{"id":6804,"date":"2017-06-07T17:35:28","date_gmt":"2017-06-07T23:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?p=6804"},"modified":"2017-11-28T12:37:59","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T19:37:59","slug":"introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Hey Mama!<\/i> a children’s ebook on Meditation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\n

Andrew Berkley Sharp\u00a0is a 25 year-old social worker living just south of Seattle. He has been interested in meditation since his late teens, writing, \u201cI was a bit depressed at the time, experiencing periods of insomnia along with fluctuations in weight, and when I encountered Buddhist philosophy<\/a> and meditation it was very much a moment of something mentally \u201cclicking\u201d into place for me. I was studying psychology at the time, and I graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Psychology, focusing mostly on child development.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continues, \u201cIt was around the same time that I encountered meditation, and the various literature on the subject, that I also became much more interested in drawing and it\u2019s relation to the concept of psychological \u201cflow.\u201d To me, Zen Buddhism<\/a>, as well as the Hindu practice of karma yoga(the way of work, as they say) gave me a way to use something I loved (drawing) and to merge it with something that would help me (meditation). To this day I find it easiest to meditate while creating something, and it has improved my art as well. Drifting mentally and allowing pictures and shapes to emerge without an attachment to the outcome of the picture gave me clarity, confidence, and calm. It has become the foundation of my belief that meditation is not only useful, but an innate practice for human beings, however the forms of it should be left to the individual to find for his\/herself.\u201d
\n\"Hey<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In April he put his love of meditation and talent for illustrating together to create the children\u2019s meditation book\u00a0Hey Mama!<\/em>, a short walk through the what and why<\/em> of meditation, as told to a child by his mother.<\/p>\n

I asked Andrew what led to the creation of the book:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
The book came to mind because in my current job, I frequently find myself having difficult conversations with other people, and in those experiences I have found that conflicts and problems between people are almost entirely due to a lack of the ability for two individuals to express their desires and thoughts effectively with one another, which becomes a frustration with the other person, and eventually a conflict and negative belief about that person.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n

Written and illustrated in the simplest of terms, in a voice reminiscent of Thich Nhat Hanh, the book begins with the child simply asking what the mother is doing when meditating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just sit and breathe,\u201d the mother responds, provoking the all-too-common, \u201cwow\u2026 that sounds really\u2026 boring,\u201d response that most any meditator has encountered.<\/p>\n

The mother goes on to explain the concepts of mindfulness, understanding cause and effect and impermanence, resilience, and savoring; all in the span of a few pages and in terms that even a toddler can grasp.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Hey<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

These are all aspects of meditation as it is commonly taught in modernized Buddhism. For a good overview of savoring and mindfulness, this Dharma talk by Pamela Lewis<\/a> will be helpful.<\/p>\n

Andrew concludes:<\/p>\n

The book is coming from a place of belief that if meditation is explained in the simplest terms possible, it will become available to more people as they will find that they have already meditated in some way at some time. Whether it\u2019s on a walk, fishing, or just being with a loved one. I feel it is a tragedy for anyone to lose the opportunity to learn this practice because of a believe that it is something which it is not, and to miss the chance for a simpler existence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For a limited time,\u00a0Hey Mama!<\/em> will be available as a perk on the Guideful.org IndieGoGo fundraising campaign here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Support independent coverage of Buddhism by joining a\u00a0community of fellow learners\/practitioners at\u00a0Patreon<\/a>.
\n\u2018Like\u2019 American Buddhist Perspectives on\u00a0facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Berkley Sharp\u00a0is a 25 year-old social worker living just south of Seattle. He has been interested in meditation since his late teens, writing, \u201cI was a bit depressed at the time, experiencing periods of insomnia along with fluctuations in weight, and when I encountered Buddhist philosophy and meditation it was very much a moment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":6805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,602],"tags":[592,522],"class_list":["post-6804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meditation","category-mindfulness","tag-children","tag-meditation"],"yoast_head":"\nIntroducing Hey Mama! a children's ebook on Meditation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Andrew Berkley Sharp\u00a0is a 25 year-old social worker living just south of Seattle. He has been interested in meditation since his late teens, writing, "I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Introducing Hey Mama! a children's ebook on Meditation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Andrew Berkley Sharp\u00a0is a 25 year-old social worker living just south of Seattle. He has been interested in meditation since his late teens, writing, "I\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Buddhist Perspectives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-07T23:35:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-28T19:37:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/83\/2017\/06\/hey-mama-cover.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"698\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"621\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html\",\"name\":\"Introducing Hey Mama! a children's ebook on Meditation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-07T23:35:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-28T19:37:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9\"},\"description\":\"Andrew Berkley Sharp\u00a0is a 25 year-old social worker living just south of Seattle. He has been interested in meditation since his late teens, writing, \\\"I\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Introducing Hey Mama! a children’s ebook on Meditation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/\",\"name\":\"American Buddhist Perspectives\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9\",\"name\":\"Justin Whitaker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Justin Whitaker\"},\"description\":\"I am an almost-life-long Montanan; a baptized Catholic; an ardent Atheist; a practicing Buddhist; a lover of Wisdom. I have a BA and almost an MA in (Western) Philosophy from the University of Montana-Missoula, an MA in Buddhist Studies from Bristol University, UK, and I am currently working on a Ph.D. in Buddhist Ethics at the U of London. My main academic foci are early Buddhist ethics and Kant (odd combination, I know). I also study Western ethics, Tibetan Buddhism, Theravada, Comparative philosophy, and Environmental ethics. I also like photography, running, drinking wine, and eating peanut butter (often in that order).\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/author\/justinwhitaker\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Introducing Hey Mama! a children's ebook on Meditation","description":"Andrew Berkley Sharp\u00a0is a 25 year-old social worker living just south of Seattle. He has been interested in meditation since his late teens, writing, \"I","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Introducing Hey Mama! a children's ebook on Meditation","og_description":"Andrew Berkley Sharp\u00a0is a 25 year-old social worker living just south of Seattle. He has been interested in meditation since his late teens, writing, \"I","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html","og_site_name":"American Buddhist Perspectives","article_published_time":"2017-06-07T23:35:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-11-28T19:37:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":698,"height":621,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/83\/2017\/06\/hey-mama-cover.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Justin Whitaker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Justin Whitaker","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html","name":"Introducing Hey Mama! a children's ebook on Meditation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-06-07T23:35:28+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-28T19:37:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9"},"description":"Andrew Berkley Sharp\u00a0is a 25 year-old social worker living just south of Seattle. He has been interested in meditation since his late teens, writing, \"I","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2017\/06\/introducing-hey-mama-childrens-ebook-meditation.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Introducing Hey Mama! a children’s ebook on Meditation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/","name":"American Buddhist Perspectives","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9","name":"Justin Whitaker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Justin Whitaker"},"description":"I am an almost-life-long Montanan; a baptized Catholic; an ardent Atheist; a practicing Buddhist; a lover of Wisdom. I have a BA and almost an MA in (Western) Philosophy from the University of Montana-Missoula, an MA in Buddhist Studies from Bristol University, UK, and I am currently working on a Ph.D. in Buddhist Ethics at the U of London. My main academic foci are early Buddhist ethics and Kant (odd combination, I know). I also study Western ethics, Tibetan Buddhism, Theravada, Comparative philosophy, and Environmental ethics. I also like photography, running, drinking wine, and eating peanut butter (often in that order).","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/author\/justinwhitaker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}