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

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It's easy to stop noticing the world around us. It's also easy to lose touch with the way our bodies are feeling and to end up living "in our heads" – caught up in our thoughts without stopping to notice how those thoughts are driving our emotions and behaviour.

Being aware is being mindful. You do not have to be sitting still and quietly like a buddha to be mindfully aware. Having time for your self care may seem like a long lost piece of your past or a long time away into the future, but it doesn't have to be this way. This time is with you wherever you go and whatever you do. What get's in the way of this is the desire to be somewhere else. There is one tool we can adopt that will slow down time, freeze the busyness (or the perception of busyness). We can also get so lost in our ‘over thinking’ mind constantly ‘ruminating’ over things that are in the past or in a ‘story telling’ or ‘worrying’ mode, constantly planning, trying to work out or worrying about the future. With all of this worrying (about things that are most probably not in our control) we waste so much time and energy and miss the simple things in life. Mindful Mums Then practice putting extra attention on this intention for the entire day. Watch your thoughts and behaviors.

Set an alarm on your phone. When this alarm goes off (every couple of hours) it will remind you to breathe. When the alarm beeps, stop what you’re doing (if you can), breathe in deeply for a count of three, and exhale for a count of three. Repeat this seven times. I relax my shoulders and my face and I also pay attention to my breath instead of my thoughts and let all my stress go as I exhale. 4. Ask yourself, “What can I do to make this moment better?”

Why not visit our article with 45 ideas to ensure you thrive as a mom here, this article was written for a stay at home mom but there are many takeaways for all moms. These essential ideas will ensure you cultivate good habits that lead to a more fulfilling life. Topics include appreciation, curiosity, acceptance, kindness, forgiveness, learning and generosity. As mums, we can find it difficult to be present, life is busier than ever and the challenges can at times feel overwhelming. We constantly ask ourselves if we’re doing a good enough job and our mind is spinning with the mental load. Mum guilt hangs over us and the daily noise of demands and expectations often means that our own wellbeing is overlooked.

su_note note_color=”#f6ff66″ radius=”0″]Today, I will become more aware of how much I complain.[/su_note]

By learning a few mindfulness tips, you will, in turn, reduce stress, and pay attention and make time for the things you love. 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. So often, we start our day in a hundred-meter race to get to work or out the door. This rushing sets the tone for the entire day — stressed and frazzled, with a lot of mental chatter.Days, weeks and months can even go by before you realize that you haven’t spent ANY time doing ANYTHING you love. Before jumping out of bed in a frazzled hurry when the alarm buzzes, take a few moments to start the day with intentional breathing awareness. Being mindful during daily rituals such as bath time can help parents nurture their baby as well as their own selves. It’s a win-win for sure! 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?

Try your best not to let racing thoughts in your head and focus on the sounds around you; the birds, the wind in the trees, the sound of cars. What can you smell? What does the washing feel like? How does the grass feel on your feet? So in mindfulness it's this ability to start recognising our own patterns of thinking that may not be that helpful for us. Once we start recognising those unhelpful patterns then we can start doing something about it, we can start having a choice. It's sort of reducing our reactivity and increasing our ability to respond more wisely.”

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. su_note note_color=”#f6ff66″ radius=”0″]Today I will become more aware of how I speak to my children.[/su_note] Bedtime is an important (and troublesome) time for many young families! How do you approach bedtime with your kids?