In the last few years, mindfulness and mental health practices have increased substantially in the consciousness of many around the world. With things like social media, work stress and more having a bigger impact on our daily lives than ever before. So, people have flocked to use mindfulness in their day to day lives to keep their mental wellbeing in check. Without healthy mental health, physical health and more can be negatively impacted and that is not good in the long run. It can especially difficult for parents to keep tabs on their mental wellbeing, being so focussed on making their kids ok, but it is super important that you do keep a check! So, here are some cool tips that you can incorporate to will help your mental wellbeing whilst also juggling the day to day life of parenthood!
Try Yoga if you have some spare time
Why Yoga? Yoga can be a great way to mix both physical exercises with the power of mindfulness with one simple practice. Although it is not common knowledge, yoga is not just one fixed practice. There are multiple versions, like Hatha Yoga, and Vinyasa yoga. Both of them offer their own benefits and their own way of mixing mindfulness into a physiological method. So, hatha yoga vs vinyasa? That is a good question. It totally depends on what you are looking to get out of yoga. Both of these versions of the practice are based on different philosophies and laws of what the different moves
You would be surprised at how much yoga can help your body. It can stretch and make you more subtle. It will tone your muscles and also the atmosphere will make you and keep you relaxed, which is great for your mindfulness and mental wellbeing as well as your body!
Mental Health also affects physical health. It is shown to be effective that if you practice mindfulness techniques at the same time as physical exercise the results are faster and more noticeable. The reason being if you have a clean mind, your body will follow, but if you have a clouded and stressed mind, then also the body will follow suit. Yoga ticks both of those boxes, being a physical workout but also helping you clean your mind.
Meditate in the morning, and before you go to Sleep
Meditation is often seen as a very hippie thing to do, and that you just close your eyes and go ‘ummmmmmmm’. However, this article is here to tell you that this is not the case! It does help to close your eyes, but you do not need any noise, just sit there and reflect upon your day. Did your children achieve something today? If so what was it? How did it make you feel? Channel all of these feelings and sit there and enjoy them for ten minutes or longer, however long you can manage. It doesn’t need to take much of your day, but doing it on a regular basis can really help clean the mind in the long term, so practice it as much as you can! Before getting out of bed, and before getting into the bed can be the best times, as on a normal day these times tend to be free, so utilise that time and meditate!
Take Time
This can be quite a silly-sounding tip but it really does help! The first sip of tea you taste in the morning to the first bite of food you take of your breakfast in the morning, and just taking your time to enjoy those first sips and bites can be really helpful in calming you down and slowing your mind down. If you start the day racing and stressed, then this is how you feel for the entire most likely, and as a busy parent, it is always important to try and evade stress as much as possible!
Experiment, the World is your Canvas
The world is your canvas, and the way you want to practice mindfulness is completely up to you. This list of tips and tricks in how to put mindfulness into your every day as a parent is merely a guide you can follow if you wish, but maybe something else you have done that isn’t on this list is more helpful. Go with it. Experiment and see what works better for you. No family unit is exactly the same, to find something that works within your family context and if you feel it is making a difference then keep doing what you are doing! You are doing a great job, and those moments of rest and reflection are most likely well deserved!
This is a collaborative post and may contain affiliate links