SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Just Be You
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.mallikachopra.com/
CITY: Santa Monica
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 343
Daughter of Deepak Chopra and Rita Chopra.
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born July 24, 1971; daughter of Deepak (a physician and author) and Rita Chopra; children: two daughters.
EDUCATION:Brown University, B.A.; Northwestern University, M.B.A; Columbia University, M.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, entrepreneur, and speaker. Founder of Intent.com; cofounder, with brother and father, of The Chopra Well; president of Chopra Media. Member of board of directors of Liquid Comics; mindfulness consultant, Apple TV+ animated children’s series ”Stillwater.”
WRITINGS
Blogger on websites, including the Huffington Post, Beliefnet, and intentblog.com. Contributor to peridodicals, including Time.com , Self Magazine, Women’s Health, Prevention Magazine, OWN, Glamour, Oprah.com , Mind Body Green, and the LA Times.
Work has been translated and sold in dozens of countries.
SIDELIGHTS
Mallika Chopra, daughter of Deepak Chopra, the well-known author and advocate of alternative medicine, is well-known in her own right for her books for adults and young readers on meditation as well as intentional and mindful living. The founder of Intent and co-founder of The Chopra Well, Chopra is also a motivational speaker and a mother of two daughters. Among her Books are Living with Intent: My Somewhat Messy Journey to Purpose, Peace, and Joy, written for a general audience, and the “Just Be” series and My Body Is a Rainbow: The Color of My Feelings picture book for young readers.
Living with Intent chronicles Chopra’s own journey to find more balance in life, as well as more meaning and joy. She discusses the wisdom shared with her by others, including her father, Deepak. She develops a six-step action plan toward the goal of moving from thought to action: Incubate, Notice, Trust, Express, Nurture, and Take Action. A Kirkus Reviews contributor offered a varied assessment of Living with Intent, noting on the one hand that the author offers a “wide-ranging tour of intent-related concepts.” However, the contributor further termed the book a “lightweight self-help book about living the life you want.”
Speaking with online Lifehacker contributor Michelle Woo, Chopra commented on her personal journey as recorded in Living with Intent: “Life for me has been a messy journey. I have found there are times when life seems to be flowing smoothly—relationships, health, inspiring work—and then something happens that makes me pause and ask, ‘Am I really happy? Am I doing what I am meant to do?’ I believe in constantly asking questions.” In a Time interview with Charlotte Alter, she further elaborated on the importance of living with intent: “Living with intent is living a life that is healthy and purposeful, but also joyful. … It’s asking ourselves what will make ourselves happy. Intents come from our soul, whereas goals come from our mind.”
Chopra has also written a three-book series for middle-grade readers, the “Just Be” books, which deal with stress reduction, meditation, emotions, and mindfulness. With Just Breathe: Meditation, Mindfulness, Movement, and More, Chopra offers an accessible, step-by-step guide to meditation and breathing techniques to help deal with stress and anxiety, to focus better, and to get to sleep more easily. A Kirkus Reviews contributor lauded this how-to, noting: “Though slightly limited in its utility for the desired audience, this resource offers a thorough collection of kid-friendly mindfulness practices.” Writing in School Library Journal, Kathryn Justus similarly termed this a “solid addition to collections in need of meditation and mindfulness titles for tweens.”
With Just Feel: How to Be Stronger, Happier, Healthier, and More, Chopra offers a practical guide for adolescents wishing to be more in control of their emotions. She divides such advice into three sections: “Know,” “Choose,” and “Take Action.” Chopra provides numerous exercises for young readers to get more in touch with their feelings and increase their self-knowledge and self-awareness. A Kirkus Reviews critic termed this title an “empowering guide to finding more satisfaction and calm in life.”
In the third book in the series, Just Be You: Ask Questions, Set Intentions, Be Your Special Self, and More, Chopra provides mindfulness exercises to help young readers develop a self-reflective mindset to be themselves, accept who they are, and thus become more independent and able to deal with challenges in their lives. Courtney Lewis, writing in School Library Journal, found this book to be a “must-purchase for library or classroom collections promoting self-knowledge and mindfulness for middle-grade students.”
Speaking with Sandra Ebejer in the online Shondaland, Chopra remarked on the importance of this third book in the series: “For me, meditation was never about managing stress. Meditation was really a tool that my parents gave my brother and I for self-regulation but also for self-discovery, for asking questions, for exploration. I felt that without Just Be You it was incomplete, that we needed to also emphasize that these wisdom traditions, which have come from around the world, weren’t done because people were stressed out. They were using these techniques to explore themselves, our place in the universe, Mother Earth. It wasn’t about stress management, which is what in the West right now most people associate meditation with.” In a further interview with Thrive Global website contributor Lisa Niver, Chopra commented more generally on the three-book series for young readers: “It’s been really nice to be able to share these techniques which I learned when I was nine and I learned how to meditate. I’m 49 now so I have four decades of practice, regular practice which I talked about in my adult book living with intent. But, there are tools that we can find in our toolkit. We keep adding to the toolkit that can help us through hard times, but also the joyful times and the good times. The exercises of gratitude and kindness and intention and celebrating the joyful moments in our lives.”
Chopra addresses a younger audience in the 2021 picture book, My Body Is a Rainbow, with illustrations by Izzy Burton. Here, Chopra has readers imagine a rainbow of colors that radiates from their bodies and then combines this group of colors with breathing exercises that will aid them in reducing stress and anxiety and generally feel happier. A Kirkus Reviews contributor noted of this picture book: “Despite some vagueness and inconsistency, this visual treat could be surprisingly successful for self-soothing.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Central Penn Parent, October 11, 2018, Kathryn Caprino, “Great Books to Help Your Child with OCD and Other Anxiety Disorders,” review of Just Breathe: Meditation, Mindfulness, Movement, and More.
Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2015, review of Living with Intent: My Somewhat Messy Journey to Purpose, Peace, and Joy; June 1, 2018, review of Just Breathe; September 15, 2019, review of Just Feel: How to Be Stronger, Happier, Healthier, and More; June 1, 2021, review of My Body Is a Rainbow: The Color of My Feelings.
Library Journal, May 1, 2007, Graham Christian, review of 100 Questions from My Child, p. 62.
Publishers Weekly, February 16, 2015, review of Living with Intent, p. 171.
School Library Journal, June 1, 2018, Kaahryn Justus, review of Just Breathe, p. 97; June 1, 2021, Courtney Lewis, review of Just Be You: Ask Questions, Set Intentions, Be Your Special Self, and More, p. 76.
ONLINE
ABC News, https://abcnews.go.com/ (Decempber 29, 2020), Brooke Lefferts, “With ‘Stillwater,’ Mallika Chopra Brings Mindfulness to Kids.”
Chopra, https://chopra.com/ (November 11, 2021), author profile.
Lifehacker, https://lifehacker.com/ (August 20, 2018), Michelle Woo, “I’m Mallika Chopra, Author and Entrepreneur, and This Is How I Parent.”
Mallika Chopra website, http://www.mallikachopra.com/ (November 11, 2021).
Masalamommas, https://masalamommas.com/ (July 27, 2011), “Interview With Author Mallika Chopra.”
Préity Üpala, https://medium.com/ (September 1, 2019), “Interview with Dr. Deepak Chopra’s Daughter Mallika Chopra on Motherhood and Mindfulness.”
Shondaland, https://www.shondaland.com/ (April 23, 2021), Sandra Ebejer, “Mallika Chopra Wants to Help Kids Meditate.”
Thrive Global, https://thriveglobal.com/ (December 22, 2020), Lisa Niver, “Just Breathe: A Dialogue with Mallika Chopra.”
Time, https://time.com/(April 9, 2015), Charlotte Alter, “Mallika Chopra on How to Live With Intent.”
Mallika Chopra is a mom, media entrepreneur, author and public speaker.
Author Avatar
She is the author of the Just Be Series – Just Breathe, Just Feel, and Just Be You – a trilogy of illustrated how-to books for children (and the adults in their lives). These books provide simple tools to understand and support social and emotional knowing, resilience, meditation, mindfulness and self reflection.
Mallika’s newest book, My Body Is a Rainbow, helps children imagine a rainbow of colors radiating from their body and combines this color connection with breathing exercises to help them relieve stress, tension, fears, and sadness and to feel happier and more at peace.
In Living With Intent: My Somewhat Messy Journey to Purpose, Peace and Joy, Mallika shares insights she gained while seeking meaning and balance as a mom and entrepreneur who felt she was overwhelmed by work, family and too many responsibilities.
Mallika has taught meditation to thousands of people, and is currently a mindfulness consultant for the animated series, Stillwater, on Apple TV+. She enjoys speaking to audiences around the world about intention, balance and living a life of purpose.
Mallika has a BA from Brown University, an MBA from Kellogg Business School, and an MA in Psychology and Education with a mind body spirit concentration from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Mallika enjoys speaking to audiences around the world, and has shared her passion about intention, meditation, and living a life of purpose at conferences, companies, and festivals. Just some highlights include TedXSan Diego and TedXBerkeley, Ideacity, Business Innovation Factory, Wisdom 2.0, Women’s Conferences around the United States, and the Parliament of World Religions. She has shared ideas on balance and creativity at companies such as Aflac, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Disney, LinkedIn and Google. She travels internationally for workshops on meditation and balance, as well as speaks regularly at the Chopra Center for Wellbeing.
Mallika was the founder of Intent and co-founder of The Chopra Well with her brother, Gotham Chopra, and father, Deepak Chopra. She is a serial entrepreneur whose companies have included Intent and MyPotential. Her writing and work have been featured in many publications including Time.com, Self Magazine, Women’s Health, Prevention Magazine, OWN, Glamour, Oprah.com, Mind Body Green, the LA Times, and Huffington Post. She is featured in Time Magazine’s Special Issue on Mindfulness. She has appeared on Good Morning America, the Today Show, CNN, and many other national media outlets.
Mallika Chopra
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Mallika Chopra
Born July 24, 1971 (age 50)
Nationality American
Education Columbia University, Kellogg School of Management, Concord Academy, Brown University
Occupation
Authormeditation teachermotivational speaker
Title CEO and founder of Intent.com
Parent(s) Deepak Chopra, Rita Chopra
Mallika Chopra (born July 24, 1971) is an American author and businesswoman. She is the author of four books, and the founder of Intent.com, a website focused on personal, social and worldwide wellness. With her father, Deepak Chopra, and her brother, Gotham Chopra, she co-founded the YouTube channel The Chopra Well.
Contents
1 Biography
2 Books
3 References
4 Bibliography
5 External links
Biography
Chopra, the daughter of Deepak Chopra, grew up in Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States, and attended Concord Academy in nearby Concord, MA. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University, and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management. She also holds an Masters degree in Psychology and Education from Columbia University.[1]
She is the founder and CEO of Intent.com, a lifestyle website. It was created to use social media to connect people from around the world to improve their own lives, their communities and the planet.[2][3]
Earlier in 2000, she had co-founded the dotcom mypotential.com along with her father Deepak Chopra. She is also the president of Chopra Media LLC and sits in the board of directors of Liquid Comics (previously known as Virgin Comics). She also blogs for Beliefnet and Huffington Post.[4][5][6][7]
Chopra has two daughters.[2]
Books
Her first two books, 100 Promises To My Baby and 100 Questions From My Child, have been translated and sold in dozens of countries worldwide.
Chopra's book Living With Intent: My Somewhat Messy Journey to Purpose, Peace, and Joy, was released in 2015.[8][9]
Her fourth book, Just Breathe: Meditation, Mindfulness, Movement and More, is a meditation guide for children. It was published in 2018.[10][11]
Hello, I’m
Mallika Chopra
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Mallika Chopra is Chopra Global's Chief Executive Officer and a mom, media entrepreneur, author and public speaker. She is the author of the Just Be Series - Just Breathe, Just Feel, and Just Be You - a trilogy of illustrated how-to books for children (and the adults in their lives). These books provide simple tools to understand and support social and emotional knowing, resilience, meditation, mindfulness and self reflection.
Mallika wrote these books to empower kids to learn how to deal with stress, sleep better, build self-confidence, understand social and emotional intelligence, reflect on what makes them special, and manage the anxiety so many of them face today.
Mallika's newest book, My Body Is a Rainbow , helps children imagine a rainbow of colors radiating from their body and combines this color connection with breathing exercises to help them relieve stress, tension, fears, and sadness and to feel happier and more at peace.
In Living With Intent: My Somewhat Messy Journey to Purpose, Peace and Joy , Mallika shares insights she gained while seeking meaning and balance as a mom and entrepreneur who felt she was overwhelmed by work, family and too many responsibilities. Her previous books, 100 Promises to My Baby and 100 Questions from My Child , were gift books that have been translated and sold in over a dozen countries.
Mallika has taught meditation to thousands of people, and is currently a mindfulness consultant for the animated series, Stillwater, on Apple TV+. She enjoys speaking to audiences around the world, and has shared her passion about intention, meditation, and living a life of purpose at conferences, companies, and festivals. Just some highlights include TedXSan Diego and TedXBerkeley, Ideacity, Business Innovation Factory, Wisdom 2.0, Women’s Conferences around the United States, and the Parliament of World Religions. She has shared ideas on balance and creativity at companies such as Aflac, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Disney, LinkedIn and Google. She travels internationally for workshops on meditation and balance, as well as speaks regularly at the Chopra Center for Wellbeing.
Mallika was the founder of Intent and co-founder of The Chopra Well with her brother, Gotham Chopra, and father, Deepak Chopra. She is a serial entrepreneur whose companies have included Intent and MyPotential. Learn more on www.mallikachopra.com .
Her writing and work have been featured in many publications including Time.com , Self Magazine, Women’s Health, Prevention Magazine, OWN, Glamour, Oprah.com , Mind Body Green, the LA Times, and Huffington Post. She is featured in Time Magazine’s Special Issue on Mindfulness. She has appeared on Good Morning America, the Today Show, CNN, and many other national media outlets.
Mallika has a BA from Brown University, an MBA from Kellogg Business School, and an MA in Psychology and Education with a mind body spirit concentration at Teachers College, Columbia University.
QUOTE: "Life for me has been a messy journey. I have found there are times when life seems to be flowing smoothly—relationships, health, inspiring work—and then something happens that makes me pause and ask, 'Am I really happy? Am I doing what I am meant to do?' I believe in constantly asking questions."
I'm Mallika Chopra, Author and Entrepreneur, and This Is How I Parent
ByMichelle Woo
8/20/18 2:00PM
Comments (11)
Image for article titled I'm Mallika Chopra, Author and Entrepreneur, and This Is How I Parent
Photo: Courtesy of Mallika Chopra
As a kid, Mallika Chopra’s father, Deepak Chopra, would ask her to explore four questions: Who am I? What do I want? How can I serve? What am I grateful for? Now as an entrepreneur, public speaker and the author of the new children’s meditation guide Just Breathe, Mallika uses those questions to help others know their intentions and improve their lives. She has taught meditations to thousands of people around the world, including her two daughters, Tara and Leela. Here’s how she parents.
Name: Mallika Chopra
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Job: Mom, author, public speaker
Family: Husband Sumant Mandal, and daughters Tara (16) and Leela (14). Our dog is Yoda.
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Tell us a little bit about your family and your career. Did life happen mostly as planned or were there surprises?
Life for me has been a messy journey. I have found there are times when life seems to be flowing smoothly—relationships, health, inspiring work—and then something happens that makes me pause and ask, “Am I really happy? Am I doing what I am meant to do?” I believe in constantly asking questions.
Take us through your morning routine.
Morning is all about getting my kids to their bus by 6:57 a.m.! Alarm goes off at 6:07, walk the dog, have tea, get ready. My husband makes the girls breakfast. We should leave the house by 6:40 but it’s usually 6:45 and we are rushing to the bus. Let’s just admit it’s not the most peaceful time of our day. After I drop off the kids, I come home, make my coffee and sit back in my bed and meditate for 20 minutes. My hope is my kids are meditating on the bus as they go to school, but I am sure they are actually just sleeping!
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How much outside help do you get as a parent? Who or what can’t you live without?
I have been blessed with a family that is totally involved in raising my girls. My mom has been hands-on since the day my first daughter was born. In fact, I finished my MBA at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University when I had my daughter, and my mother, mother-in-law, and aunt from India took turns watching my daughter while I ran back and forth to classes.
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What are the gadgets, apps, charts or tools you rely on?
Just my iPhone. Everything I need is there: phone, text, email, the news, social media. And I like to measure how many steps I take every day.
Has becoming a parent changed the way you work?
It’s how I found my voice. When I knew I was going to be a mom, I felt a need to explore where I came from and what lessons I wanted to pass on to my children, and that is how I began to write and speak publicly.
Do you involve your kids in your work?
Yes, my kids are completely involved in my work and they are very proud of it. When I decided to write Just Breathe, I actually sat with them to understand what creates stress and anxiety for them and their friends, from test taking to social media to feeling misunderstood.
When I knew I was going to be a mom, I felt a need to explore where I came from.
What does your evening routine like?
Unlike our mornings, our evenings are relaxed. My kids generally are home after school. They do their homework and we try to have dinner together every night. I love that my family talks about the day, and generally we are all obsessed with the news so current events take up a lot of dinner conversation.
I am obsessed with sleep, so I mandate that everyone is in bed by 9 p.m. with rare exceptions on nights when they have to start their homework later.
What’s your favorite technique for staying in the moment when things start to feel overwhelming?
When I feel overwhelmed, angry or frustrated, I STOP. S -Stop. T-Take three breaths. O-Observe the body. P-Proceed. This practice helps transition from a fight-or-flight mode to a more thoughtful reaction to any situation.
It is so easy for kids to press our buttons—because they know exactly which ones to press—and sometimes we react in ways that we regret later. The STOP exercise has helped me take a pause and react in a more mindful and appropriate way. It has saved me from unintentionally saying or doing things I may regret later.
Tell us about a family ritual.
It’s kind of inappropriate but we love watching shows like Scandal and Empire together! I do a puzzle while the rest of the family and Yoda lounge on the couch.
Mallika and her family.
Mallika and her family.
What’s been your proudest moment as a parent?
Knowing that my daughters are kind and respectful. Often, strangers come up to me and tell me that my daughters are polite and engaging and I beam with joy.
What moment are you least proud of?
Reading my daughter’s diary and breaking her trust.
What do you want your kids to learn from your example?
The importance of gratitude—not just of material things—but of relationships, opportunity, and the planet.
What’s the hardest part about being a parent?
Trust. Lately my daughter started driving. This took trusting that she can take care of herself to a whole other level!
What’s your favorite part of the day?
Picking my girls up from the bus and hearing about their days. Even on the days they don’t share much, just sitting in the car while they decompress is quality time together. It’s the every day ritual that makes it predictable and so special for me. Now that my elder daughter is driving and will take her sister to school, I will be desperately seeking something new to replace this special time.
The one thing I would tell other parents who are juggling a career:
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Don’t try to do everything—make empowered choices and be willing to let go of some things. As a parent, I have found that I just need to think of timing in different ways. Embracing flexibility gives a lot of freedom.
QUOTE: "Living with intent is living a life that is healthy and purposeful, but also joyful. ... It’s asking ourselves what will make ourselves happy. Intents come from our soul, whereas goals come from our mind."
Mallika Chopra on How to Live With Intent
2012 Kwaku Alston
IDEAS
BY CHARLOTTE ALTER
APRIL 9, 2015 11:40 AM EDT
Charlotte Alter is a national correspondent for TIME
Mallika Chopra knows a thing or two about purpose. As the daughter of spirituality guru Deepak Chopra, she’s been steeped in questions of purpose, fulfillment, and enlightenment for her entire life. In her new book, Living With Intent, she breaks down the differences between intents and goals, and opens up about how becoming a mother helped her live a more purposeful life.
“Living with intent is living a life that is healthy and purposeful, but also joyful,” Chopra says. “It’s asking ourselves what will make ourselves happy. Intents come from our soul, whereas goals come from our mind.”
Chopra is also the founder and CEO of Intent.com. In her book, she outlines the six parts of what she calls the “journey” to intent: Incubate (“quiet your mind”), Notice (“look for signs”), Trust (“confidence in your inner knowing”), Express (“write down your intentions”), Nurture (“be gentle with yourself”), and Take Action (“set short-term goals.”) Finding intent, Chopra writes, is about asking yourself three main questions: Who am I? What do I want? How can I serve? The answers, she says, may be very different from what you might expect.
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During her childhood, Chopra’s father was always surrounded by celebrities seeking his spiritual guidance. (Chopra specifically remembers Michael Jackson hanging around.) “By nature, I always was a very ambitious person, and my entire teenage years were formed by being around not only successful people, but the most successful people,” she says. “People would come to my father for different reasons, but at some level they came because they were suffering. We got to see the distinction between the external and the internal.”
But being surrounded by hyper-successful people put the young Chopra under a lot of pressure. She says she used to wonder “am I doing enough, what more should I be doing, should I be more successful?” Ultimately, she realized, grand ambitions weren’t anymore purposeful than humbler ones. “The more I listened to what my intents are and what I wanted, the more I realized that the universe doesn’t even need something grand and huge from me: if I’m serving my family, that’s okay.”
“Ultimately when I ask myself what makes me happy, it’s often very different from all the external expectations people have,” she says. “We don’t have to be the superhero, but we can do great things in our everyday lives.”
Motherhood was a turning point for Chopra’s journey to intent. She was five months pregnant on September 11, 2001, a day her mother, father and brother were all scheduled to fly on different flights. There were a few hours when the family thought her brother might have been on one of the planes that flew into the World Trade Center. Although her brother was ultimately safe, she was shaken by the experience. She asked herself: “Who am I, what do I come from, and what do I want to do with my life? What do I want to teach my children?”
Chopra said motherhood helped her answer some of those questions. “In many ways it helped define what I wanted to do with my life,” she says. “It gave me a sense of security.”
But intent doesn’t have to be all about meditation and soul-searching. Ultimately, it’s supposed to be fun. “It’s still about being joyful and happy and free,” Chopra says. “We don’t have to be so serious about the whole thing.”
QUOTE: "For me, meditation was never about managing stress. Meditation was really a tool that my parents gave my brother and I for self-regulation but also for self-discovery, for asking questions, for exploration. I felt that without Just Be You it was incomplete, that we needed to also emphasize that these wisdom traditions, which have come from around the world, weren’t done because people were stressed out. They were using these techniques to explore themselves, our place in the universe, Mother Earth. It wasn’t about stress management, which is what in the West right now most people associate meditation with."
By Sandra Ebejer
APR 23, 2021
Mallika Chopra Wants to Help Kids Meditate
The daughter of Deepak Chopra talks to Shondaland about her own journey through meditation and the inspiration behind her new book, “Just Be You.”
By Sandra Ebejer
APR 23, 2021
mallika chopra next to cover of book just be youMALLIKA CHOPRA/AMBERHAWKINS
Mallika Chopra wears a lot of hats: mother, entrepreneur, author, and wellness expert, to name a few. The daughter of alternative-medicine pioneer Deepak Chopra, Mallika has followed in her father’s footsteps, speaking to audiences around the world about the benefits of mindfulness, meditation, and living a life of purpose.
Today, her goal is to create content specifically for children. Through her work as mindfulness consultant on the Apple TV+ animated series Stillwater, her contributions to the Chopra Meditation & Well-Being app, and her “Just Be” series of books for kids, Mallika is giving young people tools to help them find a sense of peace in their lives.
Her latest book, Just Be You: Ask Questions, Set Intentions, Be Your Special Self, and More, is “a reminder that we are human beings, not human doings,” she says. The illustrated guide, aimed at kids ages 8 to 12, is full of exercises to help readers embrace their individuality, reflect on who they really are, and set intentions for the life they want to live. Her hope is that the book will provide children with “the resilience in life to deal with whatever situations” they may be facing.
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Shondaland recently spoke with Mallika about the book, her on-again/off-again relationship with meditation, and the many misconceptions about growing up as the daughter of a world-renowned mindfulness expert.
SANDRA EBEJER: I want to start off by talking about your background. What was your upbringing like?
MALLIKA CHOPRA: Usually, the first question I get is “What is it like being Deepak Chopra’s daughter?” There is an assumption that we grew up in a very Zen household, and we’re meditating and doing yoga, and we’re vegetarian — none of which is true. My parents came to this country in 1970, and they were 22, 23 years old. They had just got married. They were only allowed $8 to bring with them, so they arrived here literally with no money. My mom soon discovered she was pregnant, and they couldn’t afford to have me here because they didn’t have health insurance, so she went back to India to deliver me while my dad stayed here and worked. My dad worked 24/7. I think the way he dealt with stress was he drank and smoked incessantly. And when he was home, which wasn’t often because he was working all the time, he drank to go to sleep. My parents had a tense relationship. It was a stressful time with two young kids.
For me, it’s a very clear distinction that, when I was 9 years old, something changed. [My father] learned how to meditate, and meditation for him was transformational. For the first time, he felt a sense of peace and knowing and connection, and in 24 hours gave up drinking and smoking. It was very dramatic. He had my mom learn how to meditate. My brother and I learned how to meditate by the end of the week. The transformation was dramatic because suddenly my parents were happier. My dad had healthier habits. He was a more engaged parent, and that happened for me at that pivotal 9-year-old age, which is what has shaped everything I’m doing now.
SE: I love that your book titles include the word “just” because I feel like many of us tend to overcomplicate everything. With the titles, there’s a sense of simplifying it — just breathe, just feel, just be yourself. Was that your intent when you wrote the books?
MC: Yes, because I’ve been teaching meditation for decades now, and one of the things people always say is “I can’t empty my mind, I can’t sit still, the meditation is too hard, I’m failing at it.” We spend so much time explaining to people that you can’t fail at these kinds of things. This is a journey. It is really just about breathing, just about feeling things, being authentic in who you are. I feel like that was a word, “just,” that I would use with adults and with children, which lets go of the feeling that this is a monumental task.
Meditation was really a tool that my parents gave my brother and I for self-regulation but also for self-discovery, for asking questions, for exploration.
SE: What prompted you to write this latest book?
MC: The publishing company reached out to me for the first book, Just Breathe. There didn’t seem to be a book for kids [on meditation], so Just Breathe was a simple guide to meditation, mindfulness, movement, breathing. I didn’t envision it as a series, but then it logically made sense because the next step was the social and emotional learning, and that’s what Just Feel is about.
For me, meditation was never about managing stress. Meditation was really a tool that my parents gave my brother and I for self-regulation but also for self-discovery, for asking questions, for exploration. I felt that without Just Be You it was incomplete, that we needed to also emphasize that these wisdom traditions, which have come from around the world, weren’t done because people were stressed out. They were using these techniques to explore themselves, our place in the universe, Mother Earth. It wasn’t about stress management, which is what in the West right now most people associate meditation with.
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SE: The book is broken into four parts: “Who Am I? What Do I Want? How Can I Serve? What Am I Grateful For?” How did you decide on those four specific questions to guide the book?
MC: These were the four questions that really shaped my life, and which I come to over and over again at different stages in my life to recalibrate, to reconnect.
“Who Am I?” is about experiencing who we are beyond the labels. Often, we are labeled by others in many ways, whether it’s race, culture, gender, but [also] religion, activities. We’ll say, “My daughter is a dancer, or my son’s a softball player, or my daughter is a coder.” We start labeling very early on and identifying who we are based on these labels. The goal of that question is to remind ourselves that we are more than just the labels. We are more than the things we are doing every day.
“What Do I Want?” is based on a question my dad used to ask my brother and I all the time when we were young. And we would say, “Tickets to the Celtics, a trip to Hawaii, new clothes, Atari games.” And he’d listen and then say, “Okay, but what about asking for love, connection, inspiration, a sense of purpose?” We were taught to ask for the qualities in our life that would make us happier, healthier, more connected.
“How Can I Serve?” is a guiding question. It begins with “How can I serve myself?” Because when we serve ourselves, we can serve others well, and then how can I serve my friends, my family, my community, and Mother Earth? Then the last is “What Am I Grateful For?” So, again, bringing back gratitude, anchoring ourselves in the things that we are grateful for, so we can carry that with us throughout our life.
SE: The book is full of really wonderful, simple exercises that I think are just as important for adults as much as children. Are they exercises you’ve done yourself over time?
MC: Yes, all of the exercises we have done as a family, and I’ve done them in classrooms. I wrote them for kids, but one of the things I hear from many adults is “Oh, it’s been so great for me.” And I think it goes back to what you said in the beginning, the “just” term, because so many of the books and practices that are taught now have a lot of science and intellectual understanding and validation. But, at the end of the day, the practice is the practice, and the practice is quite simple.
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SE: I love the title of one of your other books, Living With Intent: My Somewhat Messy Journey to Purpose, Peace, and Joy. I appreciate the “somewhat messy” aspect because I too am a mother, and I can relate. With all that you have going on in your life and your career, are you able to meditate as often as you would like?
MC: Living With Intent, my book for adults, came at a time in my life when I had a business, my kids were younger, [and] I found that my days were running from extracurriculars to work. I felt totally overwhelmed and stressed out. One day, while I was teaching a group of women how to meditate, I was telling them about the benefits of practice, of breathing. And I was onstage, and I realized I had just had two chocolate-chip cookies and a double macchiato to get enough energy to be onstage. [Laughs]. And while I was talking to them, I was thinking about my investors and picking up the dry cleaning and the permission slip, and I realized I was being such a hypocrite. I asked them to meditate, and I realized I wasn’t meditating. I wasn’t doing any practices because I was so busy. But I had time to scroll on people’s Facebook pages and see what other people were doing.
I’m an irregular meditator. I’m not the person who’s been meditating twice a day for 40 years. I’ve gone through years of not meditating and then years of rediscovering it or trying different practices. So, at that time in my life, what I committed to was one meditation a day for 15 minutes before I went and picked up my kids. For me, it’s all about finding what works at different stages in your life. Right now, I’m in a different stage because one kid’s gone to college; the other is 16 and driving and more independent. In many ways, I have more space and time. So, I’m in a new phase, almost this empty-nester phase. And who knows what that will bring?
With ‘Stillwater,’ Mallika Chopra brings mindfulness to kids
Meditation expert, author and speaker Mallika Chopra is a “mindfulness consultant” on the new Apple TV+ animated children's series ”Stillwater."
By BROOKE LEFFERTS Associated Press
29 December 2020, 22:37
• 5 min read
Mallika Chopra
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The Associated Press
Meditation expert, author and speaker Mallika Chopra poses for a portrait on Dec. 21, 2...Read More
NEW YORK -- When the producers of the new animated children’s series “Stillwater” asked Mallika Chopra to be the show’s “mindfulness consultant,” the meditation expert, author and speaker said she was immediately on board.
“What an amazing title to have, right?” Chopra recounted in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
Children’s television has evolved since the days of Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner smashing Wile E. Coyote with a hammer. “Stillwater” — which started streaming on Apple TV+ this month — aims to teach subtle life lessons through a wise panda who forges a special friendship with the family next door. The stories are based on the character Stillwater from the beloved children’s book series “Zen Stories” by Jon J. Muth.
With beautiful animation and a quiet approach, “Stillwater” organically teaches kids to meet disappointment and frustration with patience and kindness. Apple hired Chopra help translate the vibe and lessons of “Zen Stories” to a television audience.
Chopra has written several books geared toward children and has a new book coming out in March: “Just Be You: Ask Questions, Set Intentions, Be Your Special Self and More.” She’s also the daughter of alternative medicine and wellness expert Deepak Chopra, so meditation and wellness has dominated both her personal and professional lives.
The younger Chopra helped launch the show by reading scripts and offering her special expertise. “They have done the most incredible job of storytelling and building characters and then sharing the lessons in this way, which is just not kind of didactic or ‘how-to.’ It’s joyful and really magical,“ Chopra said.
The show’s executive producer and writer Rob Hoegee, says Chopra helps communicate the psychology of preschool children and their needs. “One of the great things Mallika has been able to do for us now that the show has launched is be able to better contextualize what mindfulness is, how it’s important to us and how the show can fit into that,” Hoegee said.
The producers incorporated coping skills like breathing deeply and the sound and calmness of nature into the storylines, which Chopra says is a great tool to emphasize experience in the moment.
“There’s a clip where they’re outside getting a new perspective on the rain. And it’s such a beautiful clip of changing perspective. But also, in that clip, there’s the sound of the rain. This is the experience you can have of imagining the smell of rain,” she said.
Aside from work on “Stillwater,” Chopra has been busy this year trying to help others cope in the pandemic. She’s been challenging people to get comfortable with uncertainty.
“What I can offer is just moments where we can connect through breaths, be accepting of anger, frustration, and fear with our kids. You know, they’re feeling that. But we, as parents, are feeling that as well. So a lot of what I’ve been talking to groups about this year is... accepting that it’s OK to feel angry, it’s OK to be fearful and sad," Chopra said.
"The other thing is we haven’t had the ritual of mourning and grief. And that also isn’t anchoring us as a society,“ she said. “That’s something we’re going to have to process over time because we’re not processing it right now. It’s just too overwhelming.”
As the daughter of one of the most famous New Age leaders and meditation experts, Chopra started meditating when she was 9. She says Western society’s acceptance of the practice has taken decades, but it’s come a long way since people thought her father was a “witchdoctor selling snake oil."
“These are wisdom traditions which have lasted thousands of years," Chopra said. "Those who practice these different techniques, we feel how they help us as parents when we tell our kids to take a deep breath in and out, to stop for a moment, we see how they can self regulate better. “
The long-term effects of the isolation and anxiety of quarantining concern Chopra, but she says she’s hoping to get past this “dark time” in the mental health of adults, and especially children. “That’s going to be a big, big hurdle that we have to continue to address because we are seeing, sadly, increases in diagnoses and suicide rates. It’s heartbreaking.“
Chopra surprises people when she admits that her own meditation practice has been irregular, but she returns to it when she needs it. She's a mom to two teenagers and says despite her work, she has had a “messy journey” with normal family dynamics.
“We all get angry and frustrated and need to let things go," she said. "But it’s just when you have a technique, like so many of these that are shared in the show, we know how to self-regulate better. We know how to communicate a little bit better. We have more empathy and compassion naturally, because we’ve been going through these practices.”
QUOTE: "It’s been really nice to be able to share these techniques which I learned when I was nine and I learned how to meditate. I’m 49 now so I have four decades of practice, regular practice which I talked about in my adult book living with intent. But, there are tools that we can find in our toolkit. We keep adding to the toolkit that can help us through hard times, but also the joyful times and the good times. The exercises of gratitude and kindness and intention and celebrating the joyful moments in our lives."
Just Breathe: A Dialogue with Mallika Chopra
Lisa Niver (LN): Hello. This is Lisa Niver from We Said Go Travel, and I am so honored to be here today with Mallika Chopra. She often gets introduced as the daughter of spiritual guru, Deepak Chopra, which is true, but today we’re going to talk to her about being an author and being an […]
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By Lisa Niver, Lisa Niver is a travel journalist and on-camera host who has explored 101 countries. Find her on KTLA TV or her We Said Go Travel videos with over 1.3 million views at We Said Go Travel
Lisa Niver (LN): Hello. This is Lisa Niver from We Said Go Travel, and I am so honored to be here today with Mallika Chopra. She often gets introduced as the daughter of spiritual guru, Deepak Chopra, which is true, but today we’re going to talk to her about being an author and being an inspiration during COVID. Thank you so much for being here.
Mallika Chopra (MC): Thank you for having me.
Mallika Chopra
LN: I imagine must be busy at your house with all of your books and being a mom and running Chopra web. What has been your main focus during these crazy uncertain COVID times?
MC: My main focus has been trying to keep my family in order. My husband, who normally travels non-stop, has been home since March. And that, of course, has been, let’s say, finding a new balance.
VIDEO: Mallika Chopra and Lisa Niver
LN: That was very politically correct; I like that you’re finding a balance.
MC: I have two daughters. One who is 18 and was a senior last spring. So missed out on all of the senior traditions and graduation and then didn’t make it to college this Fall, she’ll be going in January. It’s obviously an emotional time. My 16 year old, who’s in 10th grade has been doing zoom school here in LA. Nobody ended up going back to school in person.
There’s a lot, a lot of transition, emotion, patience, frustration, family bonding time, which I think many are experiencing. So that really has been my main focus, but I think what I’m lucky and feel very grateful to be able to do, is to share very honestly the experiences I’m going through and share tools that I’ve learned over a lifetime, that can help during these unprecedented times.
LN: I agree with you it is so unprecedented. I’m sorry your daughter missed out on graduation. My nephew is the same age and missed graduation. That’s challenging. You mentioned your husband —I think it’s also a very exciting anniversary year for you.
MC: Yes, our anniversary will be 24 years, this December. It’s crazy how time flies by. My mom called me and said I just remembered your anniversary is coming up. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago, but when you think about the numbers, it’s incredible.
LN: I actually thought you were 25 years!
MC: No, our 25th is next year. Next summer, I will turn 50.
LN: Congratulations on both! I did a big project before I turned 50. I did 50 crazy challenges before I turned 50. I hope it’ll be an exciting year for you and lucky for you it’s 2021.
I know you mentioned that it’s been a challenging time and I really appreciated in your September newsletter how honest you were. I know September for all of us, when Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and coming into the election that was so uncertain and long before we thought there might be a vaccine.
Can you share some of the things that did help you stop with the unhealthy choices and move back into your preferred choices?
MC: I think we all started our various forms of change in lifestyle in March and April. We didn’t think that it was going to go so long. And all the emotional stuff with my daughter and no graduation and all that. Many people start to fall into the habits of I’ll have a drink which turned into every night.
And, I can’t go to the gym anymore so my husband and I would go for walks in the neighborhood and I tried to do yoga. But then, that stopped. And I was getting into deeper holes of habits that normally it’d be more disciplined with.
In September, I reached that breaking point where I said: I can’t do this anymore. I made the mistake of weighing myself. What has happened in the last few months? We started going back to eat Duncan Hines cake with frosting.
The excuse of this quarantine lifestyle led to a lot of habits and what I realized— it was both my habits how I was feeling physically and of course, all of that coming from emotional stress, anxiety and I’m someone who gets obsessed with politics, then Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. There were just too many things and so I wrote this very honest newsletter. I have to say within one hour of sending that out I had 200 people who have responded to me. Saying: I am going through this too. And just thank you for sharing that. So many of us have been struggling, what I realized is it takes real discipline, focus and attention as well as intention to change those habits.
I decided I’m going to stop my drinks, because that’s something that, became a habit without even thinking about it. I could stop it. I started doing some more intermittent fasting, committing to yoga and being outside.
We’re lucky because we I live in LA, so I can go outside and be in the sun and feel the warmth. I’m always very focused on my kids but that also was the time when zoom school was starting and brought a new sadness. Seeing my 10th grader on zoom, my nephew who’s in seventh grade starting a new school and not even being able to meet someone. I’m constantly in touch with teachers and parent groups and it’s been really hard for our kids. So September was that time of overwhelm, but then a real commitment personally to connect with people and to move, to eat better to shift certain habits.
LN: I appreciated how honest you were and I’m not surprised so many people reached back out because I do you think we are all feeling that way, and that really is a great place to start talking about the amazing books you’ve created for children. You were concerned about how they were feeling stressed before COVID. Can you tell everyone who might not be familiar with your just the series about how the books came about or how you got started.
MC: Thank you so I have these three books: Just Breathe. Just Feel and then next year comes up Just Be You! We’re calling them the Just Be series.
LN: They’re beautiful.
MC: Thank you and the first two are out: Just Breathe and Just Feel.
LN: I bet they make a great holiday gift.
MC: Yes. I did my Master’s in clinical psychology at Teachers College, which is really focused on teachers and education What we’re seeing in classrooms is that the levels of anxiety for children is really high.
There’s this whole trend in social emotional learning. But what I realized is that simple tools like breathing, like figuring out how to connect with self, to set intentions, for kids how to sense their body, and where they’re kind of physically feeling feelings. They’re really simple techniques so I got this opportunity to write these how to books for children.
And the first one, Just Breathe, is really focused on breathing meditation, mindfulness and movement. The second one, Just Feel, is really appropriate for what we’re going through this year, the overwhelming feelings of sadness, anger and frustration. How do we process those feelings and how do we feel them in our body, how do we accept them because the range of feelings is completely normal and natural. I think it’s really important for children to recognize that.
They also need recognize that feelings come in waves. These two books were timely but what they offer is ancient wisdom traditions that have lasted centuries in cultures around the world.
It’s been really nice to be able to share these techniques which I learned when I was nine and I learned how to meditate. I’m 49 now so I have four decades of practice, regular practice which I talked about in my adult book living with intent. But, there are tools that we can find in our toolkit. We keep adding to the toolkit that can help us through hard times, but also the joyful times and the good times. The exercises of gratitude and kindness and intention and celebrating the joyful moments in our lives.
LN: I think they’re beautiful books. The illustrations are beautiful. And I especially liked when you were talking about: it’s okay to ask for help or it’s always good to ask for help.
MC: These books have been out in the world and I’m finding that it’s not just kids but also parents, teachers, mentors anyone who is learning from them. Because there are simple tools like asking for help. And as women, who are taking care of multi generations and trying to work and find some sort of balance… often we’re just trying to do things by ourselves. Giving people permission to ask for help is one of the things found through these books. The kids are now giving tips to their parents. It’s so nice to be flipping it around, where my kids say to me: Mom, just breathe.
Adults who are saying —my kids are telling me: Just take a moment and pause stop. Ask for help if you need to. So we all need to be reminded of that.
LN: I love reverse mentoring. I think that’s amazing that the kids are being able to use those phrases to help themselves, but also to help the whole family. I was actually going to ask you are you finding that teenagers, young adults, college students are thinking—I’m taking that book with me.
MC: I hope that becomes the case. And again, my kids are 16 and 18 and I speak a lot in high schools. And similarly, the levels of anxiety for teenagers and sadly, mental illness in that older kind of teen low 20s age group is skyrocketing. I think with COVID, it is skyrocketing even more and it is sad to say suicide is on the rise.
We need to recognize what people are going through. Recognize that it’s normal and it’s natural to go through that. And that we’re all going through different phases of that. It’s important to reach out to others for help. But even reach out to others to check in, make sure people are okay.
And I also think when I grew up, when I was 9, my dad was considered the witch doctor who was selling snake oil. It’s really only in the last 10 years or so that meditation, mindfulness, yoga, these practices have become more mainstream. There’s been more research, which seems to validate. These are ancient wisdom traditions which have lasted 1000’s of years but for some reason when someone does a study on it, it’s accepted. It is wonderful because I think that has allowed these practices to really seep into mainstream living now.
What I am finding is that teenagers and college students, they’re yearning tools and techniques to help them survive. So if we can start introducing them at a young age, then they have those tools through that very rocky period which continues in life. We all know, life is full of ups and downs. We have to figure out the best way to manage the stress. Mindfulness tools where we can be aware of situations and observe them and connect with body and breath, they help us for a lifetime.
LN: I completely agree that life is a lot of ups and downs. It feels like this COVID last nine or 10 months has many more valleys than we anticipated. I like what you’re saying about teaching them when they’re younger. Your upcoming book is for even younger kids, is that correct?
MC: I have a book called: My Body is A Rainbow, which is going to be so beautifully illustrated. I feel very lucky with my publishing company that they found these artists. For me, the number one criteria was that they were warm and loving but also diverse in terms of the photo and pictures there.
My body is A Rainbow is full of color and kids from all different backgrounds and that will be for younger kids. It is more of a picture book for ages three to six, and I’m really excited about that.
And then I’ve recently got involved with a show called Stillwater that Apple TV plus is releasing, which is based on the books, Zen shorts. They are classics and they’re on the top of my list when I’m gifting books. They teach great mindfulness lessons through this panda bear, Stillwater. The show is so beautiful. I feel like it’s an interesting time. More of these techniques and concepts are accepted in a mainstream way and if we can share them through different modes, whether that’s the books, meditations for kids and adults on the different meditation apps or something like Stillwater which is this magical show. It’s an interesting time for this type of content and I hope it lasts.
LN: I saw it for Stillwater, you’re the mindfulness consultant.
MC: Yes, I know. It is such a unique and lovely term. They reached out to me because they have this incredible show. And it was actually through Teachers College, through another alumni through the Master’s that I did. The show is beautiful and what it does —is it teaches these techniques but in the storytelling narrative as you’re watching the show.
You feel really, it’s almost like you slow down and you take a deep breath. And so I’ve been involved to promote awareness of it. I have to say when I watched it. It was blissful and so peaceful at the same time because of the way that it’s made. It’s a beautiful show. I do a lot of how-to stuff. But this is narrative, it’s through storytelling and that’s how kids are going to learn these techniques in all the different ways.
LN: Congratulations! You have so many different pieces! Now your dad and your brother Gotham and you restarted or shifted the Chopra Well?
MC: Several years ago, YouTube was creating premier channels. And so we launched a pretty big channel called the Chopra Well which still exists, which is full of actually different kind of shows. More recently it has transitioned more to my dad doing a lot of videos.
Like with everything, I have an adult book, Living with Intent, but the subtitle is: My somewhat messy journey to purpose, peace and joy. As a serial entrepreneur, I’ve had many ventures. You’re always adjusting and shifting and changing. That’s part of the lesson that I’m trying to share with kids and adults —is that it’s okay to have ups and downs— to have to readjust, whether that’s physically, emotionally, in your work, in your practice, in your habits, whatever it may be.
We’re always tinkering and figuring it out, and giving ourselves that kind of freedom to be flexible. To recognize that the possibilities ahead can be infinite versus being stuck on a path. You know feeling trapped by some of the things that you’re doing. The YouTube channel is a great example of that— which is it keeps changing and adjusting but it’s a great platform to have.
LN: You have so many things going on. I know you mentioned that you speak with schools and I’m not sure if you’re also doing a virtual book tour but if people want to have you come to their school or their book club or their parent group how, what’s the best way for people to get in touch with you?
MC: I have a website http://www.mallikachopra.com/ and I’m on all the social media under Mallika Chopra. There are links to speaking or PR — I do a lot with companies as well. And it’s so interesting this year. We all have zoom fatigue…
I’m used to going and speaking to hundreds of people and you can see how they react. And you know, it’s a back and forth. The Zoom thing, especially when you’re speaking, sometimes you’re just speaking to your computer for like 20-30 minutes and you literally have no idea ow it’s going.
I’m finding, even with the zoom fatigue, sometimes people just need that space to take a few breaths and to do a meditation practice. It’s interesting as I think some of that will continue, in terms of being able to reach people in different parts of the world. I know my dad used to travel so much but now he’s reaching so many people through his computer and on his phone. It’s amazing.
LN: That’s true, that some people have been able to use this different time, called the Great pause, to shift. You might reach more people—you could speak to three book groups on three continents and never get on the plane.
MC: It’s a really interesting dynamic. One of the things that COVID has made me realize, and I think the world realized— is that life is uncertain. We always say that… This year, we really have all experienced it. We really don’t know what’s going to happen in a month. We’re so grateful now with the vaccine coming, and some sense of normalcy but that’s gonna take a while. In terms of planning, my daughter’s move to college, I don’t even know if it’s going to happen. And so, we really have to accept that life is uncertain.
LN: That’s true. I feel like we could just talk all day but before I let you go, would you just open one book and read a page to us. The illustrations are so beautiful.
MC: Thank you and I’ll show you some of them. In Just Breathe, which is the first one, there’s like a nice collage of our family photos.
I’ll read from the introduction when we introduce concepts like this to children. We have to keep it simple.
What I’m trying to do in Just Breathe and then continue in the books is to have kids, connect with what I call the safe happy quiet place that we’ve discovered inside. All of these techniques are about connecting to soul, to our physical body or to our environment.
Just Breathe starts: “Do you have a place where you feel safe, happy and quiet?
Perhaps, it’s a physical space, somewhere in your home, a hidden corner that no one else knows about or a place outside, where you can run, twirl and laugh without any worries.
Perhaps it’s not a physical space but instead is the time you spend with a friend, a sibling or parent. Maybe, it’s those moments you chat with your sister before you both fall asleep, or when you throw a baseball with a friend and the time flies by.
Or perhaps it is when you are by yourself. Reading, drawing or daydreaming about nothing in particular, moments when your mind and body feel rested. When you’re not thinking about the past or worried about the future.
Maybe you’re thinking that you don’t have that place in your life, and you’re wondering if you even need it. Research shows that when you find that quiet place, your body and brain are healthier. You feel more in control, and you are happier.
And for many people being able to feel that peace inside of themselves, helps them worry less and deal better with tough situations.
So the intent of this book, Just Breathe, is to help you find an anchor inside yourself, that is safe, happy and quiet and to help you tap into it and find it whenever you need it.”
The book is full of great illustrations and the exercises are written as one page exercises. There’s no narrative as such. It’s really: this is how you do it. It’s a great tool for teachers and for parents as well.
LN: I saw that on Amazon your books are a Teacher’s Pick which is such a great honor.
MC: The biggest honor! I am so grateful for that.
LN: It’s such a great series. Congratulations on all your success and the upcoming books! I am going to be buying some of those books as my holiday gifts! Everybody needs an usher out 2020 gift! A lot of the exercises say: You don’t need anything. You only need two minutes. I like the one that said, you need a quiet place to sit, maybe your bed. It’s very clear, and I know the books written for children but they would help such a wide range of people.
MC: Thank you so much for the conversation! I feel so grateful that I’m able to share these amazing tools that I was given as a child myself. I grew up with these tools and taught them to my kids and of course now to many kids in classrooms and it does help.
LN: It does help. I want everybody to know please get Mallika’s books, they’re wonderful and I say to you, I hope that the end of the year goes well. Namaste. It was so wonderful to meet you. Thank you so much for spending this time with me.
MC: Thank you very much.
— Published on December 22, 2020
Interview with Dr. Deepak Chopra’s daughter Mallika Chopra on motherhood and Mindfulness
Préity Üpala
Préity Üpala
Sep 1, 2019·8 min read
1. It’s so great to hear that you are a resident of Santa Monica. How long have you been living here? And what are your feelings about living here?
We moved to LA in 1999 and in 2008 moved to Santa Monica. We love it here. Once you move here, honestly, where else could you live! I’ve raised my girls here and it a great community we have met through schools; wonderful parented. Your life really starts to be shaped by your kid’s lives. I feel Santa Monica is a sweet place for the girls to grow up in. I don’t think we would want to be anywhere else because it’s a blessing to live here; the weather, food, people, lifestyle, its all amazing!
2. What do you think of the rise in spirituality here and of conscious living in this area especially?
I grew up at a time when my father started talking about mind, body connection and people thought he was crazy and on the “fringe”. They even called him a witchdoctor! So what’s happening currently worldwide with the acceptance of spirituality and the kind of work that I get to do now, like public speaking, I’m so grateful for my father’s work. I love that in a place like Santa Monica, people are open and willing to experiment and try news things. Sometimes I do get frustrated with the trendiness of it all and things start to get marketed as “bite –sized” instant methods, as I think in life sometimes you can’t solve problems that way. You have to really work at it and be patient. It’s not a testament to Santa Monica per se, more of the world at large. I applaud all the experimentation that going on, but I sometimes wish for more depth and exploration, as people are too eager to move on to the next fad, myself included by the way!
I love the fact that these practices are evolving and the experimentation. The issue that I have is doing it for a moment and expecting life to change instantly. I teach at Unplugged Meditation here in Santa Monica and I love that they have different types of teachers. Coming from India, we tend to be skeptical of the adoption of these practices. But its amazing that there are these great, innovative, dynamic teachers who posses deep knowledge that does not come when you simply happen to be of a particular lineage.
3. Why do you think it’s a book like this is so important and topical right now?
It’s always been important for kids to get a sense of who they are and practices like meditation and mindfulness have always been important. Today, we are living in an environment where there is constant stimulation where social media adds an uncertain factor to people’s lives. Parents don’t know how to deal with it; in fact the kids are more acclimated to it! Kids are stressed and anxious and social media has bought issues like bullying are at the social forefront. Kids are more aware of it and as adults are more aware of it. So a book like mine, focusing on Meditation and Mindfulness is coming at a time when people are searching for a tool to help their kids and to help themselves.
Many adults have said that this is a good book on meditation as it’s so simple. Meditation gets intellectualized a lot and the practices are what the practices are.
4. You have written other books, more for adults. What made you decide to focus on book entirely for young kids?
One, being a parent! And seeing the need and the fact that kids are open to exploring and have some amazing experiences when they practice. I wanted to write something that was specifically for them but I did not want to write another parenting book to tell parents how to teach their kids how to mediate. But rather to give something to kids that they can explore themselves. And I feel very strongly that parents should not enforce their kids to meditate but rather meditate themselves and set an example.
5. Do you have a daily practice yourself? Could you share with us?
I learnt how to meditate when I was nine, my father taught me and it was the greatest gift my parents gave me as it is a tool to quiten the mind, deal with anxiety and to know myself .That being said, I was a very irregular meditator and have been in my life. I was too busy and was very irregular when I was younger and as I got older, I realized I was very stressed and that I had lost this practice. So for the last 5 years, I have been a very regular meditator.
My personal practice is about 20 minutes once a day, at tea time. It’s a mantra meditation and I sit quietly and chant it in my mind. In the book, I have listed several Mantra meditations.
6. Growing up did you have a technique that really helped you?
I still use the same mantra meditation that I learnt as a child! For me, that just what I know and I have been doing it my whole life. But I have also explored Gratitude and Mindfulness and these are also incorporated in my book.
7. Do you think in todays’ political and emotional climate, spirituality is the way?
It’s the most critical thing today. It is a spiritual anchor, whatever your religion may be, and helps you feel like you are a part of the world. It gives you more compassion, humility, empathy, understanding. The solution has to be a spiritual solution.
8. You mentioned in the book you started meditating at 9. What quality has this given you in your life as an adult?
For me, I cherish silence, that’s what mediation has given me, Silence is where we heal, where creativity comes from and where we feel whole. I’m a real advocate of silence. We live in a noisy world and silence is something we loose in today’s world. I did the Vipassana, a silent meditation retreat about 30 years ago but it is a wonderful experience!
9. Your heritage is Indian; do you still spend time in India, to the spiritual vortexes and ashrams? If so, are there any favorite spots that you like to frequent?
Yes, because my husbands’ parent live in India. My mother and sister in law live there. It’s important that my kids have a connection with their grandparents so it’s crucial to spend time there. Indian connects them.
I am not one to frequent retreats and pilgrimages and I do not have a Guru. I have been around Gurus my whole life, grew up with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and have met all of the famous Indian gurus. For me, it’s a personal practice and that’s how I approach it.
I respect everyone’s path and there is a place for a Gurus . I was fortunate to have been introduced to these tools at a young age and it acted as an anchor in my life.
10. In writing this book, what are some of the lessons you have learnt in learning more about children? What have they taught you?
I learn everything from my kids, in writing this book; I realize that kids are smarter than we think they are, they are eager and curious, lot of parents think their kids wont sit still which is why in the book I present a real plethora of options, which includes movement.
The biggest take away is that kids are amazing and smart and we should give them tools to life.
11. Who have been your spiritual teachers and guides in your life? Other than your father of course.
Obviously my father and my mother as well. My mom is the anchor and a mother with a capital M. She takes enormous pride in being a mother, and she never apologizes for it . This has had the biggest impact in my life. To know who you are and what your role is in life. I’ve been lucky to have meet many great teachers. I’m one of these people who seek people I find interesting, who write well, who speak well.
12. How was it growing up in a household with Deepak Chopra? He is revered by so many, but to you he is a father and you have a different connection and dynamic.
My father is my father, I really don’t know any different. That being said, my dad does not take himself too seriously. We were always taught to have perspective on everything. He does not get involved in the perception that people have of him.
He is smart, he reads, he is intellectually curious, he is obsessed with knowledge, he works very hard and these are the lessons that my brother and I have learnt from him.
Was it a blessing or a challenge to be the daughter of Deepak Chopra as you made your own way in this spiritual world.
There has been a lot of perception and presumption about us. My brother and I were never really spiritual per se. For me, entering this field has been more important when I became a mother, to understand who I am, where I come from, what I believe in. I try to be authentic in my own voice. As a woman seeking balance, trying to figure it out, not being perfect, not doing my practice. Breaking the perception of being a Chopra. Everyone thinks we are vegans and yoga teachers, I cant even do downward dog! There is perception and then there is reality. If I can just share some of the lessons I’ve learnt on my journey in life, that’s great.
You speak internationally, how has your reception been, when you introduce yourself as Deepak chopra’s daughter? Do you still get compared to him?
I’m very lucky, because people have a perception of my father, they have a perception of me which is warm and positive. I’m very honest of the way I speak, of my own flaws, so this is disarming and people feel that they can relate to me that I’m just like them in many ways. That’s my distinctive to me.
How has motherhood changed you? Have you had to make sacrifices?
Absolutely for me it has been a balancing act with my husband to figure out what are the best choices for our family. And I like to stress that I call them “ empowered choices” not sacrifices. In making these, I actually got to write more and speak more. It’s a constant balancing act.
What’s new in the world of spirituality?
These practices have been around for thousands of years and have gone through their evolutions and have lasted so long because they work. For every other fad that has come and gone, and I applaud those as well, these ancient ones are what have lasted. At the end of the day, I hope people find the technique that works for them and have perspective on why they are pursuing these things. The real reason is to exploring who they were and the secrets of the universe. I see the future not as an evolution of these techniques but a continuation.
Interview With Author Mallika Chopra
MASALAMOMMAS on July 27, 2011 at 2:22 pm
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By Anjum Choudhry Nayyar
Photo By Nikhil Shahi
Like most of us moms, while Mallika Chopra was pregnant and looking forward to the birth of her first child when starting thinking about becoming a mother and feeling occasional apprehension as she counted down the months before she would become a parent. She thought about her own parents’ love and support and the role her extended family and friends had played in her life growing up. She began to write her thoughts down regularly in what started as a pregnancy journal but eventually turned into her book, 100 Promises to My Baby.
“I grew up in this world of self-discovery and self help but to be honest I never had any big traumas or anything like that all,” said Chopra. “And usually when people enter this phase of self-discovery, it’s usually because of some major life change. For me becoming pregnant was such a life transformational moment and so that really began my own personal journey of self-discovery. It’s started off as a pregnancy journal and writing about becoming a mother, what I wanted to share with my baby, what influenced me in my life; that’s really where it started from. I wanted to share my life lessons that I had growing up.”
Chopra says it was her time growing up with her parents that shaped the connections she tries to make in the book as well.
“We used to meditate everyday with my dad. After we’d meditated he’d ask us to think about what we wanted in our lives and that’s when we d state our intentions for love, peace or connection. And so that’s what influenced the structure of the book. The book is broken down into different sections about connections and they’re based in hopes that I had growing up.”
She added to these pledges, writing down more promises as her daughter grew and throughout her second pregnancy. The book is structured with the idea of these 100 promises. In 100 Promises to My Baby, Chopra collects these promises as a gift that pledges her love and commitment to her daughters Tara and Leela… and to all children.
“One of the promises in the book is to teach by example,” said Chopra. “In our family meditation has such drastic effect and had a positive change on our whole family dynamic. my brother and I saw my parents meditate and we wanted to do what they were doing. It provided an anchor for everything we did in our lives. It was a tool that I could use for my own anchoring. At that time mediation wasn’t as common as it is today. We just respected and watched my dad be a pioneer in his space but most importantly we had the experiential anchoring of meditation.”
Each of the book’s ten chapters explore the bonds between a parent and a child, offering lessons to parents as they explore and travel through the often challenging journey of parenting, such as:
Choices: How you shape your destiny
Values: How to treat yourself and others
Spirit: Knowing yourself and your true essence
Purpose: Fulfilling your true purpose in life
Each chapter also is complimented by reflections, poems and stories that have inspired Chopra throughout her life and also encourage parents to think about their own life.
“The goal of the book is that people think of their own stories and creating stories of journeys with their own children.”
Chopra says her commitment to a global perspective when it comes to parenting is reflected in her decision to donate a portion of her proceeds from 100 Promises to My Baby to UNICEF programs targeted to help orphans. She says her book is for any parent, whether they’re expecting a child or a newborn and even parents who have children reaching important milestones.
Her second book, 100 Questions From My Child is a direct follow up to her first book and is a collection of some the questions she was faced with as a mother of two curious girls.
“100 questions was inspired by my desire to be a conscious parent,” said Chopra. “There was a specific moment after the bombings in Spain when my husband and I were watching the news reports and my 3 and a half- year-old asked, ‘mummy what’s a bomb?’ And I realized the way in which I answered that question was going to shape her entire sense security and safety. So the goal with that book was to start thinking about how can we be more conscious of our interactions with our children including non verbal ones as well.”
Some of the other questions she was asked by her daughters were similar to ones we as mothers must answer as our children get older and more aware of the world around them: Why do I have to share? Why do I have to say thank you? Why do I have to forgive my sister? Why don’t my princess shoes fit me anymore? Why don’t girls have tails like boy do?
“My daughter was in this phase of bombarding us with questions and my child was looking at me for answers. Being able to explore those questions together was helpful.”
She says it’s important for parents to realize they may need to do some of their own soul searching for answers to the deeper questions. When it came to her own children she felt it was important to create a context for them to ask and answer questions and to then set up a framework for how they would themselves approach situations.
“The goal of the book is to say it’s ok to not have answers to all the questions. I don’t feel at all we have to be in a place to answer all the questions but in that exploration together, we connect more with our children.”
Here’s some more of our interview with Mallika Chopra: CLICK HERE FOR THE PODCAST
How do you decide how much to tell your child when it comes to certain serious situations:
We shape our children’s reality by everything we say, do and how we emote. The more we can be conscious about answering our child’s questions and leading by example rather than by strict rules, that’s the best approach to parenting I feel. Being a conscious parent is really my goal. If I can share my experience of how I try to do that in our lives maybe it will make other parents more conscious.
Why is the concept of global family important to you.
I think we have to recognize with our children that we are part of a community a society and part of something larger. I fundamentally believe we can’t be healthy or happy ourselves if a planet is hurting. I think teaching children that they are connected to others and a part of a continuum is important. It’s healthier for them as well, because they feel relevant and connected
How do you write? Is there a place you go to write?
I’m a mom like you and I write in between other things. It’s the reality of trying to juggle lots of balls in the air. I had a nanny when I was writing back then, who would come a few hours a day. I was working at home so it really helped me find the time. I just do it when I can do it. Now I do it in between trying to plan birthday parties, and play dates and classes. Sometimes I try to find an hour or two where I can go to a coffee shop that has no Internet connection to try and get some work done.
Is there a creative way you use to incorporate your culture into your own family?
I’m very fortunate, I have a close family. My brother lives in the same town, my parents come every once in awhile. We also make a conscious effort to go to India every year. My in-laws live in Delhi so we go there to spend time with them. They come here every year. We just try to have friends and family around. That’s the mechanism by which we nurture each other.
Both Mallika Chopra’s books can be purchased online at amazon.com
For more information on Mallika Chopra and her books visit: www.mallikachopra.com or www.intentblog.com
About Mallika Chopra:
Mallika Chopra has spent the last ten years working in a variety of capacities in the media world. Her strengths in creating creative content combined with strategic and marketing thinking has allowed her to successfully fuel an entrepreneurial drive in a number of arenas.
Mallika recently published her first book, 100 Promises to My Baby. As part of her work with the book, she also serves as a spokesperson for UNICEF raising awareness for orphans who have been affected by HIV and AIDS. You can learn more about Mallika’s book and work with UNICEF at www.babypromises.com.
Mallika is a partner in Chopra Media where she is a co-creator in several television and feature film concepts currently in production. www.intentblog.com is a project she created with Deepak Chopra, Shekhar Kapur and Gotham Chopra. She is also a partner with Vikram Chatwal and Gotham Chopra in K Lounge in New York.
Mallika was a founder and executive at MyPotential Inc, a multi-media company focused on the self-help industry. Mallika was profiled in several publications, including Forbes, W Magazine, Femina and the LA Times, for her work with MyPotential. Mallika served as one of the first representative for the re-launch of MTV in India, and has also worked with MTV International, Go Network (Disney), and consulted for Yahoo! on marketing and strategic initiatives.
Mallika is a graduate of Brown University, and has an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. She currently lives in Santa Monica, California, with her husband, Sumant Mandal, and their two daughters, Tara and Leela.
QUOTE: Despite some vagueness and inconsistency, this visual treat could be surprisingly successful for self-soothing."
Chopra, Mallika MY BODY IS A RAINBOW Running Press Kids (Children's None) $17.99 7, 20 ISBN: 978-0-7624-9904-5
Feelings link with colors in conjunction with meditation techniques.
Children are enjoying a meadow. They’re chasing butterflies, examining ladybugs, eating ice cream, feeling the breeze, reclining on the grass. The racially diverse kids seem simultaneously peaceful and energized. Chopra connects physical sensations with emotions: “Have you ever felt butterflies in your stomach when you are scared…?” (The notion that butterflies might also indicate excitement is missing, though tingling hands could be such an indicator.) Asserting that “when you know how your body reacts to your feelings, you can control your reactions and feel powerful,” the text assigns a color for each feeling and a suggestion for control. Breath awareness is yellow. Red wafts through the scene about groundedness: “Feel your bottom resting under you. Do you feel how the chair or floor is strong and stable?” Readers who don't know their chakras may find some surprises. Coding safety as red is nonstandard in the U.S. (doesn’t red signal danger or stop?), as is, arguably, coding the heart-based feelings of happiness and sadness as green; these striking hue associations could be difficult to jump into—or they could be the hook. There’s some murkiness and irregularity in the connections among metaphor, physical sensations, and emotional feelings. However, Burton’s illustrations of swirling colors, keen-edged characters, just enough rainbows, and gently enchanting backgrounds—bananas and pie float through yellow’s “I am strong” spread—really do bring a sense of wonder and power.
Despite some vagueness and inconsistency, this visual treat could be surprisingly successful for self-soothing. (Picture book. 4-9)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Chopra, Mallika: MY BODY IS A RAINBOW." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A667031453/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=6a06014c. Accessed 12 Oct. 2021.
QUOTE: "empowering guide to finding more satisfaction and calm in life."
Chopra, Mallika JUST FEEL Running Press Kids (Children's Informational) $12.99 10, 22 ISBN: 978-0-7624-9474-3
Adolescence may not come with a user's manual, but this resource offers information and practices that can help readers feel in control of their emotions, behaviors, and decisions.
In a friendly, encouraging tone, Chopra guides readers on a journey of self-discovery. The text is divided into three sections: "Know," "Choose," and "Take Action." Within, readers will learn about their emotions and their impact on thoughts and behaviors, and they'll find dozens of practices with which they can experiment to deepen their self-knowledge. The presentation of this material is notable in its approachability and its respect for its intended audience. The informational sections are brief, practices require no special materials, and consistent guidance is offered on when and how to reach out to trusted adults for help. Breaking up the text are line drawings that clearly express diversity through hair styles and facial features. Undoubtedly, some lessons will resonate with readers more than others. Some may balk, for example, at the emphasis placed on personal responsibility or at a practice that guides readers through the colors of unseen energetic centers in the body. However, with such a wealth of material from which to pick and choose, this resource stands out in offering something for everybody.
An empowering guide to finding more satisfaction and calm in life. (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Chopra, Mallika: JUST FEEL." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2019, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A599964382/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=79a8de9c. Accessed 12 Oct. 2021.
QUOTE: Though slightly limited in its utility for the desired audience, this resource offers a thorough collection of kid-friendly mindfulness practices."
Chopra, Mallika JUST BREATHE Running Press Kids (Children's Informational) $12.99 8, 28 ISBN: 978-0-7624-9158-2
Chopra--daughter of well-known self-help guru Deepak Chopra--delivers a stress-management guide for young people.
Following an introduction, the book is divided into six categories: "Breathe," "Move," "Be Silent," "Notice," "Ask Questions," and "Create." Six to 12 short practices (typically designed to last around five minutes, though some are longer or shorter) are offered in each category. Many of the techniques are variations on those traditional to Buddhism or yoga; others are creative exercises targeting specific stressors of the day, such as bullying and social media. Readers are encouraged to read through a practice in its entirety and then try using it. Adults sharing mindfulness with children and preteens will find a treasure trove of scripts for guided practice. Young people of various skin tones, genders, and religious expressions are included in the illustrations, but there is a noticeable tone of privilege within the author's text. Access to parents available at home, safe neighborhoods, and public green spaces are assumed in some practices. Young people who face survival-based challenges in their day-to-day lives may not find that exemplars referenced--such as not knowing anyone at summer camp--speak directly to their life experience. An audiobook download is available for separate purchase from the publisher's website for those who would like to listen and follow along with the exercises.
Though slightly limited in its utility for the desired audience, this resource offers a thorough collection of kid-friendly mindfulness practices. (Nonfiction. 9-14)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Chopra, Mallika: JUST BREATHE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A540723226/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=50049e89. Accessed 12 Oct. 2021.
QUOTE: "wide-ranging tour of intent-related concepts."
"lightweight self-help book about living the life you want."
Chopra, Mallika LIVING WITH INTENT Harmony (Adult Nonfiction) $26.00 4, 7 ISBN: 978-0-8041-3985-4
A lightweight self-help book about living the life you want."Intents," writes Chopra, daughter of Deepak, are expressions of who we aspire to be...[and] are a way of defining what we want and asking the universe or God for help." Her book, written mainly in the present tense, focuses on her own recent period of resolve to live "with intent." Finding an acronym in the word "intent," Chopra divides her work into six sections: Incubate, Notice, Trust, Express, Nurture and Take Action. She presents herself as a stereotypically harried, suburban soccer mom, prone to guilt, stress and self-image issues. The story she shares is her own attempt to redefine her priorities, and she herself becomes one of those priorities. Indeed, the author is the center of this book, and her presence often overshadows the advice given. Chopra takes readers on a wide-ranging tour of intent-related concepts, beginning with meditation, a practice which, in many ways, is foundational to intentional living. She also discusses the importance of putting intents into words, expressing them and sharing them with others. She espouses the practice of nurture, but it's less the nurturing of others than the nurturing of self. Indeed, though Chopra pays lip service to asking, "How can I serve?" she comes off as self-absorbed. In one instance, a family friend is diagnosed with cancer. The author's common reaction is, "If this happened to one of us, how would we handle it?" On a trip to India to visit aging relatives, she wallowed in their fawning nurture. Upon arriving home, she was overwhelmed with stress by her first conversation with her family: "Later, while lying in bed, I try to figure out why I felt so instantly tense, and I realize their stories triggered that all-too familiar toxic cocktail of guilt and worry." Chopra is the main character in her own minimelodrama.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Chopra, Mallika: LIVING WITH INTENT." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2015. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A399322022/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=938c7334. Accessed 12 Oct. 2021.
QUOTE: "must-purchase for library or classroom collections promoting self-knowledge and mindfulness for middle-grade students."
CHOPRA, Mallika. Just Be You: Ask Questions, Set Intentions, Be Your Special Self, and More, illus. by Brenna Vaughan. 120p. Running Pr. Mar. 2021. pap. $12.99. ISBN 9780762471225.
Gr 4-6-Finding mindfulness texts appropriate for middle-grade readers and the adults in their lives can be a struggle, but Chopra has filled the chasm with this latest installment in her series, which includes Just Breathe and Just Feel. Beautifully laid out and with a focus on diversity in both the realistic illustrations depicting children and adults of different backgrounds and abilities, as well as the inclusive language in the text, Chopra succeeds in unflinchingly acknowledging the benefits and challenges of feeling different. Chapters introducing key concepts are interspersed with mindfulness exercises designed to calm, to promote self-knowledge, and to focus energy on positive thoughts like gratitude. With a focus on helping middle-grade children understand who they are, and by extension respect and understand others, Chopra untangles and names the feelings commonly experienced by this age group while also offering coping strategies. Many of the exercises, including meditation, naming heroes, and environmental awareness, have strong curricular tie-ins or connect to SEL goals. An afterword by the author's father, Deepak Chopra, as well as a bibliography, is aimed at the adult audience serving this age group. VERDICT A must-purchase for library or classroom collections promoting self-knowledge and mindfulness for middle-grade students.--Courtney Lewis, St. Catherine's Sch., Richmond, VA
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Lewis, Courtney. "CHOPRA, Mallika. Just Be You: Ask Questions, Set Intentions, Be Your Special Self, and More." School Library Journal, vol. 67, no. 6, June 2021, p. 76. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A663599714/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1c3135ad. Accessed 12 Oct. 2021.
QUOTE: "solid addition to collections in need of meditation and mindfulness titles for tweens."
CHOPRA, Mallika. Just Breathe: Meditation, Mindfulness, Movement, and More, illus. by Brenna Vaughan. 128p. bibliog. Running Pr. Aug. 2018. pap. $12.99. ISBN 9780762491582.
Gr 3-8--A comprehensive and approachable guide to managing stress and understanding one's body and mind through meditation. Directed at middle graders, the book presents specific practices and meditations to calm breath and slow down thoughts. The introduction endorses an accessible, flexible approach at meditation for beginners, with an emphasis on doing what is most comfortable. The book is divided into six different sections and presents a refreshingly wide variety of actions, from sleeping and breathing exercises to being aware of the taste of food to reflecting on gratefulness. Each meditation is described in simple, easy-to-follow steps, along with the time needed and ideal location to complete the exercise ("a dark room," "a quiet place"). While this book is written for young people, counselors and caregivers seeking meditation activities will also find this guide useful. Black-and-white illustrations of children engaged in mindful activities are sprinkled throughout; while these are a pleasant addition, they do not instruct readers on how to physically position themselves. VERDICT A solid addition to collections in need of meditation and mindfulness titles for tweens.--Kathryn Justus, Renbrook School, West Hartford, CT
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
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Justus, Kathryn. "CHOPRA, Mallika. Just Breathe: Meditation, Mindfulness, Movement, and More." School Library Journal, vol. 64, no. 6, June 2018, pp. 97+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A540902991/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a2f7a076. Accessed 12 Oct. 2021.