Mindfulness, self-compassion and relaxation for parents
Parenting can be immensely rewarding and nourishing, but can also be stressful and involve a non-stop stream of changing emotions. Often we can feel like our time is not our own, which can leave us feeling experiencing a whole range of emotions and thoughts. Sometimes we might want to run away, feel trapped or wish we had our old lives back! Whilst we may feel deep love (though not always) for our children, parenting them can come with in immense challenges. With mindfulness we can learn to slow down and attend to our children and ourselves with greater awareness and compassion, so that we better manage our responses and fully appreciate more of the precious moments with them.
Mindfulness is a practice of training our attention to be more in the present moment, along with cultivating qualities such as compassion and kindness. By practicing mindfulness, we are better able to self-regulate, be more aware of our emotions, make better decisions and respond to situations with less reactivity and greater clarity and compassion.
The best way to share mindfulness with our children is to exemplify it in our relationships with them. This, in turn, will teach them how to better manage stress and emotions, and improve their overall sense of self-mastery and well-being.
About the Course
This eight-week mindful parenting course will teach you the key mindfulness skills that have been shown to help people cope better with stress, anxiety and everyday demands and pressures, and will help you to strengthen your inner resources as a parent. The course will also include practices that you can use at home with your family, so you can begin to weave mindfulness into daily family life.
The course consists of eight, 90 minute sessions, which will include a combination of meditation practices, psycho-educational components, and group discussions. In between the sessions, there will be home practice assignments of up to 30 minutes per day in total, which helps to build mindfulness into daily life and allows you to access the benefits of mindfulness.
Over the 8-week period, you will learn:
The ways in which stress can negatively impact our parenting;
How mindfulness can help us bring more awareness to our patterns of reactivity, and cultivate emotional resilience, kindness and compassion;
Simple mindfulness practices to improve our ability to listen, communicate and regulate our emotions as parents;
How self-compassion can help us when we feel that we aren’t living up to our own or other’s standards; and
Practical ways in which we can use mindfulness to nurture ourselves as well as our children; and
Practices we can integrate into daily family life.
Notes:
No prior mindfulness experience required
This course is suitable for parents with children of any age.
This class will be held on a web-based platform.
The teacher and participants will be live and visible at various times. There will be group and one-to-one interaction as you would expect in a traditional classroom setting. Do contact us (enquiries@mindfulpsychologypractice.co.uk) if you'd like to check out/test the online platform & your internet connection beforehand.
Zoom/Computer Requirements:
You will need:
A PC/Laptop/Macbook or Tablet. You can check the operating requirements of Zoom here, but we can also assist with this if you are unsure or have any questions: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362023-System-Requirements-for-PC-Mac-and-Linux,
A webcam and microphone, which might be inbuilt into your device
A stable internet connection, and
A private space where you can be undisturbed.
Please note that there is no cost to download Zoom.
Practicalities:
This is a six week course that is being held online on a Tuesday evening, starting 31st January 2023. It will run from 8pm-9.30pm weekly.