By Casey Neill
An Aussie mum who counts Oprah among her fans says mindfulness saved her life.
Psychotherapist Jacqueline Yeats’ experience inspired her to help children learn and practice mindfulness through business Mindful and Co Kids.
Ten years ago she completed a mindfulness-based stress reduction course as treatment for postnatal depression following daughter Alexis’ birth.
“I could probably say it saved my life with the depression and anxiety I was experiencing,” she said.
“Once I healed from my depression I decided to go back to uni.
“My background is in youth counselling and psychology.”
Jacqueline researched the brain science of mindfulness, honing in on mindfulness for stress reduction in young adults.
“Mindfulness is just paying attention on purpose and in the present moment,” she said.
“With the world becoming so busy and with social media, there’s so much going on and so much stimulation for the brain to take on, especially for children.
“When I was going through my research, the mental health stats were so devastating for youth.
“The biggest cause of disease is depression.
“I was really motivated to want to teach it to children.
“I worked with at-risk youths for 10 years. I wanted them to have these skills by their teenage years.”
Jacqueline started with her own child, who was aged 3 at the time.
“It was more like regulating her breath and we would do mindful movement like yoga,” she said.
“When she was overstimulated or having a tantrum I would just sit with her and come into the present moment with her and just breathe with her.”
Alexis is now 10 and “when she gets overwhelmed she will just stop and take a deep breath and regulate her emotions”.
Jacqueline moved on to teaching mindfulness and yoga classes for kids.
“I was having parents coming up to me after two sessions and saying ‘What have you done to my child?’,” she said.
They were using deep breathing, getting along with their siblings, and doing better in school.
“I thought ‘I’m definitely onto something here’,” she said.
Mindful and Co Kids was born, designed to cultivate children’s self-awareness, resilience, and a growth mindset.
“I came up with our first product, our yoga flash cards,” she said.
“It’s the easiest way to implement mindfulness for children at a younger age.
“You want to make this fun.”
The cards became popular and Jacqueline received feedback from around the world, including schools and kinders – and Oprah Winfrey.
“It’s been crazy. She’s endorsed us three times now. We were on her favouite things list twice,” she said.
“I was a bit hesitant when I first started the business.
“I was worried mindfulness was a bit of a buzz word and people didn’t resonate with it.”
It turns out she was at the right place at the right time. The pandemic hit and people shifted their focus to mental health.
“Parents were wanting something other than screens to entertain them,” she said.
“It’s not a buzz word anymore. It’s written into the curriculum in schools.
“We were taught science and geography but no one taught us how to stand still and how to breathe and how to practice gratitude.
“If I’d been taught that as a kid it would have been very beneficial to me.”
Jacqueline’s now selling thousands of mindful breathing balls, Hoberman spheres, and weighted teddies.
She recently teamed up with Sesame Street to create a mindful moments floor puzzle, designed to cultivate mindfulness, enhance emotional well-being, encourage problem-solving, and more.
“Our products are all fun, engaging ways for parents to do mindfulness with their child,” she said.
“They could do as little as 10 minutes a day.”
