Practice Mindfulness With Children Part 4

In this podcast, I’ll wrap up this series by discussing how mindfulness tools are effective and can be used in our daily lives without further complicating them.
Firstly, mindfulness myths are yet to be revealed. We all currently think, or have thought in the past at least one of the statements below. No offense, but our internal state is a reflection of these words.
• Mindfulness is easy and simple
• Mindfulness is a new trend
• Mindfulness is practiced only through meditation
etc

Transcript

Hi everyone,

This is Shreemand Jyotika Datta.

So here I'm bringing the last of the series of mindfulness for children and here I'm going to share some more things that I haven't covered in the previous one and in case you haven't heard you can just rewind back to the previous episodes 1920 and you can listen back there.

So in this article I'll be trying to wrap up the series by discussing how mindfulness tools are effective and can be used in our daily lives without further complicating them.

And firstly mindfulness myths are yet to be revealed.

We all currently think or have thought in the past at least one of the statements below.

No offense but our internal state is a reflection of these words.

Mindfulness is easy and simple.

Mindfulness is a new trend.

Mindfulness is practiced only through meditation.

It takes a long time out of your day.

Mindfulness is used for mental health issues only.

It will take a long time to realize the benefits.

Mindfulness is not a quick fix.

Learning mindfulness is not a linear process.

I don't have time for it.

I can't relax.

I'm too old to do it or to begin now.

I'm young and healthy.

I don't need it.

Have you ever heard about it this way?

These sentences or you even thought about it before.

So these are all the statements that we keep saying to ourselves.

We need to acknowledge that we do have life to live and it's not always about meditation or mindfulness all of the time right?

And yes we do have emotions need not always be the optimistic,

Happy or successful.

However our greatest lessons come into our lives during our darkest moments.

I'm sure you would have heard about this phrase dark night of the soul or you have witnessed it you have gone through but only on the other side you have realized how strong you are right?

In mindfulness is that part of it where it teaches us how we can be strong.

It is important to acknowledge these facts and let us wind it down to concentrate how we can bring these practices into our daily lives without further complicating our routine and see when like you know if I say hey you have to do this an hour a day I'm sure we won't do it.

They are to be used as additions to your toolkit and make it easy.

So here mindfulness made it easy in six simple steps.

First one buddy up.

It's best to buddy up with a friend or a family member so you don't have to do this alone.

Why not bring in another person as it can benefit both the participants.

Have you ever thought about it?

I said before children are the best mindfulness buddies as they have no filters in what they say or in reminding us when it's time.

In mindfulness is a great effort to continuously be present in our experiences.

Remember it is too strenuous then we need to stop and look at other ways we can make it easier and if you are not around the children buddy up with your friends or your colleagues as well like you know I've been teaching mindfulness at well-being events and I did notice like you know when you buddy up with your colleague it's even better like you know you spend so much time hey let's meditate or let's be watching our breath like you know take breaks up and ground ourselves it's so good to do it yeah.

The next one consistency.

Using the colored post-it notes around your home,

Office,

Car to remind yourself about breathing,

Calming,

Pausing and relaxing or any words that your mind can use as an anchor to the present state.

Just write them down.

Choose one word theme or an acronym for a week as practice rather than various acronyms all at once potentially failing back and or falling back away from the mindfulness practice.

For example,

KISS.

Keep it as simple terms simple steps.

I like to use the traffic signal colors for a variance.

Red is for stop.

Yellow is for breathe or be calm.

Green is for proceed.

So I do this I pause myself or breathe being aware conscious breathing and then proceed.

21 days of consistency is good to train our minds and this habit helps us on rainy days as we will now have built the resistance to controlling your thoughts.

So with that notice how you're going to bring the consistency in the time or the hours how you're going to be best productive at it here.

The third one is the intention.

Set yourself up for success in practicing mindfulness.

There is no need to master it but if you can remember to practice that's great.

Sometimes well-intended goals like sitting every morning for 30 minutes doesn't always work out or can even be forgotten when we get overwhelmed.

If you notice that getting into a routine of a mindfulness practice has been difficult or is adding strain to your relationship set the bar a little lower.

Don't beat yourself up for not doing it.

This is not cheating or failing at something.

This is a step towards a better life.

In fact it can be an excellent way to get you re-motivated.

Start by just deciding to sit in a mindful posture every day for just 10 breaths.

That's it.

Once you're there doing it if you should decide that you would like to stay longer than 10 breaths it's you who can decide that and you have the permission to do it as long as it's convenient for you.

You can also do the palm breathing.

Stretch out your palm like a star with your fingers open wide.

Use the pointed finger of your other hand and trace the fingers on your star hand up and down.

Slide up each finger slowly and then slide down the other side.

Breathe in through your nose out through your mouth.

Now put it all together.

Breathe in as you slide up and breathe out as you slide down.

Keep going until you have finished tracing your hand and you can do it as many times as you want.

And that's a beautiful way to get this going and when you physically touch and do this you're more anchored with your senses as well.

The next one is break times.

Use your breaks to get in touch with your body.

Have a little stretch.

Go for a walk or take some deep breaths.

When eating your lunch or have a cup of tea slow down pay attention to the physical sensations from the taste and texture of the food to the warmth of the tea.

Eating is an excellent time to be fully present with the meal we are consuming.

Maybe at the end you can take notes in your journal of what you did,

What part you enjoyed the most and so you can continue those practices long term.

The next one once again my favourite one gratitude.

At the end of the day mention how many things you're grateful for.

This keeps you thinking of positive things in the day while rewinding the acts and if not great things occurred there might be a reason or a great cause as well.

And maybe you're stuck in traffic or very late to the office you're probably thinking what's so great about that but at least you're safe and perhaps while sitting in the car you noticed a cute puppy near the road or you noticed a passenger who was having a ball in the car listening to the music.

There is a gratitude everywhere if you take a moment to look around and in that beautiful moment of gratitude there is no other lack or no other energies that are going to be there.

It's just being grateful for.

The next one is the meditation and now don't freak out that you will need an extra hour in a day on top of everything else you do.

No not at all I'm a firm believer of the short meditations rather than the long ones.

Just sitting calm while watching your feet is a form of meditation.

So you're sitting down doing a body scan which only takes about seven minutes maybe or even less.

Keep it simple and time permitting you can always increase.

I wish you all the best in practicing these mindfulness and remember definitely you can do this and these are like whichever you grab onto the first ones go back listen to it and see which one resonated more you can do it take that as your first one right and this is for you and positive change for your well-being and life.

Just like when you are abroad on an airline flight the head hostess gives instructions for safety there is always a mention about the oxygen mask is to be used for the adult first and then for the child it's only when we are safe we can best look after the family the children around us that's so true and it said like you know if it's not the children and the rest of the family members it all begins with us the self-care that's so important and here is to the green light for us and the rest will follow.

So thank you for listening to these mindfulness for children episodes and if you like something please do comment and if you would like any other topics to be more discovered do let me know send me a message or an email you know where to contact me thank you guys for listening to it have a wonderful day evening afternoon wherever you are in the world namaste stay safe.