Belinda Levychin, Program & Marketing Director

It has been two years since we launched Tournesol Kids to the world! March 2017 continues to be a highlight in our timeline, and I am very proud of what we have done so far. We have taught several programs to many delighted and delightful kids. We have one Coach Training session under our belts. And many of our coaches have gone on to teach our program in their own communities. We continue to work to get our programs into the schools and communities that will get the benefits of the Tournesol Kids methodology. We’ve gotten a few grants, some generous donors, and many backers for our successful Kickstarter campaign. We have created great products including videos, exercise cards, and support materials all designed to help kids build resilience as they become their best selves. And we have the best volunteers on the planet!

I got involved with Tournesol Kids because I believe that you must make the most of your time here, right now! I believe that wellness requires treating the whole body and that wellness begins with knowing who you are and what’s best for you. And this is what we want all kids to have access to: something that allows them to be their own unique selves, something that gives them the tools first to understand themselves and then to build on those powers.

I have kids, two beautiful boys who benefit from having two parents who will do whatever is necessary to ensure their safety, health, and peace of mind. I want whatever is best for my kids and a lot of that comes from access: access to the people, methods and tools to help you when your child is dealing with a myriad of issues.

I continue to work with Tournesol Kids because every day I learn something from someone on the team. I’ve benefited from interacting with each kid I’ve worked with to teach the method. When a kid first finds out about their secret power, it is a wonder to behold. I now know that the universe needs all the powers working together — the connectors, the sparks of light, the detail-oriented, the contemplatives, and the ones who keep us all moving — to continue to progress forward.

I got involved with Tournesol Kids because it works. It’s a time-tested method on which I have come to rely to help keep me chill when necessary. I now know that going to my breath is a way to get to that chill. During the development of our introductory items, our #PowerUp videos, and our exercise card games, I felt as if I was exactly where I was supposed to be. And that’s what I want for everyone, because you want to make the most of your time, right now.

Kids with each of the five powers react differently at their best and under stress. See the graphic below to see how they are different!

What do you do when negative thoughts take up space in your mind? It’s not always easy to let them go. They have an ability to bring us down and to bring out the qualities in ourselves we don’t love the most.

At Tournesol Kids, we teach that negative thoughts don’t have to remain in your head. In fact, we have the power to be mindful of our thoughts and then blow them away like bubbles!

Imagine a negative thought inside a bubble outside your body and blow it away with an exhale. Try it three times and then check in with yourself and see if your emotions and feelings feel more balanced than before blowing the thought away.

Learn more strategies for maintaining a positive mindset through our #PowerUp course.

Growth Mindset thinking teaches kids that life is a series of explorations, of experiments and of opportunities to learn new skills. The old idea of Fixed Mindset thinking keeps kids believing that their potential in the world is limited. If you think you can’t, you can’t.

Teach your kids the gift of having a Growth Mindset throughout their lives. The #PowerUp program is the only program of its kind that combines the science of Growth Mindset with mindfulness and compassion to give kids skills to use in the face of challenge. Power on up!

Stressed Gold-type kids are over-critical and easily annoyed. By doing Earth Power exercises like mindful eating, they can find empathy for others.

Through Earth Power, you’ll grow the ability to create connections. Earth Heroes help other people get along. By nature, they are generous, kind, and caring.

Learn how to connect to the world around you and develop empathy for others in our #PowerUp course.

When Water kids are stressed, they can be apathetic and disconnected. Gold Power exercises can help them find their connective breath again.

Through Gold Power, you’ll grow the ability to be mindful of your thoughts. Gold Heroes have the power to examine thoughts very carefully.

Develop mindfulness of your thoughts through our #PowerUp course.

Stressed Earth kids can be worried and indecisive. Fire Power exercises help them feel playful and optimistic. 

The secret power of fire that everyone can use to feel passion in their life is X-Ray Feeling. To grow X-Ray Feeling, you need to learn to identify others’ moods and be expressive about your own. 

Learn how to get better at expressing emotion through our #PowerUp course.

Stressed Fire-type kids are over-excited and over-sensitive. By doing Wood Power exercises, they can channel their excess of energy into movement.

Wood Power is about movement: looking – exploring – growing. Physical movement is one of our essential health needs. Just a few health benefits are naturally controlling weight, reducing inflammation, preventing heart disease, increasing energy, improving mood, and promoting better sleep.

Learn an exercise for calm movement in our #PowerUp course.

This post originally appeared on the Tony Robbins blog.

The rate of diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is skyrocketing – in fact, in the United States, more than 10 million school-age children are medicated to help them focus. Is this a real epidemic or a reflection of the pressures of society and our need for quick fixes? The answer is not so straightforward. Team Tony sits down with Dr. Stephen Cowan to discuss his unique holistic approach to evaluating and treating children with symptoms of ADHD using the five-element theory of Chinese medicine.

Team Tony: When it comes to health, there is an increasing trend amongst Americans to opt for a quick fix of “what’s wrong” – if we have a headache, we take a pill to ease the pain. If we can’t sleep, we take a pill to knock us out. The same mentality also applies to how we treat ADHD in children, which you address in your book, Fire Child, Water Child. Tell us a bit about your message and philosophy surrounding ADHD.

Stephen Cowan: Doctors are trained to deal with emergencies quickly and efficiently. There’s nothing wrong with this. In fact, our medical system is one of the best at handling emergencies. The problem is, 99% of suffering is NOT a life-threatening emergency, and when you treat it with quick fixes, it provides at best only temporary relief, and, at worst, it adds to suffering – which ultimately becomes frustrating and dissatisfying for both patient and practitioner.

What I experienced many years ago in my pediatric practice was a deep need to help children and parents find a more fulfilling experience of living, rather than simply running from one emergency to the next. ADHD is a perfect example of this problem. As I wrote in Fire Child, Water Child, ADHD is a symptom, not a disease. Good medicine asks what is it a symptom of, rather than just treating the symptom. Much of my work as a holistic developmental pediatrician these days is focused on empowering parents to grow healthy, resilient children in body, mind and spirit. The basis of this empowerment lies in our ability to connect effectively to the world around us. When disconnected, we see symptoms as bad, making us victims of circumstances. What’s needed is a deeper understanding of our personal style, what we use to connect and adapt to the world or change. I call this our “secret power.”

Team Tony: You say that children have 5 adaptive styles, or certain talents and predispositions that characterize the way they learn from their experiences and deal with the stressors of life. What are those adaptive styles?

Stephen Cowan: I adapted the five-element theory of Chinese philosophy to serve as a guide to parents and children that brings greater self-awareness and teaches them how to effectively grow and share their secret powers with the world. The five powers correspond to five archetypal heroes of creativity: Wood, Fire, Earth, Gold, Water.
The Wood hero has a natural sense of vision, motivated by freedom that seeks challenges in order to encourage others to find their path to fulfillment.
The Fire hero has a natural sense of joy and optimism, motivated by intuition that inspires others to find creativity by looking on the bright side.
The Earth hero has a natural sense of teamwork, motivated by empathy that creates the fulfilment of healthy community with others.
The Gold hero has a natural sense of order, motivated by grace and gratitude that creates the fulfilment of beauty with others.
The Water hero has a natural sense of calm, motivated by introspection, that brings deep meaning of fulfilment to others.

Team Tony: Why is it important for parents to understand their child’s secret power?

Stephen Cowan: This five-phase model becomes a map for healthy living for anyone, especially parents. I find that when parents stay focused on the inner hero within their child, they can problem-solve more effectively because they know exactly what their child needs at any given moment. This is the basis of empathy that transforms their relationship with their child.

Liberated from expecting their child to be just like them, parents begin to understand the fundamental relationships of the five powers, which powers are “hero-helpers” and which are “hero-challengers” for their child. For example, wood feeds fire: this means a child with Fire power is nourished by wood (planning ahead). Water puts out fire which means water (patience) is an important challenger for a Fire child to become a Fire Hero. These insights make parenting much more fun and fulfilling, because when they effectively empower their child, parents themselves are transformed into heroes.

Team Tony: Why is it important for kids to understand their own secret power?

Stephen Cowan: Self-knowing or self-awareness is the key to fulfilment in life. But, if you remember the awkwardness of middle school, the bridge to self-awareness is self-consciousness, the feeling of not quite fitting in. I find the language of the five powers liberates children from the burden of negative labels, diagnoses and judgments. When a child grows up knowing how to grow his or her secret power, a heroic path opens to personal freedom, joy and grace.

Team Tony: This holistic approach to helping children understand their true nature, strengths, and weaknesses would be incredibly beneficial in an academic environment. Is this something that you are implementing in schools?

Stephen Cowan: We created the non-profit Tournesol Kids program to make this holistic perspective accessible to children and teachers in schools because that’s where children spend most of their day. Teachers and kids are under enormous stress these days. I want to enhance their learning experience by offering an alternative to the depersonalized one-size-fits-all approach that exists in most schools today.

When teachers learn to recognize the inner hero in each child, they have a practical guide to empowering that child. This injects fresh energy into their job, making it much more fulfilling. Our goal is to get a 12-month pilot program off the ground in an underserved community school and a suburban school in 2019 to measure long-term outcomes of this approach.

Team Tony: What other ways do you have to make this approach fun and interactive?

Stephen Cowan: All children learn through play. The whole Tournesol Kids program I developed is based on games that grow your power. We’ve created a box set of 52 activity cards that children and adults can play at home or in the classroom. The idea is to break down the components of empowerment into short easy fun interactive activities that will round out each child’s secret power, growing executive functions they need for academic, social and emotional success.

Team Tony: While the majority of your work has been with children, you recently spoke at the Tony Robbins Platinum Partner event to a group of adults. How can this method be beneficial to adults that are trying to understand more about themselves?

Stephen Cowan: What I always say is this: kids are not little adults, but adults are big kids. I find that the very same powers are at play in adult relationships. When we know who we are, we bring greater awareness to our relationship to others. We had a lot of fun at the Platinum Partner event playing out these dynamics as people began to recognize who encourages them to grow and who challenges them to grow. That brings the freedom to see that no one is an obstacle to our growth.

Team Tony: What are some examples of famous people and the element you think that they are?

Stephen Cowan: I often use examples of celebrities who manifest a balance of powers that makes them a true hero to help kids identify with the healthy hero. For example, Michael Jordan is an epic Wood Hero who can balance his competitiveness with the two challenger powers of Gold (practice) with Earth (teamwork). Oprah is an epic Fire Hero who can balance her optimism with the two challengers of Water power (introspection) and Gold power (grace). Bill Gates is a classic Gold Hero who balances his perfectionism with Wood (visionary drive) with Earth (humanitarian).

Team Tony: Can you give an example of a person you’ve worked with personally whose understanding of themselves in this context has catalyzed an important change in their lives – their perspective, their actions, their impact on their immediate environment?

Stephen Cowan: I see the transformations taking place every day in my office as children learn to develop skills that round out their power. Some I’ve written about in Fire Child, Water Child. There was 12-year-old boy Adam who was struggling with what was called mental illness, rage, ADHD, and insomnia, and he was heavily medicated. Working together, he and his parents reframed his “problems” within the context of his secret power, and there was a complete transformation of his sense of self. He was able to wean off all his medications, and he’s now found his passion as a successful executive in the music business.

ABOUT DR. STEPHEN COWAN
Stephen Cowan, MD, is a board-certified pediatrician with over 30 years of clinical experience working with children. He is the author of Fire Child Water Child: How Understanding the Five Types of ADHD Can Help You Improve Your Child’s Self-Esteem and Attention. Dr. Cowan has developed a unique holistic approach to evaluating and treating children struggling with chronic physical, emotional and cognitive disorders that integrates the holistic principles of Chinese medicine. He is the medical director of the non-profit Tournesol Kids that envisions a world where all children are heroes, inspired to grow and discover wellbeing by celebrating their unique powers and learning to share them with the world.

This post originally appeared on Be Well.

Much of my work as a holistic pediatrician these days is focused on empowering parents to grow healthy, resilient children in body, mind, and spirit. The basis of this empowerment lies in our ability to connect effectively to the world around us. When disconnected, all the physical and mental alarms go off, and that can make us feel sick.

The path to restoring healthy connection begins by understanding who your child is. This self-knowing is not about judgments, labels, or diagnoses. One size doesn’t fit all children. Each of us has an inner hero waiting to emerge. This core power or natural affinity is our personal style that we use to connect and adapt to the world or change. I call this our “secret power.” It’s a secret until we can share it with the world. And the only way to share it is to grow it. Through healthy connections with the other powers that exist around us, any child can become a true hero. When disconnected, we become victims of circumstances. Based on the ancient wisdom of Chinese medicine, there are five archetypal heroes:

1. The Wood hero has a natural sense of vision, motivated by freedom that seeks challenges in order to encourage others.

2. The Fire hero has a natural sense of joy and optimism, motivated by intuition that inspires others to look on the bright side.

3. The Earth hero has a natural sense of teamwork, motivated by empathy that creates healthy community with others.

4. The Gold hero has a natural sense of order, motivated by grace that creates beauty with others.

5. The Water hero has a natural sense of calm, motivated by introspection, that brings deep meaning to others.

To discover which power your child is most strongly connected to and which is the weakest connection, consult Tournesol Kids’ assessment.

Empowerment comes when we connect to all five powers in order to face any challenge like a true hero. At Tournesol Kids I’ve developed a series of 52 simple games that you can play with your children to help them grow their power. Here are five essential games to play that will expand your child’s self awareness, improve their attention, and support healthy connections with the world.

1. Water power: connecting this and that

Seeing the way things are the same expands our ability to see the big picture using analogy, one of our most important executive functions that helps us solve problems creatively. When we think outside the box, we see connections between things that enable us to appreciate new perspectives and face challenges heroically.

Ask your child to choose two objects in the room. Come up with three ways the two objects are the same. Next choose two objects for your child and have them try to find three ways they’re the same. Players take turns until one player gets stumped. If the other player can find a way the two objects are the same, they win.

2. Wood power: connecting the present to the future

Being able to envision the future is one of our greatest human skills. It’s how we evolved to adapt to change. We all need a little wood power to help motivate us. But remember, the true hero always has a backup plan. That’s what helps us stay flexible and persevere when life throws unexpected challenges at us.

Create a map of tomorrow with your child that tracks the day tomorrow. Don’t forget to build in some back up plans in case things don’t go according to plan. See how far your child can see ahead. Have your child use the map during the next day and see how well they can track where they are and where they’re going.

3. Fire power: connecting words to your heart

Feelings are like the weather inside us. Research has shown that the more we practice naming the mix of feelings we’re having, the better we are at managing them.

Create a mood meter with your child. On one end, label it as super happy. At the other end, super sad. Then ask where along the spectrum of intensity your child would place as many feelings as you can think of: mad, worried, excited, proud, surprised, bored etc. Have them color in the shades of feelings. Try using their mood meter to help connect to the strong emotions they are having. Have your child try using their mood-meter to describe the mixed feelings they had on a particular occasion in the recent past.

4. Earth power: connecting feelings to your needs

Healthy communication grows with our ability to connect what we’re feeling to our individual needs at any given time. This reduces the habit of blaming others for our feelings and is the basis of empathy.

Make a list of challenges you know your child may be struggling with. Have your child choose one. Then ask them what feelings they have when facing that challenge, and what those feelings are telling them they need in order to feel like a hero. This simple exercise humanizes any challenge and helps a child shift from fixed-mind thinking to growth-mind, one of the keys to success.

5. Gold power: connecting space to grace

Grace is a deep sense of continuity and gratitude that enhances our life and helps us feel safe in times of great change. Research has shown how gratitude improves academic success by increasing patience and tolerance, reducing impulsivity, and supporting flexibility in the face of challenges.

Have your child create a sacred space in the home that honors the deep connections to their spiritual power. Create a five-minute sacred break during the day or during difficult times to breathe together and give thanks in this sacred space.

To discover more games to play with your children that will empower their connections to their inner hero, go to the Tournesol Kids Kickstarter campaign. Tournesol Kids was established as a 501(c)(3) organization in 2016 to provide educators and parents with the tools necessary to nurture a child’s comprehensive physical, emotional, and cognitive wellbeing. Our mission is to empower children with strategies to live healthy, resilient, and successful lives. We envision a world where all children are heroes, inspired to grow and discover wellbeing by celebrating their unique powers and learning to share them with the world.