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Breathe with Me: Using Breath to Feel Strong, Calm, and Happy
When you're mad or worried or can't wake up in the morning, what can you do? Use the amazing superpower that you already have—breathing.
Our newest offering from the bestselling creators of Good Night Yoga teaches kids fun and easy breathing practices based on the proven methods of yoga and mindfulness meditation.
Sample practices:
When something makes you mad or even feels unfair,
try this counting breath and you’ll feel calmer there.
Sit up and let your spine grow tall.
Take a deep breath in, counting silently 1 . . . 2 . . . 3.
Then let your breath out slowly, counting 1 . . . 2 . . . 3.
When you go somewhere you’ve never been and you aren’t sure what to do,
you can use a dandelion breath to feel more comfortable trying something new.
Sit up and let your spine grow tall.
Put one hand on your chest.
Place your other hand on your belly.
Take slow deep breaths and feel your chest and your belly move up and down as the air goes in and out of your body.
At night when it’s hard to fall asleep because your mind is busy and your body feels tight,
try balloon breath to get relaxed and ready for a good night.
Lie down on your back and let your hands rest by your sides, palms up.
Inhale through your nose and imagine filling your body with breath like a big balloon.
Exhale and blow the air out through your mouth.
What color is your balloon?
Our newest offering from the bestselling creators of Good Night Yoga teaches kids fun and easy breathing practices based on the proven methods of yoga and mindfulness meditation.
Sample practices:
When something makes you mad or even feels unfair,
try this counting breath and you’ll feel calmer there.
Sit up and let your spine grow tall.
Take a deep breath in, counting silently 1 . . . 2 . . . 3.
Then let your breath out slowly, counting 1 . . . 2 . . . 3.
When you go somewhere you’ve never been and you aren’t sure what to do,
you can use a dandelion breath to feel more comfortable trying something new.
Sit up and let your spine grow tall.
Put one hand on your chest.
Place your other hand on your belly.
Take slow deep breaths and feel your chest and your belly move up and down as the air goes in and out of your body.
At night when it’s hard to fall asleep because your mind is busy and your body feels tight,
try balloon breath to get relaxed and ready for a good night.
Lie down on your back and let your hands rest by your sides, palms up.
Inhale through your nose and imagine filling your body with breath like a big balloon.
Exhale and blow the air out through your mouth.
What color is your balloon?
32 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2019
6 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Mariam Gates
10 books25 followersMariam Gates is a passionate and inspiring teacher with over 20 years of experience working with young people. Through the Kid Power Yoga Program she has combined her dedication to teaching yoga with her skills as an educator to guide children in accessing their own inner source of strength, confidence, problem-solving and creativity. Mariam received her Masters in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1997. She taught in the Boston Public Schools and directed the Citizen Schools program in Dorchester, MA, a nationally recognized enrichment program for 9-13 year-olds.
Mariam Gates is a passionate and inspiring teacher with over 20 years of experience working with young people. Through the Kid Power Yoga Program she has combined her dedication to teaching yoga with her skills as an educator to guide children in accessing their own inner source of strength, confidence, problem-solving and creativity. Mariam received her Masters in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1997. She taught in the Boston Public Schools and directed the Citizen Schools program in Dorchester, MA, a nationally recognized enrichment program for 9-13 year-olds.
Mariam Gates on Vinyasa: "I knew right away that this form, this flow, was both asking me to move past my perceived limitations and giving me the means to do so at the same time."
It did not take long for her to understand how powerful this work would also be for children. "It is never to early to deepen your relationship to your body. It is never to early to say 'I can do it!" In KidPower Yoga we encourage students to expand both physically and mentally to see their own truly great potential as human beings.
The Kid Power Yoga Program has been taught in the Boston and Lexington Public Schools and as a Professional Development Series for public school teachers: (YOGA 101)Yoga off the Mat: Bringing Yoga into the Classroom Setting - with a waiting list for all sessions. Mariam and her work have been featured in Yoga Journal, Boston magazine, the Boston Herald, Alternative Health Magazine, and on television and presented at Esalen Institute, Big Sur CA and Wanderlust Festivals in the US. Child magazine described Mariam as a "central figure" in the children's yoga movement.
Kid Power Yoga Teacher Trainings are now being offered nationally and now the KPY Training Materials are also available!
Mariam and her husband, author and teacher, Rolf Gates Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga now call Santa Cruz CA home and travel regularly with their two children throughout the United States and abroad offering workshops, teacher trainings and week-long intensives in Vinyasa Yoga and the principles of alignment.
Mariam Gates is a passionate and inspiring teacher with over 20 years of experience working with young people. Through the Kid Power Yoga Program she has combined her dedication to teaching yoga with her skills as an educator to guide children in accessing their own inner source of strength, confidence, problem-solving and creativity. Mariam received her Masters in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1997. She taught in the Boston Public Schools and directed the Citizen Schools program in Dorchester, MA, a nationally recognized enrichment program for 9-13 year-olds.
Mariam Gates on Vinyasa: "I knew right away that this form, this flow, was both asking me to move past my perceived limitations and giving me the means to do so at the same time."
It did not take long for her to understand how powerful this work would also be for children. "It is never to early to deepen your relationship to your body. It is never to early to say 'I can do it!" In KidPower Yoga we encourage students to expand both physically and mentally to see their own truly great potential as human beings.
The Kid Power Yoga Program has been taught in the Boston and Lexington Public Schools and as a Professional Development Series for public school teachers: (YOGA 101)Yoga off the Mat: Bringing Yoga into the Classroom Setting - with a waiting list for all sessions. Mariam and her work have been featured in Yoga Journal, Boston magazine, the Boston Herald, Alternative Health Magazine, and on television and presented at Esalen Institute, Big Sur CA and Wanderlust Festivals in the US. Child magazine described Mariam as a "central figure" in the children's yoga movement.
Kid Power Yoga Teacher Trainings are now being offered nationally and now the KPY Training Materials are also available!
Mariam and her husband, author and teacher, Rolf Gates Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga now call Santa Cruz CA home and travel regularly with their two children throughout the United States and abroad offering workshops, teacher trainings and week-long intensives in Vinyasa Yoga and the principles of alignment.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
April 6, 2021
Title: “Breathe With Me: Using Breath to be Strong, Calm and Happy”
Author: Miriam Gates
Illustrator: Sarah Jane Hinder
Genre: children literature
Theme(s): social emotional learning
Opening line/sentence: “You are always breathing up and down, in and out. You use your breath each time you talk or sing, for every whisper and every shout”.
Brief Book Summary: a couple different meditation exercises that focus on breathing. The benefits of each exercise is that they advocate for body awareness, how to calm anger, be confident, ect…
Response to Two Professional Reviews: Commonsense.org says Parents need to know that Mariam Gates’ Breathe with Me: Using Breath to Feel Strong, Calm, and Happy is a gentle, detailed, and delightful way to remind children and adults of the importance of focused breath.
Framework:
Like(s): The illustration is beautiful and narrates the story with pictures perfectly to match the words.
Dislike(s): Could have been more inclusive
Patterns(s): Full of technique’s and strategies to use in real life situations
Puzzle(s): How we can use breathing to solve our problems
Consideration of Instructional Application (3-4 sentences in your own words): Simply applying the strategies the book uses in the classroom as different ways of setting intent in the classroom at the beginning of each day.
Author: Miriam Gates
Illustrator: Sarah Jane Hinder
Genre: children literature
Theme(s): social emotional learning
Opening line/sentence: “You are always breathing up and down, in and out. You use your breath each time you talk or sing, for every whisper and every shout”.
Brief Book Summary: a couple different meditation exercises that focus on breathing. The benefits of each exercise is that they advocate for body awareness, how to calm anger, be confident, ect…
Response to Two Professional Reviews: Commonsense.org says Parents need to know that Mariam Gates’ Breathe with Me: Using Breath to Feel Strong, Calm, and Happy is a gentle, detailed, and delightful way to remind children and adults of the importance of focused breath.
Framework:
Like(s): The illustration is beautiful and narrates the story with pictures perfectly to match the words.
Dislike(s): Could have been more inclusive
Patterns(s): Full of technique’s and strategies to use in real life situations
Puzzle(s): How we can use breathing to solve our problems
Consideration of Instructional Application (3-4 sentences in your own words): Simply applying the strategies the book uses in the classroom as different ways of setting intent in the classroom at the beginning of each day.
December 30, 2019
This is such a lovely, beautiful book! I have been working with my two-year-old on using deep breathing to help her start handling her emotions in a positive way, and this book is such a wonderful addition to what we had started doing. There are a variety of breathing exercises to help children wake up in the morning, relax before bedtime, and to calm themselves when they feel angry, anxious, sad or otherwise upset/emotional. The illustrations are beautiful and feature girls of varying races. Although it is geared toward ages 4-8, we have already begun to incorporate it into our daily reading, and I have found the exercises beneficial even for myself as an adult. Five enthusiastic stars!
February 25, 2020
'Breathe With Me: Using Breath to Feel Strong, Calm, and Happy' is a good resource to develop emotional regulation with a variety of breathing exercises. The vibrant pictures and simple text will appeal to children and give them ways to relax in a variety of situations and feelings.
"Your breath is always here for you in a calm and quiet way. Use it to help you choose how you want to feel in each moment of your day. With one deep breath in and one long breath out, you are on your way!"
"Your breath is always here for you in a calm and quiet way. Use it to help you choose how you want to feel in each moment of your day. With one deep breath in and one long breath out, you are on your way!"
March 3, 2025
It is an amazing book for students to understand how to calm themselves down. The book does a good job of explaining different breathing types while comparing them to things everyone knows. The book explains rainbow breaths, a breathing technique for kids to calm themselves down. It gives other breathing techniques as well. This can be a good book that I will use with my students if they are having a crazy day, so we can all calm down and relax as a class.
May 5, 2019
I like this. I'm not into yoga personally, but while this is a book about yoga breathing techniques, it's not about yoga. It's just about how the right breathing techniques can help in different types of stressful situations. The situations are staged in rhyme and then the breathing technique is explained.
November 28, 2019
“Your breath is always here for you in a calm and quiet way. Use it to help you choose how you want to feel in each moment of your day.”
Describes different kinds of breathing exercises for when you feel sad, angry, anxious, unable to sleep and when it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning. Written in a gentle, child-friendly way.
Describes different kinds of breathing exercises for when you feel sad, angry, anxious, unable to sleep and when it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning. Written in a gentle, child-friendly way.
December 20, 2019
More of a reference book tucked inside a picture book. The text tells how breathing is important and lists different situations in which various breathing exercises could be used. This would be a good book for children to read once, then know about and maybe reference later, but I don't think they are going to ask for it, again and again, to be read to them.
October 30, 2020
Children may experience a whirlwind of emotions they may not be able to control. This book introduces a "super power" we all have called breathing to help calm down and cope. IT uses a real and easy method that all children can use when they feel their emotions starting to bubble up inside. The illustrations are whimsical and depict what the words on the page mean. It goes through the steps of using breathing to calm down in a way that children can understand. The genre of this book would be body awareness.
November 15, 2020
This non-fiction, self-help book by Mariam Gates is great for all children who struggle with their emotions. The main character in the illustrations goes through different emotions, that most children can relate to, and works through those with the breathing exercises described in the book. The language used and illustrations engage younger age groups so that they can join in on the exercises.
April 20, 2019
This is an interesting self-help book for children and gives ideas for children when in stressful situations to use their breath in different ways to calm themselves and feel more comfortable. A good resource for teachers in classrooms during testing and when new students come to their classes.
January 8, 2020
As a children’s yoga teacher I highly recommend this book. My daughters and students have loved being read this story. Such a simple and effective way to explain the actions of our breath and how we can choose to use our breath to calm our bodies or help give them a boost of energy
April 21, 2021
This book is a great way to help one learn some great coping skills with overwhelming emotions! This book shares that emotions are okay to have but you can cope with them! I think this is a great book to read to young children, they can learn a lot from it!
December 23, 2018
Applicable for little ones. Lovely art. Counting breath...edelweiss has images of page spreads for ideas.
February 21, 2019
Sweet and with breathing exercises
February 28, 2019
Well written for the target audience.
April 23, 2019
I like the various ways this teaches children to focus on their breathing.
May 4, 2019
Good for grownups too!
May 9, 2019
Great for social emotional learning. Plan to use in a storytime about anger and sadness
December 17, 2019
Sadly enough, many young children are full of anxiety, even if they aren’t able to verbalize it. Every home with young children needs this.
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January 31, 2020No matter the age, the five different breathing exercises outlined in this book are great for you.
December 19, 2020
It would be fun to share this with toddlers and preschoolers.
May 11, 2021
simple, useful
November 13, 2021
A great preschool and up book about using different breaths to calm down and center ones self.
December 7, 2022
I was afraid the breathing exercises in this book would feel boring or repetitive to the preschool crew, but they were happy to try each one out, and it held their attention to the end.
April 5, 2023
Different types of breathing explaned and how they help. Love it!
April 12, 2023
Breathe with Me is fun; it allows readers to notice their breath and breathe into certain situations. Bright, fun, and another great resource to teach littles to breathe through life.
May 31, 2023
A look at relaxation techniques and better mental health through controlled breathing exercises to release stress in meaningful ways.
February 15, 2024
I loved this book. I liked that it talks about the power of breath and ways to practice breathing. I would use this book in the classroom to practice breathing with my students.
January 11, 2025
Once again, I was amazed by the gentle pictures. After reading this book, I felt that all my anxiety disappeared! I have collected it✨
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews