Baby Light is a story of love. It’s a journey of a family coming together to play and create a new narrative. It's a celebration of the life around us, and a tribute to the sources of nourishment and inspiration that enliven our soul everyday.
Light is everywhere in the universe. It's our source of life and renewal. Baby Light offers a simple and powerful perspective in looking at what light is all about, through inquiry and playfulness. It's a way to go deeper with how beauty affects us right NOW; It’s about building a mindful life, one that inspires an open mind, an open heart and an open will. Baby Light story aims to be a dialogue builder, a new way of creating a space for children and parents, for families, to celebrate beauty everyday.
Baby Light is a light particle, which travels together with the child through the day. In this journey the child inquires with his genuine curiosity and the parents, educators or coaches support him/her to find his/her own truth allowing the imagination to flow openly. Baby light is a prism that breaks light into visible colors for the human eye to see. It’s composed by the three basic shapes, that of the square, triangle and circle and it pops up in every page of the book, also offering a sense of surprise. You can also read this book in chunks, because every bit may create the opportunity to further explore wherever the child’s imagination takes you.
Baby Light Book helps to observe light from a dynamic lens of inquiry, through the eyes of a child by engaging the whole being. This supports the child to build competency in 6(six) developmental streams: cognitive, relational, emotional, somatic, spiritual and integrating. (I attribute these 6 streams to New Ventures West, the coaching school that has been a great foundation for my personal development).
These six questions help explore:
What is light? (Cognitive)
What feelings does it evoke? (Emotional)
What happens in your body when light shows up? (Somatic)
What is your relationship with light? (Relational)
What’s its impact in the universe? (Spiritual)
What's your story about light? (Integrating)
Baby Light is part of the Hadrian Series, a community that supports the growth and the development of children, families and all of us as "human becomings" through embodied conversations and creative expression, celebrating the wonders of life everyday.
Our vision is to create spaces for families and communities to learn, explore and play together. Our desire is to contribute in the cultivation of a mindful life, one that allows human beings to nurture focus and attention, and make choices with an open mind, open heart and open will.
Hadrian Series has come to being as a way to respond to this intention, by offering parents, coaches and educators a new narrative to support children in their growth developmentally. This is a two-way path. While the intention is to support the child, through the conversation (from Latin: conversare- means to turn to one another) ,we create our dance of language that brings both the adult and the child together into a discovery, a new narrative that they co-create in partnership.
Ina Gjikondi, Author of Baby Light & Co-Founder of Hadrian Series- How can I bring forth my goodness, beauty and gratitude in the world, NOW?
This is the question that Ina asks and allows to guide her life, in the spirit of aliveness and joy. As a mother and a human being she looks at the family as the place for creating a space of trust and play. Ina is inspired by her son Hadrian, who reminds her everyday of the gift of love and kindness. He also teaches her to slow down and to show up for life with genuine curiosity.
She appreciates the diversity of human spirit, kindness, abundance, un-scheduled phone calls from friends and impromptu outings, traveling, poetry, seating by the sea, music and fresh food. She continues to work on letting go of habits that no longer serve her, as she aspires to create healing spaces for people and communities, by cultivating wellbeing and empowered choice.
Her place of inner peace looks like a glass dome, surrounded by water, woods and wild flowers, especially poppies, her favorites. Her desire is to continue to nurture the love for writing and publishing children, parenting and wellbeing literature.
She enjoys sharing the stories that have supported her and continue to do so in life. Ina spends a good portion of her time in leadership development and coaching, as a part of the fabulous team at the George Washington University, Center for Excellence in Public Leadership.
As an Albanian-American she continues to build her narrative influenced by the values of both countries and gently brings that to Hadrian with humility and care. Ina holds a degree in Law from the University of Tirana and two Master Degrees from George Washington University, in Political Management and Human Resources Development. Ina, Gianfranco and their son Hadrian leave in Alexandria, VA.
Ina's Mantra: “If we can just listen…. Between light and darkness there is a millisecond of stillness. I try everyday to get closer to that space, to be present for life. I am grateful for what comes as a guest into my home everyday"
