Well-Bean

08/31/2026

In any season of our life it's helpful to remind ourselves of both our connection to nature and the strengths reflected within. Our I Like Me! poem does just that.

Hang it in a classroom, sleeping space, or anywhere to utilize as a morning or evening affirmation with the kiddos in your life.

Check out this poster for digital download or print available at our shop here: https://www.wellbean.us/shop.html

08/30/2026

Rest in Awareness with the Setting Sun

A beautiful practice to stay present with the current season, even as school starts and we may head into feeling consistent urgency or feeling busy.

The pressure to keep moving and doing shapes so much of how we live our lives. One of the consequences of busyness is not making room for the awe moments. Awe is a powerfully uplifting emotion, and a sunset, with its astonishing palette presented across the sky, is one of nature's brilliant shows of awesomeness.

Set the intention to watch the sky at sunset one day this week. Grab a blanket or a chair and leave your phone behind. Find a posture that helps you find a sense of ease in your body, sitting or standing. Have a sense of being present, right here, right now, so you can notice how you’re feeling in your body and mind. As the day melts away and the sky turns to a wash of yellows, pinks and oranges take a few minutes to bring your full and patient attention to the sky and rest in this awareness. Each sunset offers us the opportunity to grow in open awareness and mindfulness.

08/20/2026

💞

Hugs to all the parents of LGBTQ+ kids sending their kids to college this year.

You spend years teaching your child how to move through the world.

Then one day, the bags are packed, the dorm room is waiting, and it is time to trust them with everything you have taught them.

Sending a child to college is emotional. We are proud, excited, worried, sentimental, hopeful — and sometimes all of those things within the same ten minutes.

But when your child is LGBTQ+, there can be another layer to letting go.

You aren’t only wondering whether they’ll like their roommate, find their classes, make friends, or remember to eat something besides cereal.

You may also be wondering:

Will people respect their name and pronouns?

Will they find friends who fully accept them?

Will their professors and campus leaders make them feel safe and valued?

Will they know where to turn if someone mistreats them?

Will they remember that they never have to shrink, hide, or apologize for who they are?

Because we are sending our children into a world that is still debating their worth, questioning their identities, and trying to take away some of their rights.

And that makes letting go feel especially complicated.

Still, underneath all that worry is something powerful: pride.

Pride in the courage it has taken for our children to become who they are.

Pride in everything they have already overcome.

Pride in the beautiful, capable people they are becoming.

So, Mama Bear, cry when you need to. Check in — but give them room to grow. Make sure they know how to reach you, and remind them often that home will always be a place where they are loved, affirmed, and safe.

You raised them to know who they are.

You taught them that they are loved, seen, worthy, cherished, and enough.

Now comes the hard and beautiful part: watching them carry that truth into the world.

To every Mama Bear sending an LGBTQ+ child to college this year — we see you. We know how proud you are, how much you will miss them, and how fiercely you will continue loving them from wherever you are.

And to every LGBTQ+ student beginning this new chapter:

You belong there.

You deserve to take up space.

You never have to prove your worth or validity to anyone.

Go build a life that feels like your own. We’ll be right here, cheering you on.

Together, we can change the world.

08/17/2026

We LOVE Grand Rapids Area Sibshops!
Check out their fall calendar...

Looking forward to another great year of Sibshops.

08/15/2026

Sharing a favorite from the past and an invitation to slow down and savor your weekend!

08/14/2026

5-4-3-2-1 is a practice I share with kids and families again and again.

Its sweetness is really in its simplicity...we pause, orient to the present moment, and notice what’s happening through our senses and the space around us.

Such simple way to teach kids to slow down and pause in the here and now.

It can be especially expansive outdoors, where there’s so much to notice, but it can be practiced anywhere!

06/25/2026

LGBTQ+ youth are welcome and loved exactly as they are. You will always have a home in our Well-Bean family.

🌈

06/21/2026

Happy Summer Solstice ☀️

Today marks the longest day of the year, a celebration of light, warmth, growth, and the fullness of summer’s energy.

Nature offers us a beautiful reminder that more isn’t always meant to last forever. The sun has been building toward this moment for months, and beginning tomorrow, the days will slowly begin to shorten again. Not because something is wrong, but because balance is part of the design.

In a culture that often encourages us to keep pushing, producing, and doing more, the solstice invites a different kind of reflection. How do we honor the energy, creativity, and vitality available to us while also remembering that all living things move in cycles?

The sun rises and falls each day. The seasons expand and contract. We, too, are meant to ebb and flow.

May this season bring moments of joy, connection, adventure, and play. And may we remember that tending our energy with awareness is just as important as celebrating its abundance.

Enjoy this beautiful season, friends. 🌿☀️

06/02/2026

GR area families - sharing a beautiful offering. Details on the flyer. 🐄 🐓 ☀️ 🌱

05/20/2026

For over 7 years, we’ve been sharing our Mind-Body-Grow Program in classrooms across Michigan - a 12-week curriculum designed to support both students and classroom teachers in building simple, practical emotional and mental well-being skills that can be carried into the classroom, home, and everyday life.

The program:

• Is trauma-responsive and rooted in safety, connection, and attunement practices that help meet the needs of each child.
• Recognizes emotional and mental well-being as skills that can be strengthened through practice and repetition.
• Is informed by attachment theory, interpersonal neurobiology, psychology, mindfulness, yoga, somatic experiencing, and child development.
• Aligns with the Michigan Department of Education’s Social & Emotional Learning competencies.

The Mind-Body-Grow Program includes both lower and upper elementary 12-week curricula, along with 12 companion newsletters that can be shared with parents and caregivers to help extend the learning beyond the classroom.

Participants in our 6-month Well-Bean Roots of Regulation Training receive access to the full Mind-Body-Grow curriculum as part of the experience - in addition to a 400+ page training manual filled with practices, activities, and tools that can be adapted for classrooms, therapy settings, groups, and home environments.

This work is about helping adults and youth build awareness, connection, regulation, and resilience together.

For more information about our training starting this September visit us @ https://www.wellbean.us/95-hour-teacher-training.html

The MIND-BODY-GROW program maintains that when students feel safe and are provided with opportunities to tune in and pay attention to their inner world, they are building skills linked to...