WELCOME SPRING BY PLANTING SEEDS OF MINDFULNESS
Spring has sprung, and as I say in my yoga classes, it is the perfect time to plant seeds. I invite new parents to plant the seeds of mindfulness. This spring intentionally cultivating and watching this mindfulness seed grow and blossom into something refreshing and foundational.
Parenting is not for the faint of heart. Parenting is a hard, but rewarding job. Mindfully parenting makes it easier to ride the roller coaster of raising little people with grace. It is a tool you can return to over and over again, to anchor your parenting style. You don’t have to be perfect! Yoga, life, and parenting mindfully are all progressive practices. They take time and persistence to gain skill.
What is Mindful Parenting?
Mindful parenting is the practice of being present from moment-to-moment with your child with the intention of non-judgmental awareness and non-reactive responses, to cultivate a supportive relationship.
“Mindful parenting is not a project to create an “optimal” child or to be “better” parents.”
-Jon Kabat-Zinn
How to Start Mindful Parenting:
Put Your Phone Down: work towards listening with full attention. Make eye contact with your little person and be truly present.
Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself: begin to cultivate self-awareness and personal reflection by noticing your emotions and reaction. Become more honest and aware of your own shifting external and internal environment to allow you to respond more appropriately and with kindness. Personal awareness happens before you can fully shift your awareness and compassion to your child’s feelings and needs.
Keep it Classy…This Too Shall Pass: accepting the present situation (pleasant or unpleasant) just as it is, knowing it is temporary. Try to resist the impulse to overreact to a temporary state of emotion and when you do say you are sorry.
Just Breath: tuning into a full deep breath with an emphasis on a longer exhale can help calm your body and mind, bringing you back to the present moment and what is truly important.
Follow Your Heart: instead of reacting to your knee jerk emotions, put yourself in your child’s shoes and respond with your heart, trust your natural parenting instincts.
Be Kind to Yourself: mindfulness is a DAILY practice, and no one is perfect. Keep working towards observing yourself and your child with compassion and it will get easier over time.
Plant the seeds of mindfulness and watch the relationship with your child grow stronger and healthier day by day.
With Luck, Love & Light! XO Rachel