Mindfulness for Mums: Simple ways to help you and your family feel calm, connected and content

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Children are our best mindfulness teachers as they are naturally mindful and observe their surroundings as if for the first time every day. Encouraging a mindfulness practice from a young age helps them to access an inner calm and the ability to understand when the mind and body are relaxed. It helps to develop key skills such as concentration, discipline and focus. Stress, depression and anxiety are common in mums. I was not surprised to read that one in ten women aged between 30 and 40 visit the doctor for depression and anxiety thanks to increasing stress of career, raising children and, no surprises here, the often toxic influence of social media. Mindfulness for mums is now more important than ever to stop and focus on the present instead of worrying about the future and many things that are out of our control. Having trouble sleeping? Practising mindfulness is also a great way to fall asleep. I take time to feel my feet under the floor as I walk, to feel my arms swaying at my sides, feel the temperature on my skin, and feel the chair underneath me. Life can be so frantic and busy. There’s the endless to-do list, the costume for school that’s remembered at the last moment, fussy eaters to cope with, and tears and tantrums to boot. Mother’s Day is just around the corner so what better time to discover ways to be kinder to yourself. Vidyamala Burch and Claire Irvin share some mindfulness for mums to help transform your day and give you that much-needed energy boost.

I’m very excited to be working on a new project which I hope will not only help us through this next chapter - which will test us all in completely new ways - but will also hold our hands through the ups and downs of motherhood. That’s a journey that will continue to test us and push us to our limits! su_note note_color=”#f6ff66″ radius=”0″]My favorite phrase in the universe is “this too shall pass.”[/su_note] Nourish - be kind to your body. Eat food that you intuitively want, not what you feel you have to. Be aware of what you are nourishing yourself with. Is it fuelling you or making you feel worse?So, if lengthy meditation is out, then how can a busy mum practice mindfulness? The answer, I learned, is in the everyday things we do, we just have to remember to do it. Here are some examples. What advice would you give to parents beginning a mindfulness practice for themselves or their children? Now I’m a mum myself, and I understand and feel the worries that come with being a parent, a wife and having so many other works and home life responsibilities. Plus we’re living in pretty tough times at the moment, our lives have been turned upside down and we’re constantly hearing bad news. So, let’s just stop for a moment, pause and give our minds a rest. Let’s have a few moments to recharge and notice what is going on in a more mindful way for the sake of us and those around us. And remember it’s great to be a mindful mum for our families… it’s also ok to be mindful for ourselves as well. The benefits of us noticing our own thoughts, feelings and behaviours and just taking a few minutes of each day for ourselves will help us to deal with the day to day more effectively. Can mindfulness help with stress and anxiety for mums? Mindfulness as a practice is also often misunderstood; some believe they have to be fully committed to meditation and it makes you feel calm and relaxed. Although that outcome is great, mindfulness is simply noticing things either in meditation or just moments. And, if you can build mindfulness meditations into your week, then that’s amazing and most certainly helpful! Mindfulness and Meditation Step 3: Gently broaden and expand your awareness to include the whole body. Feel the weight and shape of the body as it sits, stands or lies. Feel the breath in the whole body. Imagine you are breathing in and out in all directions: 360-degree breathing. If you have any pain or discomfort, make sure your awareness stays open. Cultivate acceptance for all of your experience. Befriend it. Now, broaden your awareness even further to become aware of sounds both inside and outside of the room. Be aware of other people around you. Then imagine expanding all of your awareness outwards to include all of life. Imagine the whole world breathing.

By beginning each morning with two minutes of silence and mindfulness, your day will start peaceful, happy and quiet.

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Wrapping your baby up tightly you can then meet up with another mother, a friend or family. Establishing a walk and talk space becomes an opportunity to have a chat, a catch-up, a space where you get some adult attention

Even one minute of consciously connecting with one of your senses is a mindfulness exercise. In short, by simply taking a few mindfulness for moms minutes every so often throughout the day, you will dramatically increase happiness while improving your ability to cope with stress. This isn’t an automatic way of living or being that just HAPPENS. It takes a while, but it can become your default state if you work at it. You’ll find that you’re gentler with yourself and with others. For many of us we judge ourselves, we blame ourselves, we can belittle ourselves without even really recognising it,” says Sian. Mindfulness has been proven to help with stress and anxiety for a number of reasons. It can help us to notice our thought, feeling and behaviour cycle, it can help us to accept what is in our control and what is out of our control. It can also help us to identify triggers in our lives and how we can respond in a good way instead of reacting in an unhelpful way. More importantly, understanding this, can help us create a self-care routine or build in helpful techniques into our lives.

Mindfulness for Mums – A Living Practice

A change of scenery is often helpful. Look outwards and tone down that negative internal dialogue. Observe the colour of the sky, notice the sounds and the temperature around you and really tune in. Nature has a very calming effect on our bodies. You may just want to describe what you see you baby is doing. Be curious about what baby make be thinking, if s/he had words, and at the same time notice what you are feeling, when you just watch your baby. It can be a relief to be with baby and not be doing something. Babies love their parents’ attention. Try to do this once a day if you can. Over time you will see the benefits of mindfulness for mums. Washing dishes? Pay close attention to the sensations in your body, feel the suds on your hands, the temperature of the water, the feeling of the floor under your feet. Use this as an opportunity to breathe and practice a standing meditation. Remember: ‘what you dwell on you can become’. By dwelling on the enjoyable aspects of life; learning to appreciate them and giving them your full attention, day by day, you can begin habitually to help overcome that feeling of merely existing on a treadmill. Being aware of the present moment, focusing our attention and also accepting things as they are can help us to reduce our stress and anxiety levels through improving our immune system, our breathing patterns and our general wellbeing and happiness. When we are aware of our mind, body and breath we can help our breathing to slow down and this, in turn, settles our central nervous system.