone and I need to look this up and find it someone should be able to articulate this a lot better because I know it I can feel it I can see I I I know what's you hear from parents I'm sure they would tell you if their kid is doing a little I I think of it in terms of discernment.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

I think what you're doing is you're increasing the child's muscle on a soul level internal subconscious level to practice discernment where this part of what I'm looking at is garbage this part is good it's educational it's helping me this like separating right the would you say that's true?

SPEAKER_03 26:10

No but it's just it's not just not just the device it's the the pulling in so many different directions that we don't realize so and so is doing this. Where where did the FOMO come from? We didn't have FOMO before this is a new expression and it came from this so if the parent has anxiety if the parent has this feeling of having to show up and having to do well go to Pilates and do this and get into the newest trends even if the kid is not the kid is very very intuitive and that's number one the kids know everything that's happening in the house look the the there was a group of five year olds that I was teaching very prominent uh they came from very prominent families and uh it was funny because the parents were getting divorced or separating and they always lied to their kids. They try to maneuver saying oh daddy has to work he's working another town and this and that and then again I wish I had a camera it was like out of a movie I'll never forget like there was this one kid saying my dad just doesn't like my mom but it's the way she said it was so mature it was she's five it was so adult it was like and it was kind of funny to me to see who are you kidding then there was another one he had two nannies because evidently the mother couldn't be back if you have two nannies you have money two nannies is not someone who is struggling and needs to work okay yeah you know that I know that so he knew he felt abandoned he felt you know kind of less than so yes of course when you so all this trying to control everything and trying it just doesn't work uh the body is very wise and we know what we need so because of all this is happening right now that parents and everybody's over stimulated and overly busy and and everyone's trying to keep up with good what's good parenting right they have to keep up with the neighbor yeah what they call good this is why this work is so important and this is also why it is so easy like I said it's easy to do and it's easy for me to present and see them just they take it in it it's remarkable if you could see I I've been in rooms with 60 kids older kids in Argentina I was invited I was yeah I don't know 60 or more I have pictures I'll send you the pictures it's it's incredible but how you know makes your you scratch your head this is all I do by the it's just meditation nothing more it's just very simple yeah and yeah there's there's the your answer this is why it's great and it it is support yeah I think it's supports yeah back in the day we didn't have all this stimulus so it was easier like you said you meditate naturally you go out for a bike ride and you're meditating as you're yeah today because they don't do a lot of the stuff we used to do when we were young you need to at least allow them to sit by themselves in their quiet corner and have a moment to themselves.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

Yeah and to me this is such a it's such a foundational thing it it's literally like exercising a little doesn't mean you're devoting your life to becoming a fitness instructor or whatever, right?

SPEAKER_03 29:58

In other words brushing your teeth doesn't mean you're gonna become a dentist okay so meditating for two or three minutes a day doesn't mean you're gonna become an occultist or something like in other words you could be steeped in a religion and go to church every week and go to mosque and go to temple go to this do this and that and this just supports that in other words this is one of those foundational tools that that provides for a centered presence right something that can you be useful for school jobs friendships anything you're doing for your health like being mindful and present when you're exercising working out taking a test talking to your friends this is like just fundamental fundamentally important and and this is what I love I just love that you know people can understand that what you're talking about is not difficult to to find in other words you've got an amazing YouTube channel you can people can go there you know go to your website you know which we're gonna share all the links and stuff um tell tell us what it is though uh verbally really quickly what's your handle on YouTube yes please do so yeah my YouTube channel Veronica Moya is made for kids and I always try to keep it very simple very short because the first excuse is there's no time there's never time right so I made a series just now I have a series of mindful morning videos they're five minutes each and they're meant to be played in the classroom before we start school and like you said it is mental hygiene it is about getting to know ourselves be quiet breathe and fall in love with who you are that's it because that's the most important thing think about Robin Williams think about Kate Spade think about all these people that had amazing beautiful lives they were loved they were famous they were rich they were all all those things and yet they couldn't find that inner peace inner love true love self-love the most important love you can tell your kids they're fantastic until you're blue in the face it doesn't matter they need to believe it they need to feel it you need to help your child find their essence their magic inside and that's what this is about so I have over 300 videos yes I recommend yeah right I mean this is this is what I'm saying this is so amazing I want everyone to to see this explore your your work find it find out how easy it actually is find out how much their kids like you said will be like oh no I love this I want to do this you know um and and just you know another value to all of this is like teaching kids and who become adults to listen right just to be able to sit quietly enough and have confidence enough.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

You know the only reason people don't listen right is they're constantly searching for the next thing to say that makes them cool you know or what's my appropriate response so they like me or whatever. But that ruins the listening piece right imagine just being able to sit there in front of any teacher or anybody who's offering some wisdom or guidance and be able to just sit quietly and soak it in. I mean that alone is is huge for for everybody. So I just think this is amazing and I um yeah I really hope people go check out you know and the cool thing is is like you probably noticed this that you can find everybody's different right everybody resonates differently with different approaches or different ways of doing it right so people can go to your YouTube channel and they could find the one they really like I tell people this when I taught meditation too I'm gonna teach you six ways to meditate because I know you're not gonna practice the ones you don't like ever I want you to try all six and the one you like just do that one like never mind the rest right a hundred percent there's so I mean there's so much online right there's yeah lots of resources so that should never be an excuse it should never be yeah it's just if you have the intention that's all that matters yeah how long would you say it is because this is another thing when I've asked children to try something I think I believe and you may know know better that it you gotta do something for maybe a couple of weeks before you decide whether you like it or not like get in the groove. Is that true or what do you recommend?

SPEAKER_03 35:08

Well yes well I I do recommend every day this is what I recommend I recommend presenting the activity and let it go let it be if they don't want to do it that's okay you cannot force someone into alignment okay you don't bully someone into no so that's fine your kid wants to do it doesn't want to do it it doesn't matter now if you're really into it if you understand the importance of this activity and you like to see your children grow uh mentally emotionally healthy and happy and self-aware and with self-love if you if you're one of those people we all know we're all connected everything's connected they know what you know they feel what you feel I recommend for the grown ups to do it themselves and just say hey this is my time this is mommy or daddy's time alone you sit in the corner or whatever and say I need time you know I'm gonna listen to my music and I need five minutes so now the kid knows oh what are they doing? What is that? And uh you know how obviously the kids always copying the parents right but it's very important not to present two things don't present it when there's a a a conflict when they're having a temper tantrum that's terrible because now you know what happens I mean we're all smart now it's like oh I I misbehave they make me meditate no don't do that this is a treat this is a beautiful thing right it's a beautiful thing that they have the opportunity to do to get to know themselves to be alone with themselves so you present it any way you want you can go to my website go to the YouTube find your own stuff there's lots of books there's there's lots of lots of stuff um or just tell them this is you know explain to them what the activity is and let them find their way why not and if they're not into it they don't want to do they do one time and they don't want to do it again that's fine you don't have to do it I'm doing it myself so that's one advice and number two when they do do it which they will don't ask them how it went what they thought what they saw how they feel it's a very private moment some may want to share but a lot of us don't so I like that it keeps you read yeah yeah treat them as the souls the intelligent wise souls that they are not the tiny little children because they're more than that they cannot verbalize everything they cannot articulate but they know right they know there's there's wisdom in there you know that I mean if you if you have young children you know you heard them say certain things to you then they go like makes you go oh wow like yeah duh so when you talk to them about this you speak to that part of them not the intellectual not the person talk to their soul that's oh I'm sorry so how long does it take I don't know for me so I come it looks like it just takes one time I mean I don't know it's different for me because I had to go and visit the places so go like once a week now I started this series the the video series and I have a group of teachers I'm sending them to to them and they play it every day so they do they do this every day in the classroom five minutes every morning and they have reported that it's going great they love it so it's a thing that you know they get used to it like I said there's always 20% of the kids who will not get into it. But as you keep doing it my you know my classmates are doing it I'm not which is fine again you don't force anybody they don't want to do it they don't have to do it we just ask don't poke your neighbor right that's true but you can do whatever you want read a book listen to your music do whatever you want play with your phone if you want to I don't care um eventually you know when the time is right right like it happened for all of us yeah I think it I that makes a lot of sense because it makes sense that the the child's brain that has not been you know complicated as much as you know someone in their 20s 30s forties 50s um easier to develop habits quicker probably right yeah I think of adults it takes you know a couple weeks to develop to change a habit but you're right I could see why a child would just be like this is amazing and they're they're in they one time and they're doing it you know like I I was that way as a kid again like at more accidentally than anything nobody knew about any of this stuff but you know I I you know but I was also a little bit born like you obviously with with sort of these inherent strange gifts and and uh but you know I I remember just you know I sit at I come home from school I had a raging headache or something like that mostly because of my diet which was horrible at the time but I would lay on the couch out of sheer you know desperation and I would I remember staring out the window just like staring at leaves and it was it was it was an incidental transcendental meditation basically in other words the more I did that the more I my you know headache would go away or whatever and then I'd get up and I'd carry on so you know it's I think natural for children to find something that feels good and right to them like you say they have this inner they haven't lost that knowing of intuition as much so they know and and I would you know the minute I saw your work it same thing clicked in me it's like oh this is yeah this is good this is really important like I know this is huge and I'm so glad you're you've devoted your life to doing this I mean this is a huge undertaking and amount of effort and you have to like working with children and there's all kinds of things that go with it um what do you what's next for you what where do you want to see what's your vision your ideal vision obviously I know you want to give your gifts to the world and have them received in service but like tell me what's plan do you have plans do you have hopes do you what what would you like to see yes so uh so I started a nonprofit last year because I do want to bring this into every class and like I said the big excuse is there's no time and there's no money there's no time there's no money so um so I'm working on that and I'm working on also having a center uh for children like a wellness center just like the ARE and the Omega and the Deepat Chopra has so many uh wellness centers around the the world for us adults and this will be exclusively for children and this is what we'll do and that's it'll be like uh like an amusement park but just for inner guidance and meditation and calmness a little and the nonprofit so that's how do people yeah tell me how to uh what is the nonprofit where do people find out how to support it yes it's called mindfulv so it's mindfulv.org and yes we do need support I'm always looking for um people who want to come and be part of it volunteers and money obviously um it helps us continue to create digital content and continue to reach out and to bring it to as many kids as possible and families and teachers so educating teachers is a big one as well right now you see I mean there's always it's a little yeah it's it's frustrating that we get um the most resistance comes from the adults right yeah yeah I think it's partly because they think this is spiritual or something right in other words I think that's the issue right if I could see like if a teacher just said okay everybody before we start class today take a deep breath everybody take three deep breaths close your eyes imagine you know that you're in a beautiful garden or something like that like okay great out like 30 seconds get in feel good get out as as uh Abraham Hicks would say in their teaching it's like that's not spiritual or religious that's really like resetting you know neuro it's neuroscience right so maybe it's maybe it needs to be sort of uh positioned

SPEAKER_01 44:25

More as neuroscience techniques or something. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 44:28

But but no, you're right, you're right. And it is neuroscience. It is. But then again, there's the the you know, it's so annoying that we keep denying the existence of the soul. And the soul is real regardless of religion, even for the Yeah, no, of course.

SPEAKER_00 44:45

And all the religions agree. I mean, there's like nobody that says this isn't true, including science.

SPEAKER_03 44:50

Why are you yeah, why are you so rude? Why are you so rude? And why are we so dumb that we don't use what we have? Every other animal and plants are doing it. Everybody follows their instincts. Nobody's do you think the the birds are concerned what the squirrel is doing when they have to migrate? Oh, it's gonna miss me. Maybe I should go. No, you have to go, you go. They know where to go, they know what they need to do, and they do it. They don't ask for permission, they don't speculate, they don't control.

SPEAKER_01 45:21

We do, they don't study little bird books, how to be a bird.

SPEAKER_03 45:28

Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

Yeah, self-help books for birds. No, I don't think they do. You're right, they have it inside, so do we.

SPEAKER_03 45:36

Yeah, we we're not less than, we just have more. We have the intellect and the ability to discern and to create and to, which is great, obviously, but we are overusing it. And uh listen, in my website, I have a quote from Einstein. Let me see if I find it. Uh, he said, he's the one saying he uses intuition more than anything. He said, the intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and forgotten the gift. He said he admitted, oh you know, you know the story of Einstein when they opened his brain after he died to study it, and they realized he wasn't any smarter than anybody else. He didn't have a bit. They saw how the intuitive mind connection, right? It was it was right. He was using that a lot, and it was all entangled with the analytical mind. So when we know this, how can the how can Gronas be so stubborn? Um well, anyway.

SPEAKER_01 46:47

Well, no, this is true, and and it's you know, uh, that's why I say this is not, you know, this is a service that is uh it just takes a lot of work, obviously. And like you say, the work is mainly breaking through the resistance to the established norms, and uh, you know, but this is to to me, you know, uh becoming a shaman's 30 years ago, and you know, one of my values or what made people like my work was the bridge aspect. In other words, I could explain it in words and practical analogies and things that that related and that made sense. So even the most agnostic, most like most antagonistic person to everything I did was able to, if they sat with me, they'd go, wow, okay, this makes sense, let me do it, you know. Um, but that's you know, that's rare, I think. And it and it, but I remember, you know, it's it's been an uphill struggle to convince people that this might be helpful. So I totally get it, but your what you're describing is like it's just so it doesn't require much commitment, if any, right? In terms of um you know, time and effort, like you say, or even changing beliefs. It's like this isn't like a big stretch. This is like keep you get to keep doing everything you do and just add three minutes, you know, like it's not a big deal.

SPEAKER_03 48:30

Well, you know, back in New York, I I I met a very cool priest, a cat Catholic priest across the street from my house, and they invited me to come and teach in Sunday school. That was awesome. It was so easy because I said, Okay, you know how in Catholic school they teach you there's God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and they never talk about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Ghost is a part of God that's inside of you. Full stop, and they keep going and they they Jesus, Jesus, God and Mother Mary, and blah blah blah. All right, so now I came to this class and I explained and I said, Well, today we're focusing on the Holy Spirit. So you're gonna go within and you're gonna listen and you're gonna picture this, and they did it, and after that, they we do artwork, so we always paint or or uh draw, and it was fantastic. And oh my god, they were they were sharing their visions, they were sharing what what they experienced. It was so good, and uh yeah, so those usually I get a lot of uh pushback from Christians, which is so simple.

SPEAKER_02 49:40

Right again, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:41

No, when you meditate, you're listening, you listen to God. Who do you think it's inside? Who do you think uh anyway? I yeah, get frustrated, but when I understand what you said, see what you said is perfect, of course. When they are with you, they see the value, but that's the issue with what we do. You don't see the value until you experience it. This is not something I can convey, I can talk about it till I'm blue in my face, I can, you know, you have to do it, you had to have the experience.

SPEAKER_01 50:19

Right. And you know, bring it you you brought up the Catholic, and I've recently returned to the Catholic Church and I'm doing all kinds of things around it, uh, integrating it with the shamanism, and wrote a book called Common Threads and all this stuff that I just published. And it's like this is what they're doing every weekend in church. I mean, I was raised Catholic, so you know, as a little boy, I'm in there and I'm you know fidgety and I don't understand anything that's happening, which is part of the problem. But, you know, all I needed was someone like you to say, hey, guess what Holy Spirit means? It's that breath inside of you, focus on that or whatever, right? And I would have been a whole different experience for me. But like that's kind of what people are doing if they're if they're Bible study, if they're Christian, you know, like just uh any kind of religion, like they're already, if you do it right, if you understand, and I got this really cool book. I can't I I can't remember what it is now, but it was about if you're returning to the church, here's what everything actually means and what's happening during a mass. It's like, wow, I wish I'd have known this as a kid, but it's like because now it makes sense. But it's like you're going in and you're doing the same thing. You're going within, you're asking Jesus to, you know, sh cleanse you, and then you're gonna receive the Eucharist, the body. It's like, you know, you you sing, you pray, use your breath. It's like this is the same, like it's not different from that, and yet, no, and you can like you did beautifully, you adopted it to that's the whole point, right? If they understand Holy Spirit because they're Catholic, then that's what you're doing, right? Like if you're a scientist, you're connecting into uh the quantum the quantum energy of the universe or something, right? In other words, it's just words, it's just language, right?

SPEAKER_03 52:19

It's just language. We all have it, you know it's just a tool.

SPEAKER_01 52:24

If you're it doesn't matter what race, what nationality, what religion, if you're building a house, everybody uses a hammer, it's the hammer.

SPEAKER_00 52:34

It's you well, I can't use your hammer because it's a Muslim hammer. It's like what makes no sense, right?

SPEAKER_01 52:43

It's like you know, these are just the fundamental tools. This isn't anything you're not signing up for a belief system here. No, you know, just like we're breathing, we don't even know we're breathing right now.

SPEAKER_03 53:01

We have to breathe exactly, right? It's just the miracles that we are, yeah. The miracles that we are, everything that we take for granted, the breathing.

SPEAKER_01 53:13

Yeah, you don't have to belong to the church of breath to remember to breathe.

SPEAKER_03 53:21

We're doing a million things without knowing. Your heart is bumping, pumping blood to all you know, the organs constantly, every second of the day. Everything's working behind the scenes. You pay no attention, you don't know, you keep going as if nothing happened, and you keep focusing on the outside and achieving and doing, and let me get let me look good, let me clean myself, let me make my do my hair, and then the inside gets neglected every time, and then you wonder, I'm like, oh, I'm having this problem, I'm having this, you know, and depending on who you are and how you're built, you can have physical problems, you get, you know, that's what's true. Her whole Louise Hay, I'm sure you know Louise Hay, her whole work is about that, it's about the physical uh disease and how it has is you know related to the mental and the emotional, and uh sometimes it's that, and sometimes it's just emotional, uh you know, not well-being, discomfort.

SPEAKER_02 54:28

Right.

SPEAKER_03 54:28

Or like you said, the headaches, right? Headaches are very common.

SPEAKER_01 54:32

I had headaches too when I was yeah, I mean, I I you know of high blood pressure, diagnosed with high blood pressure, part of it's hereditary, whatever, but a huge part of it, I just learned, and this is decade, you know, like I'm not I'm not young anymore, really. And it's like the this healer that I asked to about it goes, oh, you know, when you're working, so when I'm doing session, shaman sessions, or right now doing this type of thing, or talking to a family member, or anything like that. Um I I'm super passionate. It's just my nature. I get overly excited about everything. And but what he noticed, what he pointed out to me, and I had no idea I was doing, and I'm probably doing it right now. I'm just remembering now that we're talking about, oh yeah, I have to I have to breathe and relax because I get I get hypertense, I get tensed up, I get like into it. Oh yeah, okay, and I'm rattling, I'm doing my shaman session, and I'm rattling, and I'm I'm like, my blood pressure is spiking, and it's like, hello, and I'm working like all day, so of course my blood pressure is high all day. And he goes, You gotta remember to like just chill, just like you know, I know you're doing the session, you're nervous. I'm always nervous all the time. People may not notice it, but I'm a wreck. I've got you know, sweat marks under my everything I do, and it's like it's like okay, just relax, just slow it down a little, just breathe a little, John. It's gonna be alright. Like, no one's gonna notice. It's not like you're getting lazy, it's not like you're not passionate, you're fine. Now I just lowered my blood pressure. But like, I have to remember to do that, or like you said, you can't teach a child any of this stuff when they're in the middle of the tantrum. They can't practice anything when they're in that state. I go, you have to practice when everything's good. You have to practice when you don't need it. When you don't think you need it is when you do it, because then it becomes a part of you, and then when you do need it, it's available, right? Like exercising. It's not like when you need to lift a hundred-pound bag, you better start, you know, exercising. It's too late. Lift lift weights little by little every day, and then when you need to lift a hundred-pound bag, you got it, right?

SPEAKER_03 57:07

Yes, such good analogies, they're so good. I should write them down. That is perfect. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's like Esther Hicks always said if you're like yeah, if you're having a moment, if you're angry or you're frustrated, that's fine, and that's also part of mindfulness, right? Honor that, yeah, feel that fully, and you should allow your children. Of course, it's uncomfortable, it's annoying, not uncomfortable. If you're a parent and your child is having a moment, you just especially if it's in front of people, you want it to stop, right?

SPEAKER_01 57:44

I get that, but too bad, too late.

SPEAKER_03 57:49

Yeah, the healthy thing would be like just let them just sit and wait, know and trust that it will go away, it'll pass faster than you think, as long as you are at peace and grounded yourself as the adult. So let them kick and scream. All right, they're allowed, everybody needs to have their frustration, and that's always healthy. We know that as adults, we know that if you bottle it in, as adults we learn to be good, not to show, don't price, don't fly around. You can't, you can't. This is why men always get ulcers, right? We don't as much women, because we tend to it's okay, socially accepted, acceptable that women are a little more emotional. But look what happens with when you control it too much. So, yeah, so you don't want to teach your young child to control their emotions. I know that's a big one now, and it's part of you know, the the advice me when I go and try to sell the classes or the programs, it's about that, like you know, regulation, self-regulation, control. I get it. That I guess that's what they want to buy. I get it, but that's not what I teach. This is not about it.

SPEAKER_01 59:09

No, it's so important fully processed when you're angry, scream, when you're sad, cry till you can't anymore. That's how we stay clear from from holding on to things in our energy field. But also, like I realized that a lot of reason why parents, particularly, I had this experience with nieces and nephews a long time ago when I had to sort of babysit them on the beach for a moment, two two nephews, brothers, and it went sideways really fast. One threw sand in the other's face, and he started screaming bloody murder. And I hadn't been a parent, so I was just like, oh god, and like everyone on the beach is looking at me. Are you like abusing these kids? Like, I'm going, and and so I think a big part of it is that it's the peer pressure, is like the parents who tell their kids because they're embarrassed and worried about what other people are thinking about them and judging them. And this is a this is a universal thing, and it's like, you know what? Sure, everybody on that beach, everybody in the room might be judging you and having ideas and projections about what they think is happening, and it's awful and it's embarrassing and it feels horrible, but like you said, it will pass. We got off the beach, the parent came back, you know. I was like, I don't ever want to do that again. I was so freaked out. But it's like, you know, but you know, but the point is, like, um every it passes like those people on the beach forgot about it 10 minutes later.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:45

Like, okay, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:47

I think we're gonna I know I think we think this is just me adding my little my little experience in peace to it, but I think as adults, we literally think people will remember forever, and next time they see us, they'll like judge and persecute us. The point is, people forget everything. Politicians know this within two weeks, people forget everything that happened, so they don't really care, they don't really deal with it. But it's like, right? So, like, yeah, if your kid's doing something, like, sure, it may be like you may be annoying the heck out of everyone else in the department store or whatever, but it's like not a big deal, they'll they'll forget about it in 10 minutes, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:31

But here's to your point, this is how important self-love and self-acceptance is for the grown-up, yeah, right? So if everybody's judging me a little bit, if you're truly, you know, if we could none of us had like I'm doing the best we can.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:47

I'm not a bad person, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:50

If I had learned when I was five years old, I learned the opposite. My mother told me I'm selfish, I am mean, because I had a younger sister, and of course she was annoying. She was four years younger than I was, and uh that's a big gap. I'm eight, she's four, she's always crying, she always wants to do what I want to do, she was annoying. So I was I was a typical kid, but my mother informed me that I was mean and I was selfish, and that's tough. You know, you grow up with that, you internalize it. I'm like, oh, I'm a mean person, I'm a bad person. Uh, she's trying to be a good mom, she's trying to make me, you know, be nicer to my sister, right? But you know, it failed terribly. And uh if I had what my mother was telling me this, if I had you know, an outlet, something telling me, go every every day, five minutes, telling yourself you're awesome, everything works out for you, you're kind, you're loved, you're blessed, blah blah blah blah, whatever. Um, maybe today I wouldn't be so insecure or so, you know, all the stuff that we have going on. We all know so my my hope, my yeah, what I want is to minimize your vision for the future. Yeah, yeah, that's my vision. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:17

Well, I certainly hope that you continue to grow and you know, get the support you need for it. I think it's perfect, it's so needed. And, you know, like you say, there's a lot of other things out there, but it's gonna touch, it's gonna reach, you know, there's certain things that really kind of nail it. And um, I think yours is that. And I really I'm really grateful to have met you and been able to do this with you and uh to share everything you're doing, and you know, we'll we'll have links available, you know, on this. And but Veronica Moya, just you know, Google that and you'll get it all. So that's you know, for people listening and maybe in their car or something like that, you know. Um it's beautifully done. I love all the the graphics and colors and everything on your videos. Uh, I think make it super fun, super enjoyable for for kids, and extremely valuable for adults. Like, honestly, it's never too late. Like, neither of us were raised perfectly, let's say, and there's not a whole lot of, you know, but it's like, hey, it's not too late. Like, go find yourself love, go, go shift that, go do the work to to um begin to turn that around because the power of the part of us that's under the water, the iceberg, is really so much more power. I tell people, if you do the work there, it's easier and quicker and more effective in a lot of ways than always just focusing on the the real surface stuff, like just trying to change the way I think or or whatever. It's like go in, spend some time there quietly. So I love it. Yeah, I'm a huge fan, and uh thank you so much for you know coming and spending this time, taking this time out of your busy schedule. Yeah, so all right. Well, I'll um I'll give people links and everything, and and I hope you have a wonderful day, Veronica. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:35

You too, thank you so much, and thank you for your work. It's very good.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:39

Oh, you're welcome. Thank you.