In this interview Emily Fletcher explains the philosophy and structure of her Ziva Kids meditation program, positioning it as a purposeful alternative to the myriad free kids meditations on YouTube. She argues that using a phone for meditation is counter‑productive because the device is a source of distraction and addiction, yet she leverages technology only to deliver the training. The core of Ziva Kids is a seven‑day course that plants a “seed” so children can later meditate without any external tools. The program frames three innate “superpowers”—bravery, creativity, and kindness—and teaches kids to unlock them by fully feeling, rather than suppressing, emotions. A mascot, Z Bunny, guides children through daily challenges, using props called “Stormies” that personify common emotions (anger, fear, sadness). By the end of the course, children acquire tools to navigate these feelings and can access their superpowers independently. Parallel adult training teaches parents to act as supportive “sidekicks,” avoiding “meditation police” tactics and building their own emotional resilience so they can sit with their child’s big emotions. Fletcher critiques the cultural habit of numbing feelings with screens, pills, or sugar, linking it to rising antidepressant use among American women, and envisions a ripple effect where a generation of kids feels safe to experience and transform their emotions.
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But there's, I mean, there's tons of free kids meditations on YouTube, right? And you're charging for Ziva Kids. And I actually believe that it's usually a good idea. Like, like things you get for free are usually like, you're the product if someone gives you something for free. So they're going to sell you ads on YouTube or something, or a YouTube subscription. But, you know, what's the difference between Ziva Kids and, you know, the whatever you find on YouTube?
Well, call me crazy, but I don't really understand why anyone, adult or child, would want to go to their phone in order to meditate. Like, why would you go into the belly of the beast in order to unplug? This is like having an AA meeting in a liquor store as far as I'm concerned. Like, this is like the home of distraction and addiction. And, you know, of this thing is competing for your attention. It's been designed to keep you in it. And then we also know that, you know, looking at the screens, the blue light, like all of this is not good for our brain. And ostensibly we're meditating because we want to improve our brain health. And so yes, I am using technology just to get these tools into the hands of the children. But the cool thing about Ziva is that once you graduate from this seven day training, you don't need me anymore, you don't need the course anymore, you don't need technology anymore. Your child is going to have planted this seed and know how to turn inward for their own bliss and fulfillment. And one of the three traits that we bring up inside of Ziva kids is bravery, creativity and kindness. So we keep coming back to these superpowers. And the whole premise is that these things, bravery, this creativity, this kindness, these things are already inside of you. And all the meditation is doing is that it's unlocking your superpowers. And so there's two courses actually, and in the younger one, my co star, his name is Z Bunny, he's training to be a superhero, right? So he's kind of like, he's like the, the, the puppet biohacker, if you will. Because we as biohackers want to be superhero versions of ourselves. And so every day he's training to be a superhero, he faces challenges and of course, big emotions come up. I told you I had props. So here they are for the live studio audience. These are called the Stormies. We've got a cloud here with some raindrops. This is the Mad Stormy. And then we have the scared Stormy. So these are like the most common emotions that kids are facing, like anger, fear and sadness. And so I'm teaching Z Bunny these tools that he can use to move through these emotions, not to suppress them, not to judge them as bad, but to meet them exactly where they are, to feel them fully, to move through them. And then he unlocks this bravery, creativity and kindness that's already inside of him. And so the kids are doing this alongside Z Bunny and by the time they graduate, it's like, oh, I have these tools. And there also is an adult training inside of the course where I'm training the adults on how to be a good sidekick. And that includes not being meditation police, that includes not forcing your kids to meditate. And also when they have these big emot to let them feel it for the. Actually for the adult to increase their own emotional resilience so that they have the capacity to sit with the bigness of whatever their child is feeling. Because I think that honestly, most of the world's problems come from we as children being trained to not feel our feelings. It's like, shh, have a bottle, have a toy, have an iPad, have a phone, have some pills, have some sugar, have some social media, but just don't feel whatever you do, don't feel. And now 40% of American adult women are on either anti anxiety or antidepressants. You know, and call me crazy, but I don't think that 40% of American women have a Zoloft deficiency. I think that we have not been trained how to feel our feelings. And if I had a magic wand, this would be the ripple effect of Ziva kids, that we equip an entire generation of kids to feel safe enough to feel whatever it is that they're feeling and then have the tools to know how to change their state when they're ready. And so this is a big thing that I talk to the parents about. Like, meditation is not a pain pill. It's not like, oh, you're sad, do some breathing. Oh, you're angry. Just, you know, count your breaths. Because that's dismissive. It's disrespectful of the process. And you wouldn't want your friend to do that to you, right? Like if you called your best friend and just needed to rant for a minute and they're like, just, Dave, just do some breathing. You'd be like, f. You would feel dismissive. And so anyway, it's a roundabout way of saying that the meditation is unlocking these tools that are already inside of our children. And that my dream case is that kids are like, I can be wherever I am. I have the safety to feel all of my emotions.
