Mindfulness Practice

With the beginning of the school year, it’s a great time to start new routines.  One of the best things that you can do to set yourself AND your kids up for success is to incorporate a mindfulness, or meditation, practice.  It won’t take a lot of time, and if you and your kids commit to a consistent practice, it truly can make a world of difference!!!  No one is too young or too old to bring this practice into their life!

Why practice mindfulness?  Something as simple as slowing down your breath (mindful breathing) invites you to slow down overall and pay attention to your body as you breathe in and breathe out.  As you connect body and mind in this way, it allows the chatter in your head to drop away, maybe not fully, but it will at least lessen.  You may notice an improvement in your ability to focus as well as handle your emotions.  You can always choose to add simple movements that link with your breath if sitting in stillness feels overwhelming at first.

You can choose to create your routine so that it best fits your schedules.  Perhaps a morning mindfulness routine is best, or maybe something before bed serves your household better.

You can choose to create a space that is free of clutter and distraction, and surround yourself with things that you love (candles, essential oils, books, a journal).  Free meditation apps can come in handy if you’d like to follow a guided meditation.  It may take some time to find the person you connect with.  If you respond well to sound healing, choosing singing bowls or a sound bath may be a more productive option.  Drawing and coloring are also wonderful ways to invoke mindfulness.  Feel free to play something on the app and perhaps your kids want to express on paper while you prefer to close your eyes and be in stillness.  The options truly are endless,  and what’s important is that you create a routine that you all connect with (individually and collectively).  This may require asking your kids how they want to practice mindfulness (within parameters, of course!).  Carve out the time, and you will reap the rewards.  Even starting with just 2 minutes of any type of practice, as long as it’s consistent, the practice is training the brain to become more calm and less reactionary.

Consider something as simple as in the morning, asking your children what they are looking forward to that day.  This points their mind in a positive direction right off the bat.  Or perhaps, invite them into the present moment and ask them how they feel.  In yoga teacher training, we used an exercise called “Right now, I feel…..”.  That brings the awareness inward and allows for self reflection, which is such a powerful tool.  Once they share the emotion they are feeling, you can ask if they want to open up more around it.

Each household will be different, and if there are multiple children in the house, most likely each child will be different.  Which is why I don’t like to just throw out bullet points of what to do.  The foundation is your breath.  If you are driving, showering, working, helping your kids, etc., you can choose to slowly follow each inhale all the way down to the bottom of your lungs, and with each exhale, slowly squeeze all of that air back out of your lungs.  It’s up to you and your children to get creative and find what makes it most attractive for yourselves to keep coming back to.

Here’s one example of something simple to do in the morning:

Stand with your arms alongside your body, palms face forward.  Bring the awareness to your feet and feel them connect to whatever you are standing on.  Start to lengthen your inhales and exhales through your nose.  If you like, choose a count so that you count up on the inhale, and you count down on the exhale (use the same count so that you match the length of your inhales with that of your exhales).  That alone allows you to become more present and grounded.  Maybe you choose to take a scan of your body and notice how things feel (be in a place of observation – no judgment).  When you’re ready, as you inhale, slowly sweep your arms out and up overhead, and as you exhale, slowly sweep your arms out and down to their starting position.  Your goal is to take as you comfortably can with each breath in and out (the longer your breath, the deeper you get into your practice).  You can choose to set a timer and do this for a set time, you can choose to listen to your body and feel when you notice an difference mentally and stop at that point, or maybe you choose to do a certain number of rounds.  As long as you are breathing mindfully, there’s no wrong way to do this.

Here’s a nighttime offering:

If there’s a lot of excitement at night and you need to slow things down, it may be useful to listen to a calming meditation.  The link below is of the 20 minute White Lights guided relaxation that I offer.  Feel free to get ready for bed and then turn it on.

Enjoy creating a mindfulness practice for you and your kids.  You don’t have to spend any money, and it really doesn’t take much time.  And in not too long, you’ll all feel the difference!  All it takes is commitment, and you can each hold one another accountable in this process for support.