Introducing Whaiwāhi Mauri Tau, by Pause Breathe Smile

Pause Breathe Smile is a mind health programme for children and is being delivered to over 140,000 children across Aotearoa. This year, for the very first time, it will be offered to kura and Māori medium schools in Te Reo Māori. This programme is called Whaiwāhi Mauri Tau. Tā Whaiwāhi Mauri Tau he kaupapa hauora mō ngā tamariki, ā, e …

Pause Breathe Smile: The Musical

Without a doubt, one of the most exciting, inspiring, toe-tapping, fun things a Pause Breathe Smile school has ever done is make mindfulness into a musical!   And not just any musical—one performed by the entire school community, with stars, back-up dancers, hundreds of costumes, ten distinct scenes, a live 6-piece band, a thousand people in the audience, all in the …

Sir Ashley Bloomfield officially joins with Southern Cross to promote good mental health and wellbeing for our tamariki

  Sir Ashley in a new partnership with the Southern Cross group, designed to help young New Zealanders thrive through promotion of the Pause Breathe Smile mindfulness programme Southern Cross fully funds the Pause Breathe Smile programme to ensure it is available free to all kura, primary and intermediate schools in Aotearoa Pause Breathe Smile is proven to improve behaviour …

Thankful for My Hands and Feet by Janel Atlas

I have a confession. You know the little mindfulness practice titled “Thankful for My Hands and Feet”? It appears in the Pause Breathe Smile programme curriculum in Lesson 2; it guides children to think of their hands and their feet and all the things those parts of their bodies help them to do. The script lists out some possible activities …

Pause Breathe Smile has now reached over 100 thousand Kiwi Kids!

I am very pleased to announce that Pause Breathe Smile has now reached over 100 thousand Kiwi Kids! It’s a massive milestone. That’s about 1 in 5 tamariki aged 5 to 12 equipped with mind health skills. It’s exciting and incredible to have made it possible for so many young New Zealanders to learn mindfulness for free. This success has …

It’s a Wrap on Whakawhiti Kōrero!

It was a brilliant year for having smart, kind, and generous mindfulness teachers along on our six Whakawhiti Kōrero Sessions on Zoom! More than 700 views over and above those in attendance means that lots of people heard from Sara Gaertner, Rebecca Lock, Sarah Hearn, Gavin Hughes, Deb Barclay, Grant Rix, Viv Mallabar and Laura van Leeweun. Everyone had their …

Pause Breathe Smile trainings for Kura Kauapapa Māori and Māori Immersion Settings

Pause Breathe Smile has always been deeply rooted in Aotearoa’s bicultural identity, but this year we’ve taken some big steps toward ensuring that it is fully accessible for kaiako and ākonga who teach and learn in Māori immersion settings. Within the pilot phase, we’ve developed a whole new suite of te reo resources, including an updated handbook for educators, audio …

Creating Positive Change for Tamariki

Parents say they are worried about their children’s mental health. There is a mind health programme available free to all junior schools. Independent research shows mind health programme Pause Breathe Smile is delivering real results for tamariki Marked improvement in focus, perseverance, helpfulness and self-motivation Marked decline in apprehension, anxiety and pessimism With 63[1] per cent of New Zealand parents …

Whole School Approach

Pause Breathe Smile is a mind health programme designed to equip children aged five to 12 with tools to manage the ups and downs of life and set them up for a healthy future. Delivered in schools, by teachers, it is aligned with the New Zealand curriculum and fully funded by Southern Cross. More than 6,500 teachers throughout New Zealand …

Breathing with Fatigue: The Impacts of Covid on New Zealand Teachers and how mindfulness can help

Ask any teacher about wellbeing over the last few years and chances are, they’ll quickly describe the many challenges their learners face: disrupted routines, anxiety about Covid, decreased social interactions, and negative impacts on learning outcomes. But what about teacher wellbeing? It’s impossible to separate student wellbeing from teacher wellbeing because schools are communities, and the classroom is a microcosm …