Mindful Parenting
Mindful parenting involves being present to our children just as they are in the moment; accepting them in their fullness, no matter how difficult or challenging that might be; responding to them with understanding and compassion as they find their way through the unchartered territory of their childhood and adolesence.
It also involves being present to our own parenting experience, with the awareness that we doing the best we can in the moment. This includes the ability to have compassion for ourselves when we feel that we have not made the best choices.
Mindful Parenting is not about learning tips for controlling our children, or establishing one-size-fits-all discipline techniques aimed at making our lives easier.
Rather, it is about recognising that parenting (like life) never has been or will be easy. It is about understanding that every child, family, situation, day, month, year and moment is different and needs to be approached afresh.
It is about establishing a particular approach which will enable our children to feel fully accepted just as they are, and fully supported on their journey towards becoming robust and resilient adults – however that might manifest.
Most importantly, Mindful Parenting starts with us ourselves: the way we are in the world and the approach that we model for our children.
For an excellent summary of Mindful Parenting, read this excerpt from Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting".
Mindful Parenting Programmes:
One-on-one Mindful Parenting coaching and facilitation:
R650 per hour (excluding travel on my part, if required)
Mindful Parenting Courses:
Two-hours weekly, over seven weeks, for parents, grandparents, carers and anyone else involved in raising children who would like to deepen their ‘parenting’ experience.
New programme coming up soon. Please be in touch for dates and cost
Mindfulness Training
Mindfulness Training is a process of supported self-exploration aimed at recognizing entrenched patterns that are no longer beneficial or healthy, and establishing a new approach to life.
Read MoreMindful Parenting
Mindful Parenting involves being present to our children just as they are in the moment; accepting them in their fullness, no matter how difficult or challenging that might be.
Read MoreMindful Walking
Research has repeatedly demonstrated that exercise significantly reduces levels of stress and anxiety, releases muscle tension, helps you sleep better and boosts 'feel-good' endorphins.
Read MoreMindfulness Quotes
- In the end, these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you learn to let go? (Jack Kornfield)
- Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. (Oscar Wild)
- My beloved child, break your heart no longer. Each time you judge yourself, you break your heart. You pull away from the love that is the well-spring of your vitality. But now the time has come, your time, to live and to trust the goodness that you are. (Bapuji as shared by Kirpal Venanji and Tara Brach)
- Go and love someone exactly as they are and watch how quickly they transform into the greatest, truest version of themselves. When one feels seen and appreciated in their own essence, one is instantly empowered. (Wes Angelozzi)