The Confident Child

Madhuri reviews Deva Michelle Tremblays’s coloring book

The Confident Child: Coloring Book
Meditation Exercises Described for Children
by Deva Michelle Tremblay
The Authors Point, 2026, 54 pages
5 – 18 years
Illustrations by Julie Mathieu
ISBN-10: ‎180702086X
ISBN-13: ‎978-1807020866
Paperback available from Amazon *
foyles.co.uk – amazon.ca – amazon.com

Deva Michelle, the author of this unusual book, tells us on the back cover that her aim is to help children “become confident, authentic, and innovative individuals – fundamental qualities in a world in transition.”

The book comprises 10 active Osho meditations adapted for children, and given new names children might respond to: “The Jellyfish”, “The Little Wet Dog”, “The Emperor”, “The Samurai”, “The Blind Man”, and so on. Each meditation is accompanied by a full-page image for colouring in.

My favourite is “The Dolphin’s Dive”, where the child, after first locating her hara and becoming present in it, walks around a room with other children in it, having eye contact with others until the teacher stops the music – and then each child closes her eyes and: “Dive inside yourself, like a dolphin diving into the water. Breathe gently without moving, keep your hand in contact with your belly and observe what is happening inside you. This is your refuge.” Then the process repeats. (A few of the meditations mention hara, which I found intriguing – I would suppose that children could easily locate their hara if invited to, and what a revolutionary thing that could be for them!)

Afterwards the children can share about what happened for them.

I wondered how such a book, or rather, such a program in the hands of a teacher, would really impact a child. I’m not one at present, but I tried to imagine what it might have been like when I was small… I wondered if the child might feel preached at or ‘improved’ (kids don’t like being improved) or what.

I came to the conclusion that, as a child, with the right teacher (and I’m sure Deva Michelle is that!) I would have been utterly wonder-struck and profoundly relieved – to have any grown-up acknowledging that I had an inner world, that the inner world was worthy, that it was okay to go there, that the fact that it was deeply mine would have been seen as a good thing, not a thing to be punished for. I would have been hugely relieved also to have gotten the message that whatever was going on in it was fine, it didn’t have to be any particular way. And I think the meditations themselves – simple, short little processes – would have been strange, and ultimately very beautiful.

All of this goes precisely against what my own childhood education was like. The great stress then was on obedience; I never felt the teachers liked us or thought we had worth; nor did I feel they were interested in helping us discover ourselves and our gifts – let alone our mysterious, sacred inner world. Religious education (I was unlucky enough to go to Sunday school once or twice, with friends) only cared about cramming us full of Jesus and getting us to parrot back the right words to the teacher. We were not there to discover ourselves! What an idea!

I found the title of the book interesting – The Confident Child. Why confident? I suppose because, if the child is rooted in herself, able to be in contact with her own being, this gives rise to an energetic fact of what we might call ‘existential confidence’: “I’m here!”

Again, not a thing I could have claimed as a child. All sorts of accusations would have been aimed at that statement! Teachers: “You’re selfish!” Older brothers: “Hahhahah, you’re just a girl, a stupid little girl, you can’t brag about being here!” Dad: “Yes, Doll-baby, but I’m busy doing equations!” Mom: “I’m busy, take care of your little sister!” All of which would have missed the point: If a human is here on Earth, they are here, and there is no point in trying to squash that fact. Why give birth to someone you don’t want to be here? And if the child is here, why not let it really be here? Present and alive?

Such a simple thing – and yet everything depends on it. If a child is given the space to inhabit herself or himself… without dogma or creed or directives or ambition or manipulation or any agenda on the part of the grown-ups – what an amazing thing that would be!

The exercises all seem agreeably simple, agreeably do-able, agreeably to the point. It would just take the right teacher… and parents who understood what the point was. (I can well imagine ones who wouldn’t. Ones with their own programs of indoctrination that ‘simple presence and going inside’ would not fit with.)

When I say ‘teacher’, I’m guessing that parents could also teach the meditations. The processes are designed for groups, but some could also be done with just one child and grown-up, for example, if there weren’t more children around.

The colouring book aspect of it is fun, and a good idea, I think. I love coloring books, and could see that it would be nice to play with these pictures. They have themselves a meditative and happy feel to them. And lots of space, so the colors have lots of room to sprawl out in.

Like so many books that cross my path, this one could have used just one more go-through by a proofreader. But it’s not too bad – just the odd boo boo here and there.

Meditation is magic – it has magical effects. A little of this could affect a child positively throughout its life. That’s my conclusion.

Deva Michelle Tremblay has lived in several countries and experienced different cultures, which helped her develop a comprehensive understanding of human nature. For more than fifteen years she trained in meditation and studied human behaviour at the Osho Multiversity in Pune, India. She has mastered the art of teaching and knows how to pass her methods on to professional trainers. She has fully integrated meditation into her life. Deva Michelle offers online training and coaching. meditationintegree.com