Smiling Heart Meditations with Lisa and Ted (and Bingo). Lisa Spillane

      

      First published in 2015

      by Singing Dragon

      an imprint of Jessica Kingsley Publishers

      73 Collier Street

      London N1 9BE, UK

      and

      400 Market Street, Suite 400

      Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

       www.singingdragon.com

      Copyright © Lisa Spillane 2015

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

      Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.

      Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

      Spillane, Lisa, author, illustrator.

      Smiling heart meditations with Lisa and Ted (and Bingo) / Lisa Spillane.

      pages cm

      ISBN 978-1-84819-200-3 (alk. paper)

      [1. Qi gong--Fiction. 2. Meditation--Fiction.] I. Title.

      PZ7.S75476Sm 2014

      [E]--dc23

      2014021219

      British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

      A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      ISBN 978 1 84819 200 3

      eISBN 978 0 85701 168 8

      For my husband Eamon,

       who makes my heart smile.

       xxx

      Lisa and Ted (and Bingo too) show children how Smiling Heart Meditations can help them to let go of their impatient and resentful feelings. The techniques they demonstrate in this story were developed thousands of years ago in China to help people to release excess negative emotions from their bodies. The healing power of smiling along with sound-making and deep-breathing are combined with gentle movements and visualizations to restore calmness to the body and mind.

      Put simply, they work because:

      smiling, even when you don’t feel like it, stimulates a chemical reaction in your body that reduces stress and supports your immune system

      visualizing lowers cortisol and lifts your mood

      thinking kind and grateful thoughts produces chemicals that calm your nervous system, protect your heart and encourage you to think more insightfully

      and, in addition to having a calming effect, deep-breathing increases oxygen-rich blood in your body, which is needed for energy and healing. Deep-breathing and raising your arms also boosts your lymphatic system, helping it to get rid of toxins.