Breathing Your Way Back to Sanity
Collaborative post
Kids are some of the biggest blessings in life, but they also tend to be some of the biggest stressors. How many times a day do you feel yourself going crazy because of something your child did? If it happens at least once a day, it may be time to consider finding ways to calm down and gain back control of your sanity. Meditation is one of the most beneficial and easy ways to chill out and get re-aligned with your body and mind.
Another way to refer to mediation is mindfulness, which is likely something you have heard before as finding natural and peaceful ways to treat our stresses and ailments is becoming more and more popular. Consider Beeja meditation; there, the focus is on the use of mindfulness with regard to things going on in your personal life. This is slightly different from mainstream or mantra meditation in that there is more personalization and less of a one-size-fits-all feeling. For those who are interested in dealing with things on a more personal level, this may be a way to go. However, for many people, mantra meditation practices and meditation you can do from home work as well.
Practicing mindfulness has this magical way of changing how you see the world and your place within it. Living mindfully allows you to live more in the moment. This means allowing yourself to feel and appreciate the feelings even if they are less than pleasant. The more time you take to allow this appreciation, the more beautiful and less hectic your life may begin to seem. Through meditation, you are able to get more in tune and become more mindful. Meditation generally includes concepts around self-compassion, kindness, and tranquility. The important thing to remember is that meditation is not just sitting on the floor and taking breaths; this actually tends to frustrate people and turn them off of it. There are actually tons of ways to meditate. Think about taking a second when things get truly insane, and take a few deep breaths. While breathing ask yourself what you need right now. This allows you to bring attention to how you feel in the current moment, and gets you through it.
Being a parent can be really freaking awesome, but it can also be incredibly stressful and leave you questioning your sanity. Meditation and mindfulness allow you to take a step away from that chaos and focus on yourself (however brief that may be). Meditation has often been regarded as a radical act because it shifts your attention to yourself. It allows you to focus on what is positive instead of the negative. Your kids notice when things are off and remember how you react to things. Practicing meditation can change that and help you become more authentic and aware, and your family will thank you for it.