A Pioneering Framework
for Holistic Education

Empowering Adults to Help Young People Thrive

Creative Lives offers training in a pioneering, holistic approach that helps adults—and the young people they guide—address today’s most urgent learning, behavioral, and emotional challenges.

Based on educator Ellen Tadd’s discoveries about the human energy system (commonly known as the chakra system), A Framework for Wise Education® supports foundational strengths that underlie meaningful growth and resilience.

Adaptable to any setting, age group, or individual’s unique potential, this practical training equips you to help young people:

  • Cultivate wonder & connection

  • Develop focus & wisdom

  • Express curiosity & confidence

  • Convey caring & courage

  • Gain emotional well-being

  • Foster healthy relationships

  • Express their creativity

  • Build self-care & discipline

Thousands of educators, counselors, and parents have already seen these benefits in action. Explore how Creative Lives can be a vital missing piece for your teaching, parenting, or counseling work—and help children truly thrive.

  • “I have never encountered a more powerful or meaningful framework for approaching education.”

    —Sharon Webster, elementary educator

  • “If every teacher and teacher-to-be took this course, there would be a positive worldwide revolution in the field of education. This course is a MUST for anyone who will be in contact with young learners."

    —Tracy G., University Mental Health Director

  • "I wish every educator in our school could take this training."

    —Alex M., elementary educator

  • "The wisdom of this approach can and will transform classrooms whether or not you have ever heard of a chakra before. Maureen Burford and Ellen Tadd outline a simple and powerful framework to better understand the human beings teachers steward, and to better support their growth.”

    Tatum B., educator

  • "We are noticing ripple effects throughout the school day. Children are expressing creatively where they were too shy before. They're talking with each other about new ways of handling their feelings. There are children for whom this approach has truly shifted their direction forward."

    —Marcia M., educator

  • “The chakra-system approach is...amazing. I work with students who have trauma and train many teachers about dealing with trauma. This is the approach we need.”

    —Kay J., social worker

  • “Martial arts educators have no particular training in how to teach! Your approach so beautifully aligns with our philosophy and gives our staff concrete tools and strategies for helping every child succeed. I would love to see your course offered to my many colleagues at other Dojos.”

    —Kevin C., karate instructor and Dojo director

  • “Creative Lives Director Maureen Burford is an inspired, dedicated, and extraordinary teacher—and teacher of teachers. Decades of experience in music, theater, education, and contemplative discipline have seamlessly merged into her framework for teaching and professional development.”

    —Steven G., middle school educator

Whole-Child Learning.
Whole-Community Impact.

Curious how our approach supports your work or parenting?
Schedule an introductory workshop for your team or community, or join a training today:

Free Webinar

The Epidemic of Disconnection:
3 Root Causes — and a New Way Forward

Explore today’s growing crisis of disconnection through the lens of A Framework for Wise Education®. Uncover common missteps that contribute to this challenge—and essential new ways to remedy it. You will gain a deeper understanding of the Framework approach that will help you appreciate the benefits of further training.

Self-Paced Online Mini-Course

The Inspiration Factor:
Fostering Inner Happiness & Intrinsic Motivation

This self-paced mini-course is a powerful next step in applying the Framework approach. Beginning with you, it reveals key ways to strengthen inspiration and address stress, discouragement, disconnection, and more—offering insights you can apply immediately. Note: In 2025, we will be releasing self-paced mini-courses for each Framework category.

Live Online Training

Join our in-depth training series and gain powerful, practical tools that support strengths in every Framework category

Designed for educators, counselors, and parents, this professional development experience helps adults and youth overcome today’s most pressing challenges—and grow in lasting ways. Graduate credit and PD hours available.

The Basis of Our Approach

The basis of A Framework for Wise Education is simple but profound: each of the seven main energy centers expresses a distinct aspect of our human nature—such as wisdom, curiosity, self-discipline, or empathy.

You know more about this system than you may realize: butterflies in your stomach, a swell of love in your chest, or a tight throat before speaking—these are your energy centers at work.

Helping our human energy system function well supports optimal learning and development for every individual.

A Critical Missing Piece

Why It Matters

In an age of rising challenges—stress, disconnection, and uncertainty—Creative Lives offers a holistic approach rooted in strengthening the core aspects of our essential selves.

A Framework for Wise Education® distills Ellen Tadd’s discoveries about the chakra system into seven universal areas of human development that support every individual’s potential for learning, contribution, and fulfillment. Tadd’s approach provides a vital missing piece in our collective effort to help young people thrive.

Join us and be part of the solution.

Meet Our Director

Creative Lives Director Maureen Burford invites you to explore our free webinar, The Epidemic of Disconnection (register above), and discover how our approach addresses today’s pressing challenges.

Hear From a 4th-Grader

In this video, a young boy shares a powerful Framework strategy he learned and used to navigate a challenge with friends.

Note: Although this child uses chakra terminology, children can experience the same benefits using alternate language, such as “Wise View” in place of “Third Eye.”

Based on Tangible Outcomes

Creative Lives has introduced Ellen Tadd’s Framework for Wise Education to thousands of youth, yielding remarkable outcomes. Now we’re scaling the impact by training the adults who guide children every day. Here is a sampling from our 2024–25 Outcome Data:

  • 93% of our trainees report significant improvements in their ability to help children learn and develop their unique potential.

  • 73% of our trainees can consistently help children make wise decisions and assess next steps with clarity, compared to 27% before training.

  • 81% of our trainees report experiencing regular joy in their work and/or parenting, compared to 30% before training.

“I have never encountered a more powerful or meaningful approach to education.”
— Ree Webster, Educator

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