Zoe and the Beam (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780473240769)

Zoe and the Beam is a book for young gymnasts that inspires mindfulness, balance and confidence on the balance beam. Beautifully written and illustrated, it tells the story of how a young girl learns physical and mental skills needed for confidence, safety and success on the balance beam. It includes an engaging, home based activity for children that builds their physical skill, while leading them to experience a quiet and balanced mind.p

For gymnasts it provides the extra bonus of developing poise, confidence and fine-tuned awareness of the balance beam under their feet.

Something remarkable and precious happens when a child experiences a quiet and balanced mind...the whirl of technology, peer and media impressions drop away. Then a child is in touch with a core part of themselves - which could be called Spirit, Soul, Mind or similar. It's a deeply relaxed, central part of themselves that inherently leans towards love, compassion and consideration of others.

Zoe and the Beam puts this experience within reach of young children in a charming and engaging way.

By experiencing a fully quiet mind - just once - a child will know that they have a "monkey mind" that is constantly restless and that gets them up to all kinds of tricks. They will know that it's rewarding to take charge of the monkey mind and to get it to focus and be calm.

Because the experience will be indelibly stamped into their awareness it will prove a resource for aiding concentration and dealing with frustrations they may encounter in many learning tasks. If attention wanders when learning music, spelling, mathematics, writing, sports and the like, all a parent needs to say is "Monkey mind...focus," and they get it.