A FORMER teacher has written a book focusing on mindfulness to promote mental wellbeing in children.

Bernie Leonard, who taught for more than 13 years at Tong High School, now Tong Leadership Academy, has launched Moban and Sky's Mindful Adventure, to help equip children to live a healthier and happier life.

The step-by-step guide, with fun illustrations by Chris Taylor, has been written for parents, carers and teachers, to pass on the practices of mindfulness, which Bernie defines as ‘stepping off life’s merry-go-round and taking the time to notice what’s happening right now, both internally and externally, without judgement.’

She writes: ‘When we practice mindfulness, we begin to amplify our senses and learn how to direct our attention to the present moment.

‘Mindfulness helps develop our understanding of how our brain works, increases our concentration, our sense of calm and our compassion for ourselves and others.’

Moban the monkey helps his friend Sky the skunk to relax, keep calm and grow in confidence, through a series of mindful techniques. These include mindful eating - leading to greater appreciation and enjoyment of food - positioning, or ‘grounding’ your body to channel your energy and breathing to promote calm.

The book will form part of a wider education project to support primary schools across the UK to promote positive mental wellbeing in children, as research shows that incorporating mindfulness into education has been linked to improving academic, social and emotional learning.

Bernie taught A-level psychology for more than two decades. Throughout her teaching career, she saw first-hand the impact stress could have on both students and colleagues. At times, Bernie found herself struggling to control her own stress levels and emotions.

In 2017 she retrained as a teacher of mindfulness and now runs her own business Mindful Me. She was inspired to write her book after seeing the positive impact her mindfulness-based programmes have had on primary aged children across the region.

She explains: “I’m passionate about helping as many people as possible develop positive mental health; after seeing the difference our tried and tested techniques were having on primary school children, I wanted to find a way for us to support even more young people.

“It’s really important to me to find a way to make mindfulness relevant to children so they can reap the rewards it has to offer in these tough times. This includes increasing concentration, our sense of calm and our compassion for ourselves and others. I hope the book will help children to learn more about the benefits of mindfulness and they will be able to put these techniques into practice to live healthier, more fulfilled lives now and in the future.”

One in six children aged 5-16 years is ‘likely to have a mental health disorder’, according to The Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2020 report, published on by NHS Digital.

A spokesman for publisher Dixi Books added: “Moban and Sky’s Mindful Adventure is a great tool kit for children and adults alike for their mental health.

Mindfulness can be fun and this book proves it. Bernie Leonard’s background of psychology teaching and mindfulness practice has brought a tremendous additional value to the book which combines both activities and the science of this practice.

*Moban and Sky’s Mindful Adventure is published by Dixi Books. To find out more about the book and Bernie’s mindfulness training courses for young people, visit: mindfulme-hw.co.uk/primary-pshe/