This week we’re hanging with Ivan Bercholz, co-owner of Shambhala Publications, publisher of Bala Kids, and co-author (with illustrator Lasha Mutual) of My Friend Tara, a children’s book that introduces kids to Tara, the Buddhist archetype of compassion.
Ivan set out to create a book that gets straight to the heart of practice: how can kids actually relate to an archetypal quality? How do you help them imagine compassion as something fun and embodied? How do you make an ancient practice feel natural for modern kiddos?
When Jeff’s rambunctious six-year-old Eden stumbled on the book, he flipped through, chose his favorite of the colorful Taras and, while imagining her and her story, had a profound, whole-body shift. Jeff describes it as a “rainbow-candy version of internal regulation” that honors children’s natural inclination towards imagination.
Kids are naturals at this stuff. Ask them to picture beams of warmth radiating from the heart and they just do it, while adults tie themselves in knots worrying about doing it “right”.
And that might be the core thread of our conversation: practice is really about getting open enough to let what’s naturally here come through. Kids, (wild lil portals that they are), let that wisdom stream through all the time. Books like this can give them language for what they already know.
We talk about:
Visualization as a practice playground for kids and adults
The 5 Taras and their different archetypal qualities (white for calm, green for protection, blue for difficult emotions...)
Why mantra might be our oldest human practice
How books can become spiritual oases when teachers aren’t accessible
The Adventure:
Ivan walks us through a Green Tara visualization and mantra practice.
We breathe, settle, imagine Tara’s smile and the rays of warmth coming toward us, and repeat her mantra: Om Tare Tu Tare Ture Soha. Then we let those qualities dissolve into us and send them back out to others.
Ivan calls it the workout before the Savasana: the color, sound, imagery build up the energy… and then you release and relax, held in the felt sense of deep meaning.
This is medicine for all of us - not just the kiddos!
Let us know in the comments how the practice lands - is it your first time doing mantra or visualization?
Till next time,
🧘🏽♀️ Tasha & Jeff 🧘🏼♂️
Ivan’s Links:
Shambhala Publications: shambhala.com
Bala Kids: shambhala.com/balakids
