Living your life well…with Mindful Parenting
Parenting in today’s world is tough. There’s so much information, so many issues, so much advice and add on to that our busy lives rushing round trying to do everything… I don’t know about you, but I certainly feel it’s exhausting.
That’s where Mindful Parenting comes in. The emphasis in Mindful Parenting is on being present in your interactions with your child and paying attention to your own reactions and parenting style. Through self-awareness mindful practices and supportive coping strategies parents are able to identify more helpful behaviours so they can thrive and not just survive the challenges of day to day family life.
And to help you make this a reality, a brilliant parenting course, developed and run since 2016 by Sam Weerasinghe, a mindfulness coach, and Lauretta Cundy, a coaching psychologist, will help you navigate parenting in this often crazy world.
I spoke to Sam to find out more about the course, and was instantly impressed that, as well as their professional credentials, they have eight children between them (Sam has two, and Lauretta has six — six!!!!). So they understand where we’re all coming from!
It’s a practical course, aiming to give you a parenting tool kit so that you can respond to those tricky situations rather than just reacting. And it’s relevant for all parents, whether you have toddlers or teens.
Each week tackles a different topic from from understanding stress to mindful family communications. Each week Sam & Lauretta check in with the parents to reflect on how some of the practices went allowing parents to share their experiences with each other if they wish.
“Mindful parenting is a continual process of deepening and refining our awareness and our ability to be present and act wisely. It is not an attempt to attain a fixed goal or outcome, however worthy. An important part of this process is seeing ourselves with some degree of kindness and compassion. This includes seeing and accepting our limitation, our blindnesses, our humanness and fallibility, and working with them mindfully as best we can.” Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn, Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting
You will be pleased to hear there’s no judgement here, and no-one is expected to be a Zen master to take part, although you might feel like one in the gorgeous surroundings of The Medicine Garden in Cobham, which is where the course takes place.
The course runs from Thursday 28 September to 16 November from 10:30–12:30pm and costs £45 per session, including resources & support. Discounts are available for early sign ups.
If you want to find out more then sign up now for the taster session on Thursday 21 September at 10.30–12pm at the Medicine Garden, Cobham. Taster session £20. For more details and to book email sam.sammantra@gmail.com
Here’s a mindful comms tip from the programme to try with your family next time you are all together, such as at family meal times — let us know how you get on with it:
- Ask each family member to identify one thing they enjoyed about their day.
- It’s important to train children to notice what’s good about their day, even during the most challenging days at school or at home…
- Encourage your child to attentively listen to each family member, show empathy and have awareness for others.
- The act of listening for a small child and a teen can be challenging at the best of times so make it a fun regular shared experience.
- As role models for our children such behaviours if practiced everyday will help ease family stresses and rub off on their future parenting styles too.
Sam Weerasinghe from Sam Mantra: Creative Mindful Solutions for Everyday Living
Lauretta Cundy from Mad About My Life
