A note from marneta

I was introduced to yoga and meditation by my mother at the age of ten. I used to love sitting and being totally still and allowing my mind to be free. I'm convinced that it was these moments of quiet that helped build my self-esteem and confidence to perform on stage throughout my teenage and adult life. I was lucky, I did all the things children are meant to do as we slowly discover both outer and inner worlds. I lay in cornfields staring up at the sky, imagining I was riding a great white fluffy cloud. I dressed up in fancy dress and pretended to be a princess or a magical wizard. I stepped through fairy doors in imaginary country walls. I would sit and count the stars in crystal clear skies, travel to far away kingdoms and create whole fantasies with my younger sister.

I set up Relax Kids workshops in my small London flat around the year 2000; these developed and became the inspiration for the first book Aladdin's Magic Carpet. In this book I developed the idea of combining well known fairy stories with simple meditation techniques to help children relax and sleep. I went to India and wrote the meditations at dawn, sitting on top of a mountain. The air was cool and silent and my mind was fresh and clear. With each word came a profound experience of peace and lightness. And, as I wrote the meditations, I seemed to travel into the fairyland I would like children and their parents to feel when reading the book and listening to the CDs.

Like every child, I was always deeply fascinated by fairy stories and, as an adult, they have played a major part in my work, both as a children's entertainer and a children's theatre director. (I have been directing Free pantomines in London for 12 years 'One of the best things I have seen in a long time - Emma Thompson actress).

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I think the reason we are so attracted to fairy stories is that they touch something deep inside us. Within each story lies our deepest desire for ultimate love, happiness and truth. These are like the foundation stones of a contented and creative mind. They are the building blocks of a positive attitude and proactive behaviour. Children love fairy stories because they take the imagination to greater depths as they describe an enchanted world full of new possibilities. The characters often show either great feats of strength, incredible acts of love and courage, and there is usually a struggle of good over evil. All these ingredients are essential for helping young minds relax and discern right from wrong, which is essential to healthy growth and inner development. I have found the key qualities which run through most fairystories is peace, love and happiness - three things everyone wants. I have therefore based most of the meditations on these three qualities to give children an opportunity to dwell on them. Fairy stories touch the very core of the human heart, because they speak to our deep and innate positive qualities that we strive to bring into our life. It tells the child that it is OK to allow these positive qualities to come through into their character.

So what I have done is transform well-loved fairy stories into simple visualisations. This gives children (and adults) an opportunity to taste the magic as they explore the well of positive and pure feeling inside them.

Most little girls dream of being a princess with beauty and virtue, whilst most little boys desire to be a superhero with magic powers of strength and courage. Beauty and virtue, the ultimate feminine ideal - and strength and courage - the ultimate masculine ideal. By encouraging children to practise a combination of feminine and masculine meditations, they have the opportunity to experience balance and develop a full spectrum of human qualities. So these story meditations have been designed to encourage a childs imagination and creavitiy . In the process I hope they will lead children into the same positive and peaceful emotional state that I experienced when I was seated on my mountain top in India.