Mindful Parenting is a contemplative practice through which we become more mindful of our children and, in doing so, experience a more joyful life.
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The Morning Sip: Breathe
In and Out
With Your Child
Breathing is a wondrous act that happens both
involuntarily and voluntarily. When we pay it no mind, it happens.
When we attend to it mindfully, wonderful benefits follow.
At some time today, open awareness to your breathing and
recite the following verse.
Breathing in, I see my child
Breathing out, my child breathes out
Write yourself a note as
a reminder. Or, allow the verse to be triggered if, during the
day, you find yourself feeling stressed or anxious, or you become
aware of your need to take a full inhalation.
Breathe
deeply and slowly. Relax your shoulders and soften your belly.
As you breathe in, visualize your child, wherever he or she may be.
Allow the image to materialize without effort -- it will. As
you breathe out a long out-breath, visualize or sense your child exhaling
with you. As you feel the air rushing out of your lungs, and
throat or nose, sense the air pouring out of your child's lungs, and throat
or nose.
Very often during the day you and your child
will exhale at the same time. Open aware to this connection and
to the beautiful fact that you and your child are alive on this planet
-- hearts beating, lungs breathing, minds thinking, souls touching.
The
Mindful Parent is an organization devoted to sharing with parents
and other child caregivers ways in which to enhance the many joys
of parenting. By mindfully attending to our children, both when
we are physically present with them and when we are physically separated
from them, we can enhance our sense of connection to them and, in
turn, our connection to the cosmos. This makes us a better parent,
a happier person, and a more vital human being.
To facilitate
a more mindful approach to parenting, The Mindful Parent publishes
on its website, and in its bi-weekly
newsletter, mindful parenting
verses
and commentaries. The Mindful Parent website also serves as
a community forum that encourages and supports a mindful parenting
dialogue and the sharing of mindful parenting experiences.
In
the spirit of developing a mindful parenting community, we encourage
you to
submit a mindful parenting experience through verse,
commentary, and imagery to share with others. We believe that
through our collective experience, we can help each other develop
a deeper and more meaningful mindful parenting practice.
Click here to learn more about making a submssion. We thank
everyone who has contributed or is considering making this very compassionate
contribution.
Click
here to learn what recent events are taking place
and of changes to The Mindful Parent website. Please
contact
us with your questions about mindful parenting or to share a mindful
parenting experience. We are devoted to working with you to
enhance your ability to "be" with your children, and to experience
the bliss that awaits you.
