Helping parents bring mindful space to their days during the COVID-19 pandemic — 1

All this week we’re featuring tips from Mindfulness Connected Learning, as part of #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek. The theme this week is Kindness.

Practice self-kindness to yourself by bringing stillness into your life and help to press a pause button before you respond.

#Tip 1 — The Mindful Shower

You are not your emotions and with mindfulness practices you can begin to appreciate the beauty in the ordinary and every day, simply by paying attention to everyday activities. As parents it may be difficult to find time for yourself — but mindfulness isn’t only about sitting in meditation or practising the bodyscan. The more we can bring mindfulness to our everyday/mundane chores and activities the more we can integrate it into how we live our lives.

The first tip does just that by helping you to ground yourself in a daily activity.

When you step into the shower, open your senses. So rather than jumping in and out or simply going through the motions, planning your day or going over the day that you have had, take an extra 5 minutes to really savour the experience. Start by bringing awareness to the sound of the water falling on your body or into the shower basin. Look at the way the water falls and gathers, splashes and disappears. Feel the sensation and temperature of the water falling on different parts of the body. Take time to really smell the shower gel or soap. Breathe with all these sensations and allow the mindful shower to restore and refresh. We can apply the same quality of attention to any activity that we are engaged in throughout the day.

Have a mindful day.

Follow us across socials where we’ll be sharing Veronica’s tips to help parents practice kindness each day this week as part of #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek. Find us on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter For more information on Mindfulness Connected Learning, check out Veronica’s website and Facebook page