Using Time in Nature to Quiet Our To-Do Lists

Ginny: Welcome to 1000 Hours Outside Podcast. We have Lauren Betzing today joining us, and I'm super excited to talk about everything that she has to share about mindfulness with kids and nature. She has these fantastic cards that I had a chance to look through today. I just couldn't stop looking through them. They're so fantastic, so I'm excited to share them with everyone. And welcome to the podcast, Lauren.

Lauren: Thanks, Ginny, I'm so glad to be here and just so excited to get to share some of the stuff with your audience today, so thank you so much for having me. 

Ginny: Yeah, they're going to love it. So let me read a little bit about Lauren.

Lauren is the founder and chief editor at Heartflow Kids, a nature based mindfulness company that is on a mission to connect children to their inner potential through nature, mindfulness and imaginative play. Pulling from her years of experience in academia, children's health programming and public policy positions at a national level, as well as her experience as a yoga and meditation teacher, she is passionately focused on helping to connect children and families to the magic of nature and the present moment. 

Lauren holds a B.A. in Psychological Brain Sciences from Dartmouth College and a master's degree in chronic disease. Epidemiology and health policy from Yale University. She is a registered RYT-200 yoga and meditation instructor. 

You have got a lot of accomplishments here. This is amazing. I'm feeling a little bit bad about myself. 

She holds a health and wellness coaching certification from Wellcoaches. In the contemplative practices, she is formally trained in mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) Yoga Nidra and Kundalini Yoga and meditation.

Lauren, good for you. You have accomplished so much. 

Lauren: Well, thank you.

Ginny: Good for you. I think that's fantastic. You are just going after life. Yeah, and it sounds like these are things, obviously, that you're very passionate about, and that's why you continue to grow and learn about them. 

One of the things that we had talked about talking about is about being present. And so before we get there, though, can you tell us a little bit about you and about your family?

Lauren: Sure. So we actually one of the first things that really drove us out into nature for a really committed, you know, getting out there every day was actually the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge. I think it was probably over three years ago now. 

But I, like most families, we are kind of outside and adventuring like my husband and I are both were always outdoors doing things. But it wasn't the priority that it was, I think, before we started the challenge. 

And, you know, we kind of found ourselves in that, you know, going to activities and going to school and all that kind of stuff. And once we really made it a priority for our family, that's really when we started to actually around that time have a lot of shifts like in our lifestyle.

Since that time, we've kind of transitioned to being more of an unschooling homeschooling family. We just spend a ton of time outdoors. We think of nature as the absolute best teacher. And my husband and I just both love kind of engaging with the boys outside, and we just had so many wonderful experiences and memories since we've made it a huge part of our lives. And it's also played a huge part in my transition and kind of my career and my professional trajectory to even starting the company that I recently started that really focuses on nature based mindfulness tools and practices for kids. So it's been an awesome journey, and I just think even over the last couple of years, the last two years, really, those things have really shifted in our external environment, where to see more and more the value of embedding these practices and helping our kids get outside and learn really deeply the magic that nature has to offer. 

Ginny: Yeah, what a beautiful journey. And it's newer. It's newer because your youngest is just three years old, right? You said you have a six year old and a three year old. 

Lauren: Yeah, he is three. And my older son is six. 

Ginny: Yeah, and you guys are in North Carolina?

Lauren: Yes, we were in the Raleigh area for quite some time. And then about a year ago, we actually moved out to the mountains, which was a big transition for us too, because it was, you know, moving from, you know, kind of suburban city life out to the mountains where it's a good distance to get to anything. We live right off, actually the Blue Ridge Parkway. So there's a ton of wonderful hikes and the rivers and we're right now actually in the middle of peak leaf season. And so there's people coming in from all over to kind of see the beauty of this area. So we feel very fortunate that we made the leap and we get to just literally enjoy one of the most beautiful places every day.

Ginny: Wow. So is that near Asheville? 

Lauren: Yeah, we're just about an hour south of Asheville. 

Ginny: This is like our favorite place to come on vacation. I don't even know if you know that. Like, You go along the Blue Ridge Parkway and there's that Cradle of Forestry and the Graveyard Fields and Skinny Dip Falls. And you have all these like little spots where you stop and you can look out, but you can take these hikes.

Lauren: Yeah, well, that's in the northern portion of that. But it's the same thing. There's all these like pull offs and hikes and all that kind of stuff. 

Ginny: What a cool place to live. That's fantastic. 

Well, let's talk about being present, because that's something that popped out at me from some of your topics. And you know, my situation is that going out in nature was really the first time I felt present with my kids. When I'm home, I have a really hard time being present because there's so many things to do: laundry and dishes and dusting and cleaning and oh, there's so many things. But when we go outside and especially if phones are put away, even if I have a book, I feel like I can be present. But the phone, I think, takes our attention in a different way. But I just found that I was more present and aware and in the moment with my kids. 

Let's talk about just the power of the present moment and how nature helps with that. 

Lauren: Yes, absolutely. So we can talk a little bit about the nature piece and then perhaps how to bring it inside as well. 

So I always talk about nature as being the absolute best meditation and mindfulness teacher because, as you said, you're almost forced into the present moment by going outside. And there are just so many different things that Nature Officer offers, you know.

As we talk about mindfulness and this like this being in this present moment and then focus on what it's happening now. Nature provides this amazing landscape to just look at the beauty that exists within the world, but then also have this really deep sensory experience at the same time. So the reason that we become so present is that there's just so much going on around us, right?

We can see with our eyes the beauty, we can hear, the birds chirping, we can feel the wind, you know, we kind of get immersed in this like bodily sensory experience. And so we find ourselves in the moment because of that.

And so there's so much amazing research that shows all the benefits of nature tours for adults and things like that, but they're also starting to show in kids as they're getting outside. You know, we're actually starting to see some of the results of this is what happens in the brain, like it really creates this really calm brain state. And they just become super relaxed. And then obviously, you know, as many people know, all the benefits that result from that, you know, are huge, you know, just decreased anxiety, more resilience, less stress, all the things that we need more of right now. 

When we talk on a more macro level, just about the present moment, what kind of happens and tends to happen in our lives is, you know, we get stuck in this busy, hectic, frenetic pace, right? We have one thing to go to next. Here's our to-do's, and all of a sudden we find ourselves lost in our minds. You know, we spend so much of our days lost in our thoughts and lost in our minds. And by returning to the present moment and breathing in it is a practice within our lives, it allows us to come back to what is actually happening right here now, right?

So we can think of the past, as you know, all the things that occurred previously, we can think of the future of all the now moments that haven't exactly occurred yet. And so when you really, truly start to grasp that, you see that all that exists is right now. And when you find yourself here and right now, you just start to practice more and you start to feel like there's just so much peace and presence in the moments that you kind of let go right? You let go of the thoughts, you let go of the future and you keep returning because it just feels so good within your body. 

All action, everything comes from right now. You know, we trick ourselves. Our minds trick us to think like, Well, if I think about this, this is going to happen in the future that, you know, it's actually something like the security or safety mechanism of the brain. But really, all you can do is take action to this moment because that is literally all there is, right? 

Ginny: It's so beautiful. And I think, like you said, it's so pertinent for right now because there is a lot that we could worry about, and there are a lot of things that are unknown. And what does the future look like? 

I'm not sure if you've ever read any of Dr. Jacob Liberman’s books. I think if you haven't, you would find them fascinating. But Dr. Jacob Lieberman has a book called Light Future of Medicine and another one called Luminous Life and they’re all about how light guides us. And so when I was reading about you I thought of something he had said in our podcast. 

He was talking about how light guides the animals. So their fur knows when to thicken. And he said they don't say, “Oh no, I forgot to get my coat at Costco.” You know, they're right there in the moment. And he said, our physiology is always reading what has not yet occurred so that when it occurs, we're right there. We're not behind the eight ball, we're not ahead. We are meeting each moment and this is called presence. It's not something you do. He said, “It occurs when we're naturally dancing with life in a harmonious manner.” And I thought that was so beautiful. 

Being in tune with nature guides us to be present, you know, even just light exposure. So, like you said, there’s never been a more important time than now.

You brought up neuroscience and the impact of nature on children's developing brains. And one of the things you talk about is the myth of the resilient child. I think that's something important to talk about. Let's talk about that. 

Lauren: Yeah. So, you know, a lot of people are saying, well, children are so resilient. You know, we probably hear that all the time and how that got started and kind of took off is remains, I guess, to be seen, but one of the things that we really know from all the latest research is neuroscience and children's development is that the first seven years of life up until kind of age of eight, where the analytical brain starts to come on board, the children are really in an alpha and theta brain state that is completely open to suggestion, and they literally lay the groundwork for all their thoughts, beliefs and experiences.

And so on the negative side of that, obviously, you know, as any trauma arises or any negative experiences arise, they actually become embodied within the self and they carry on and they show up kind of in our future experiences, for the most part, subconsciously. And so there's kind of this idea that, you know, anything could kind of happen to kids that can bounce back, et cetera. It's just more of the fact that a lot of times kids don't have the skills or language to emotionally express what's going on. So they shut down, and a lot of times they actually store that within their body.

There's some really interesting literature and books. There's one called The Body Keep Score that goes really deep into this if anyone is interested. And so there's also that side of it where we can obviously have, you know, negative experiences that stick with us.

But there's also the positive side of it as well, which I like to focus on, more so. And that's that in his period, from zero to seven, literally kids are walking around this almost like hypnotic state, a very deep, meditative state. And that's also, like I said, where they're laying the groundwork of all their kind of beliefs and, you know, just building kind of the programing that they'll carry in their life.

And so we have this just amazing, amazing window of opportunity when kids are particularly in that age range. That doesn't mean that after, you know, they still can't have great impact. But if we can introduce them in that time to really some core social-emotional skills and resilient techniques using mindfulness and, you know, some other resources as well, we really give kids this amazing groundwork, this amazing foundation that they'll be able to carry for the rest of their lives. 

And so that's kind of the idea of, you know, really understanding that there's just this core window and we have this amazing opportunity to lay down these beliefs in kids and be really positive growth oriented. You know, I am able to manage my body and listen to my emotions, and I have this inner knowing right that can carry me throughout life. 

Ginny: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Have you ever read a book called The Disappearance of Childhood? It's by Neil Postman, and he talks about, let's say, up until the 1970s that as a society, we were really concerned about protecting children's emotional states. You know, he talked about how,if a kid would walk into a room and there was a radio program about the news or something scary, the adults would turn it off. 

There was this collective thought that, you know, we protect the minds and emotions of children. But there wasn't as much thought given to protecting them physically, right? So kids would run around and play and, you know, scrape their knees and fall off their bikes and do these sorts of things. 

I think it's around the 70s where there was like this flip right, where all of a sudden we're super concerned about children's physical safety, but so much less concerned about their emotional well-being. Just as an example, I got an email from a company recently. They're like, “Can we partner up?” They sell pants for babies and toddlers that have like butt pads and knee pads built in. That is kind of an example of how we have switched and I think he talks maybe a little bit about working and and we want kids to be resilient because we want to feel better about the decisions that we're making.

But I like what you said about the fact that, you know, it is a bit of a myth and maybe we should flip back a little bit more toward the way that it used to be. 

Lauren: Yeah. We're going to obviously make mistakes as parents. You know, there's the whole point to some extent. You know, this existence is for us to learn and grow and have these challenges, right? It's just the human experience. So it's not a message of, you know, we have to protect them from all these things.

It's more of that, you know, these early life experiences matter. That's where the foundation is laid. 

And quite frankly, for adults that end up in therapy, what do they spend most of the time talking about their early childhood experiences and how they're now showing up in their later life? There is this window and we do have this opportunity to just lay this groundwork for kids and really focus on kind of, you know, building a foundation. 

Ginny: And what we talk about at 1000 Hours Outside is really this is simpler than we may think. You know, on the flip side, like you said, the positive side is just getting out to play, you know, giving kids time, giving them time to explore and open-ended play experiences and little playmates. This foundation for lifelong learning is going to help them in every facet of their development. So it doesn't have to be strenuous and it doesn't have to be expensive and it doesn't have to be high stress. It can actually be real simple. It's a simple concept, maybe not quite so easy to implement, but the concept is simple, at least. Yeah, that's what 

Lauren: Yeah, that's what I was going to say. And that's one of the things I think the research really shows as well. They've done some of these studies, you know, neuroscience studies and just impact studies with kids and people think it has to be these grand adventures where they're going out for an hour and a half to two hours to these things. And it's really just truly green space and daily exposure. I mean, just repeatedly, that's where you're really seeing the strong impact. It doesn't have to be complicated. It can be very, very simple.

Ginny:  Yes, nature is everywhere, that's for sure. OK, I love stories. So you have the story of how and why Einstein had many of his breakthroughs while in nature. 

Lauren: Yeah. So I love sharing this story because I think it helps people to just understand more about how releasing from the mind actually leads to some just great breakthroughs and then also just more presence in daily life. So I like sharing the story because I just think it helps provide context for people. And I think it also helps parents because they're such a big focus on academic and cognitive performance. And there's so much more to the picture, right? For kids? Yeah, absolutely. 

So the story kind of goes, and if anyone actually who's interested and going deeper on this one are learning more about it, I first learned about this particular story from a wonderful book by Gary Ferguson called The Eight Master Lessons of Nature. So if you want to go a little deeper on this, you could dig into that. 

But the story essentially goes that when Einstein would get stuck on a problem, he would head outside. There was kind of a patch of woods on the Princeton campus called the Institute Woods, and some people might think, you know, he's heading outside just to clear his brain, whatever it is. But he had a really particular technique that he would use. 

He would stand outside. He'd look up at the trees, you know, he looked down at the soil, he looked around at everything, and he tried to figure out the workings of everything. And he did this on purpose because there's absolutely no way that we could ever truly wrap our minds around what is occurring. We still don't even know what is occurring in a square yard of dirt. We still don't really fully grasp what's even happening in the soil. And so he would take himself to this limit where he was just trying to understand everything until eventually his intellect, you know, just let go. He fell to his knees, right? And he opens up to the smaller, freer and intuitive space where that kind of information would flow in. And so it said that he had his absolute best breakthroughs while he was in nature.

He actually did a lot of sailing at sea. A lot of scientists are known for having a very, very deep connection with nature. And he even says one of his famous quotes is, “Look deep into nature and you will understand everything.” I just feel like that quote obviously says so much. And so it's just kind of a neat story.

People assume that, you know, Einstein's brain was, you know, radically different from everyone else's. But really, his parents really let him focus on curiosity and creativity and all these interests. But it really just developed this technique where he could let go of his mind. And he said every single time when, you know, like he was literally trying to figure out the nature of this reality, right? Not simple stuff. But it was every time when he would let go of his mind where he would have his breakthrough on these concepts. 

Ginny: And so that's fascinating. I didn't know, I didn't know any of that. I'd heard the quote before. So that makes a little bit more sense and it's ironic that all the baby Einstein stuff was like exactly the opposite of what he did, right?

Like he wasn't looking at flash cards, he was just outside looking at the dirt. So yeah, that's interesting and just kind of a fun little twist, I guess. And so for parents that want their kids to do well academically and cognitively, that's a good reminder. Everybody knows about Einstein.

Let's talk about social and emotional learning and how parents can help their kids incorporate social and emotional learning when they're outside exploring with their kids? 

Lauren: Yeah, absolutely. So there's so many different ways you can do this. One of my favorite things to do is to help children just really connect to the outside, connect to the outdoors. So they feel like we all are a part of nature, but really starts to kind of build that foundation within themselves.

And so, as you said, when we're outside, it can be as simple as kids just playing and walking around. But let's say you're going on a walk and you just have those really simple moments where you can just stop and say, “Oh, wow, you know, have you ever looked at the trees, how they're so deeply rooted in the ground, their roots carry on for a while underneath us. But look how their branches sway in the wind, and they're so flexible. Trees are really deeply rooted, but also flexible at the same time. Have you ever thought about that?”

And that might be a little bit of a long winded way to explain it. But just dropping in these like simple nuggets about all the lessons that nature has to offer us or even seasonally, right? Right now, the leaves are changing. What a wonderful metaphor for teaching kids about what it is to just let go to be able to embrace change. You know how different seasons lead to different times within our lives, how to be able to shift and change right as the seasons change, as the leaves fall. So there's just all these just amazing lessons that are out in nature that parents can just simply share with their kids, you know, just in those simple moments. So I think that's just a great way to honestly teach some of the best lessons that there are in life right about to change. 

Resilience is absolutely the lesson of the caterpillar, sitting in a cocoon so tightly for weeks and then it lets go. Its wings come out right. And it's this thing of beauty. Sometimes we have to be in these kinds of moments of contraction before we have expansion. 

And so, as you know, parents can get out in nature and just start. It's almost the process, I say, is that parents really need to reawaken nature within themselves first. 

It's one thing to kind of go outside and have the experience. But are you really feeling it? Are you really feeling it within your body and just start to look around and develop that awe and wonder that exists and bring it inside? So you're holding it? And then once you're holding it, it becomes so much easier to then model and share, you know, some of those lessons with your kids.

Some other kind of simple practices you can do as well as I talked before a little bit how it provides such a wonderful sensory environment. And so one of the things you can do, it's a great practice for kids is to kind of put them into the mindset of a nature element, right? So you could choose a tree with an awesome kind of thick trunk, or you could sit down by the river. 

And let's just use the trees as an example. You know, you have them sit down, let's just sit and put our backs against this tree. “Oh, wow, this feels so sturdy. Can you feel that sturdiness within your body? Have you ever needed to stand strong in a situation just like this tree?” You know, you started just doing these kind of like simple examples with kids, and it's so, so very tangible for them that they really, truly grasp that and they start to embody it, which is kind of one of the main things that you know, I really speak to. 

And then just as a last kind of third thing to share is nature's also just kind of from a social, emotional perspective, a great landscape for helping children with empathy. So we know that everything in nature is completely connected and everything relies on each other, right? You know, if you just think about the bees, right, pollinating all of our crops, there's just so many different interlocked inner connecting facets to nature. And so you can have children kind of think about, well, what is my role, you know, kind of in this outside, outside nature world, you know, outside my door, in my community. And perhaps it's just doing a small thing like finding the right food for the bird species in the area. Or perhaps it's planting a garden and, you know, using some of the vegetables to share with neighbors or whatever. It is just kind of finding the simple ways that children can connect with nature to see that they're part of this connected ecosystem and that, quite frankly, everything is connected. 

Ginny: Yeah, yeah. It's interesting because we are new to gardening and I have missed out, not through any fault of my parents because my mom has always been into gardening and my dad. So this was like my fault. I missed out, but we planted a bunch of flowers this year and this is our third year doing it. But this year we went a little more all out.

Sometimes we'd go back there and there are all these bees buzzing around and moths and butterflies and praying mantises and you're like, “well, we've connected.” They're buzzing around in a little flower that we planted, and then you start to think where would they be if we wouldn't have planted those and they'd be somewhere else.

The end of the sunflower season, these yellow finches would come in every time we'd go back out to the garden, then they'd fly away, but they're up there eating all the seeds. So it is a fun way that you do feel very connected, like what I do matters, and we're all kind of in this together, and it's so simple. A packet of seeds is not expensive, and so I thought about it a lot this year because I kept going back there and thinking, I wonder where this bee would be if I wouldn't have planted this flower or whatever. It's kind of silly.

Lauren: Bees are one of the best examples because they're just so integral to our ecosystem and they each have a very specific role within the colony. So it's actually a great life lesson as well for just being community. And one of the examples of ways for kids to get out and contribute to nature is just opening up a pollination area for butterflies or bees, and they watch this light that just emerges and they played a role in it. And so they just start to see the impact they can have. And it's just so important for the planet in general. 

Ginny: One of the things that I really get out of nature in terms of lessons for parents is about growth. When we grow a plant from seed, at the beginning, you have to be very careful.

You’ve got the seedling and you really have to water it several times a day. And sometimes you have to turn it so that it's facing the light the right way, you know, but at a certain point, you put it in the ground and it does its thing and then you kind of step back and you get to admire its beauty.

And it's like with our kids. If you think about their growth, it's not linear. It's not an assembly line. I think at the beginning, we really have to take a lot of care and then we plant and we water and we help and we do the things that we need to. But you know, they all grow and produce their own beauty and serve their own purpose. And so I think it's always like this, “How do you know kids are growing?” and we test, we test and we assess these different things in nature we know it's growing because we see it and and we enjoy it. And so that's something that, you know, in terms of nature lessons for parents, that's something I think about. There's so much variation that the root systems are all different and that we can kind of grow in our own ways. 

Lauren: Trust the process, right? 

Ginny: Yeah, I love the concept of just learning so many things from nature. 

How can parents who are feeling stressed or overwhelmed during these times use nature as a tool for less stress and anxiety and more peace and more present? 

Lauren: Yeah. So we covered this a little bit. One of the things that parents can do is just really take the time themselves to kind of reconnect to nature. 

So we talk so much about giving so much to our kids and giving all these resources and things like that. But you know, we all have to fill our cup as well. And so one of the things that I think is great, is even as you're doing, you know, the challenge you're trying to get all these hours outside, make sure some of the hours are just for you. You know, just get out there and walk through the woods by yourself, the trees, and just take that time to just kind of decompress. So just having your own alone adult time in nature just to kind of bring that magic within you because we know that children learn the best through modeling, right? So they know you're truly valuing that time out in nature and you find it as this just really restorative, peaceful experience.

Just get out there yourself. And, you know, and it could just literally be during that time, take your shoes off, you know, socks off your feet and just like ground into the Earth and take a couple of deep breaths like it doesn't have to be a half hour hike or whatever it is. Sit and stare up at the trees or whatever it is.

The other thing I would say, too, is that a lot of times, you know, we're with our kids a lot and they're outside, experiencing nature and having fun and playing around. And obviously some level of our awareness has to be on them, you know, for basic things like safety. But as you can see, if you can actually really come into the present moment as yourself and actually turn your child's play into a mindfulness practice in of itself, start to notice like when they're playing, are you off on your to do list? Are you clicking through what needs to be done tomorrow or what happened the other day? Whatever it is, how much of the time you're actually spending lost in your mind?

Perhaps there's things you actually have to do or get done when you're out in nature, right? Watching the kids play like writing up the grocery list or whatever it is. But if those things aren't happening, you know, just kind of sitting there, be in the moment. Watch them. Use it as a great tool for yourself to have practice. 

You know, I think people sometimes feel kind of limited, you know, when they want to start a meditation practice or just feel like I don't have the time, it feels really overwhelming. But I always tell people the absolute best time to practice is when you're in the middle of life, right? That's when it truly, truly matters.

So use time when you're outside with your kids. If you don't have anything else going on and you don't have super young ones that you know, you have to kind of constantly be there, be in the moment. 

And then if you do have younger ones and you know, maybe it's not as easy for you to kind of just like Zen Out and enjoy the nature, really watch them closely and see how they are. Like the other day as an example, we have these little wooly worms, which are these little fuzzy caterpillars, and they're really cute. And my son saw one. He just sprinted off his bike, laid down on the ground, perched his arms like this and just stared at it. And I just sat there and like, how cool that kid's lives are so in the moment that they'll run off their bike, literally plant themselves in the middle of the street. We luckily don't live on a busy street. I just stare at these like little tiny, fuzzy creatures.

And so just watching your kids and how they naturally act right before you could say that's kind of taken out of us a little bit by how busy and hectic society is. That can remind you that there's no reason you're in your 20s, 30s, 40s or whatever it is. You can have that on one yourself, like how can you bring that back into your life? And by watching that with your kids in the present moment being really focused, it kind of helps you to do that. And so those are just kind of two simple ways, both on your own and then when you're with kids that you can kind of use nature to really focus more on finding yourself in the moment.

Ginny: Those are really good ideas. 

I grew up in the 80s and so kids were running around in the neighborhood and parents were inside. I think in general, it was mothers that were inside and fathers were at work and moms were getting things done or making dinner. Who knows what they were doing, right? And I have had these thoughts of, “This isn't happening any more. There's not this neighborhood play”. And I've had these thoughts of how nice it would be to kick the kids out and you know, you get four hours to get stuff done or I don't know, iron your sheets or whatever people were doing. Who knows?

But, I think in this day and age I'm actually glad that I have to be involved because I need it. And so what happens is we're involved. And I actually think that's a great thing. You know, I used to kind of be jealous of the old ways, but I'm like, Well, you know what? This has turned out to be good for me. And I think since the world is so complex, it's almost like, this is the thing that will help offset it. 

Nature has really helped me on a personal level. I was in a bad spot before we started getting outside, so it definitely helps with stress and anxiety, and we need it right now, right? 

Lauren: Absolutely.

Ginny: Well,  let's talk a little bit about mindfulness and your cards, which I don't have physical copies of, but I printed out some. I'm going to hold up a couple of these here. You have these cards called Infinite Kids in Nature. Is that the name of them? 

Lauren: That's right. 

Ginny: So here's the thing. I pulled up the PDF on the computer and I was like, “How much paper do we have?” I'm just going to print off one of these cards so I can hold it up. I mean, I guess I should have thought that you were going to have one, of course, but I was like, You know, I'll print out one. 

So I opened the first one and then I was like, “Oh, this is really interesting.” So I was like, I'm onto the second one because this next one's really interesting, too. So then I scroll to the third one and then I was like, “Oh, wait, I’ve got to print out this one, too. And then I just kept going. They're really, really phenomenal, Lauren. So I just want to show these. So this one. Now, obviously, it's not normally this size. It's on a beautiful little cardstock. Here's one more time. 

So this one talks about the golden sunflower. So this would be on the front of it. And it's just so beautifully worded. And there's things on here I had no idea of.

It says the center of each flower is a secret code. That nature carries a perfect secret that creates a spiral to allow in the most light. That is fascinating. So this is why I had to keep printing out the cards because I was like, Well, wait a minute, I'm fascinated by this one. 

So then on the back you have the lessons of the sunflower. You talk about the Fibonacci sequence. You talk about the patterns. And so the Fibonacci sequence is a great math thing that you know as to something super interesting for kids to learn. You talk about the spirals. You talk about the golden ratio. And so let me read the sentence. 

“Not only can sunflowers follow the sun from east to west, but also they are a perfect example of the hidden sacred geometric codes that we all carry.”

Lauren, this is phenomenal writing and super interesting. And then you have this explore and expand. So on the front, you've got the sunflower and then on the back the lessons of the sunflower and then this explore and expand. And this is where you get in sort of to the mindfulness, right? 

“Take a few moments to stand here and feel their golden color and their warm light. Look closely, feel the glow.”

I mean, this is just absolutely beautiful. They're so good. 

There's the sprouting seed and then there was the speck of sand and it was talking about how it took thousands of years for this one speck of sand to form. I was really, really drawn in. So let's talk about the cards. Tell me how you came up with them. Tell us how we use them. I know they're in over 40 schools already. I want to hear all about them. 

Lauren:  Sure. Absolutely, yes.

So the idea from the cards really came from my own life experience and my experience with my kids. 

I've been a meditation teacher for over six years, mostly teaching adults, but doing some things with kids. And as my son, my older son kind of started to get around the age where I knew I could start really talking to him about some of these practices I had, I looked at some of the different resources online and even bought him some of the, I'd say, more like kid-oriented things. And he just had zero interest. 

And I was just like, Huh? All right, let's go back to the drawing board on this one. And so I just started to notice as we were out in nature that, you know, as we all do with our kids, they were so much more engaged and just interested. And I started to notice within myself as I was seeing all these different nature elements. I started to see all these kinds of lessons and mindfulness practices within it. And so I just started to kind of naturally mention it to my son when he was down at the river throwing rocks. 

And you know, we have this kind of neat large river in our area and there's all these like boulders and rocks and the water is like literally going in 10 different directions, but it just always keeps flowing. And I just said to him, “Have you ever noticed how the water keeps flowing irregardless of the rocks or resistance on its path? It always heads downstream. It always finds a way, no matter what is in its path, and it shapes and curves the land, sometimes forming waterfalls, right? Sometimes these cool little prairies and things like that.”

And so I talked to him just about that. I started to notice and he really started to pay attention. He's like, Oh, wow, that really does happen. Like, see how it moves around that rock and that rock. And then, you know, I might just mention something else is like, Oh, wow, sometimes I love to close my eyes and just feel the flow of the water in my body. Have you ever done that and felt so peaceful?

And he'd be like, Oh no, I have it, and he'd sit there and do it, and then we'd be out there, and I just catch him like literally sitting on this rock with his eyes closed, just feeling the water in his body. And I was like, Wow, I'm on to something here. He is really embodying these concepts and he is carrying them with him, right? And he's making these kinds of connections to them.

So I started to kind of see that happening. And then honestly, the cards, just I almost say like they wrote themselves. Obviously, I sat down and wrote them on the computer, but just every major element that came up, all the lessons, everything, just came together just so naturally and organically. And the process behind the cards and the way they're set out, the way they are is extremely kind of thoughtful. So the way that I did it is on the front of the card there's just a really deep, beautiful illustration that just engages kids. And there's this brief one to two sentence description about what this kind of nature element offers us. So even if you just looked at the front, you know you could walk away with this great visual experience. And then also this neat lesson about, you know, what the river offers. 

Ginny: Can I read one? OK, so this is the next one. This is a sprouting seed. And it says “Before a seed begins to grow, it is like it's asleep. The seed is dormant and hardy and can withstand changing conditions. It is not until it begins to sprout that it is vulnerable and it's just the right amount of light water and food to grow.” And there's just a beautiful image of the sprouts there. I agree that just from the front of the card, you get so much. 

Lauren: What I really tried to do on the back is really help kids get to this process of embodiment. And this is something that's really just kind of emerging in the kind of neuroscience literature and even in the mindfulness space, as well. The whole point is helping kids to truly embody the concepts, right? The full body felt experience of the thing, the state or the experience of whatever is occurring. It's not just the thought or the mental understanding of it, but it's something that you actually feel and the sensations of the body. 

So the cards are very purposely set up for the top portion to really kind of get into this like deep cognitive understanding of the concept. So kind of you were talking about the sunflower as everyone sees sunflowers, but to really understand that the seeds are laid out in the Fibonacci sequence and to allow in the most light, they're in the golden ratio. 

So I just kind of open up the awareness and you're like, “Wow, like sunflowers have this much intelligence within them. Nature has this much intelligence.” And then after you kind of have this like open awareness, like the brain's kind of perked up the minds kind of like, “Wow, that's really, really interesting.”

And I see it. It happens with adults all the time as well. Then you kind of let that go and then you kind of come into the body, and that's when you go into the mindfulness exercise that's related to the element.

So in the case, there's one, you know, on Stardust. In the case of like Stardust, you talk about, you know, what is it to think that we were literally formed from an explosion of a star, right? And all these different elements that were formed from it. And we can, you know, you feel like that within your body. And so you're really having this like deep sensory experience that kind of brings in the information that you just learned, but also, you know, kind of bringing in these core mindfulness concepts of the breath, you know, deep visualization and imagination, and it just really kind of grounding into the body. So the goal is for it to be a total mind and body experience so that children really hold and embody the concepts? 

Ginny: Yeah, they're really, really, really beautiful. I love them and you said you have different schools that are using them. 

Lauren: Yes, so we've had a lot of forest schools and nature schools that have been interested in the cards. The whole company just recently launched in the last two months, but we've had a lot of interest from schools. And so a whole bunch of sets of cards have gone out and we started to get pictures back.

But they're finding them really engaging because, you know, they're able to introduce them in morning circle time or just even have kids kind of explore them. Or they're doing even just as a nature study where they're kind of taking one of the elements and then going deeper on it, but using the card as kind of like the basis for that. And then a lot of people don't have a lot of mindfulness resources that they can incorporate into the classroom that are simple. A lot of the feedback we've gotten from teachers is that they're just simple and they're easy, and they're helpful for us.

Ginny: Yeah, fascinating. Well, I love them. OK, so let's do a mindfulness exercise right here during the podcast. 

Lauren: OK, awesome. Yes, I'd love to. So the practice that I had left up to do with everyone is just one of the most simple things that I think we can do. And so this is great when you're outside in nature. This is great when you're in the house and you just need a moment to stop. So what I just like everybody to do if you're driving or any of those things, obviously save this and do it later.

But just take a moment here to take your feet and ground them onto the floor and then just relax your body if your spine is straight. And just start to relax and then you can gently close your eyes if you like and take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your nose. And then just bring your attention down to your toes and just notice with awareness, the area around your toes and then your feet and then your ankles. And then your shins. And then your knees. Releasing any tension, but just bringing awareness to the body to your thighs. To your hips. To your abdomen. To your chest. To your shoulders, to your upper arms. To your forearms. To your hands. And then back up to your neck, to your face, to your ears. To your eyes and to the top of your head. I just feel that energy that exists within your body. Feel the energy and space around your body. Take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your nose and then just bring your attention to your heart. And find yourself here in this moment. Just deeply relaxed and deeply present. I remember the state that you find yourself in now. It's available in every moment. Taking a deep breath in through the nose. And out through the nose. And then when you're ready, just slowly opening your eyes. 

Ginny: You’re good at that.

Lauren: So that was just about a minute. And I call that the really simple inner body awareness practice, and I recommend it as just the best place for people to start because as you can bring awareness to your body and just release some of the tension that you're holding within it best by doing that really brief body scan, just kind of taking your attention up from the top and then reconnecting to your heart and just finding yourself in the present moment.

If you ask yourself, is everything OK right now? Everything is usually OK right now. And so it's just this great kind of reminder to just constantly return, let go of the past, let go of the future and find yourself right here right now. 

I recommend a lot of times the parents just practice that throughout the day when you can remember, it can be the middle of the workday. It could be even when you're waiting in line at the grocery store, you don't even have to close your eyes. 

Sometimes it's actually helpful to practice it with your eyes open because that allows you to bring that state of awareness to any point of your day, even when you're just sitting in traffic or whatever it is to just bring yourself back to that moment. So then when you get into the more stressful situations and the heightened situations, your body is now familiar with that state, and you can get to that point where instead of kind of going into a reaction mode, you actually stop and you pause and then you respond, right? 

Because it's all about just getting ourselves to that moment of pause before he responds, we're not just operating from our habitual programming, and that's so much of what the present moment is. And really, for any changes we want to make in our life or anything we desire, the place to start is right in the present moment because that's where everything shifts. 

Ginny: Yeah. Well, Lauren, this has been so insightful and I think just very timely. You know, this is what we need. I think right now in our world is being present and learning things from nature and going outside and taking deep breaths. And so I appreciate all that you've shared today for everyone who's listening. If people are interested in finding you and finding more about Heartflow Kids and your cards, where can they go? 

Lauren: [Absolutely. So the website is just www.heartflowerkids.com . And we're also on Instagram at Heart Flow Kids as well. 

And obviously, you know, we have the cards, but my passion is just sharing with everyone. So I'm always trying to put out free mindfulness practices and resources and all those types of things. So if you visit our website and join our email list or just follow us on Instagram, I promise you you'll get a lot of kind of just tips and practices easy ones to like. As a mom, I know it's got to be simple. It's got to be easy, and I also want it to be impactful and so kind of pulling from my background and behavior change and all the research. I just try to bring it down to the key points. So yeah, you can find us there. 

Ginny: And let's end with a favorite outside memory of yours from childhood. 

Lauren: Hmm. OK. You know, it's so interesting that you were just talking about how we used to have the ability to be able to play outside when we were little. And that is the memory that kind of just popped up is that we had woods behind our house who just had maybe like an acre or two in their backyard and my dad had cut, you know, kind of these trails throughout it. And I just remember just, you know, I don't know if I was bored or whatever it was, but I would just head out in the woods and I would just sit there and walk around and play with sticks and go down by the stream. And we kind of have these little spots that we created. And I think that's where honestly, at the time, it kind of occurred naturally to me. I was drawn to it. But that's really where I think the piece of nature was first embedded within me, and it's something that I lost honestly for a while. But I was able to kind of recently in the last five, six, maybe 10 years really kind of reawaken that. And that memory of just the simplicity of childhood of being outside just sticks with me. 

Ginny: Isn't that interesting? It's like we end up going backwards to go forwards, right? I think we're all trying to kind of get back to those moments where we just can have freedom and enjoy life in the simple moments, so I love them. You talk about a favorite outside childhood memory of yours and you're like playing in the woods, in the backyard with a stream. You know, I mean, it's great. A couple of trails. I mean, it's easy. This is easier than we think. So simple things 

Lauren: I always say life can be as simple as we let it be.

Lauren: That's the truth. That's a great thing to end with. Lauren, I really appreciate your time. Heartflow Kids for all the people that are listening, make sure you check it out. And I look forward to getting to know you more. 

Lauren: All right. Well, thank you, Ginny. I really appreciate the opportunity beyond and to virtually chat with everyone and thank you so much for all that you do as well with your platform and impacting so many families. So thank you so much. 

Ginny: Thanks, Lauren.