Welcome to Mindfulness for Mothers!
I am so excited to share this journey of mindful mothering with you!
*****
Before we get started, I want to share some important information about the course — how it works and what you can expect.
Lesson Availability
Every seven days, the lessons for an entire weekly module will become available. You can work through the lessons at your own pace throughout the week.
Many people find it helpful to bookmark (and have their browser save their password for) this main course page so it’s easy to return to.
Comments and Community
Every lesson will have a comments section — you can use this space to ask questions, share insights, and support one another.
Materials Needed
Many lessons will include downloadable “fun sheets” (because no one likes “worksheets!”) I encourage you get a three-ring binder or notebook for the course where you can keep track of your fun sheets. You may also wish to have a journal for reflecting on your practice.
Many people find it helpful to have a cushion for meditation. You don’t need a fancy one — a pillow or blankets will do!
Coaching Calls
In the self-paced version of the course, you can access previous coaching calls for additional instruction and guidance.
Bonus Materials
When you registered, you should have received the links to the bonus materials. You may find it helpful to review them before we begin on Monday. If you did not receive them, please email me.
Introduce Yourself!
In the meantime, feel free to post a comment on this page introducing yourself to the group. Tell us about your kiddos, your mama-life and/or your non-mama-life, and anything else you’d like to share!
Hello Karen! Mindfulness can help with so many of the things you have mentioned, and many therapists are now incorporating it into their practice.
Hello everyone!
I’m Mary, a mother of 2 energetic children: Ava 5 and Jonty 18 months. We live in London, UK and I’m a secondary school teacher. My daughter has just started reception and I have just gone back to school so it’s a hectic time here with lots of anxiety around new routines.
I suffered with post-natal depression and insomnia after Jonty was born. I really struggled to bond with Jonty and felt like I lived behind a curtain, just watching the world pass by. I was lucky to be referred to a wonderful psychiatrist who helped me through this dark time. I did experiment with mindfulness and found it very helpful. I now mediate occasionally when I’m feeling stressed as I know it helps me to cope but I just haven’t found a way to make it part of my daily routine. I’m hoping this course will help with that!
I can see that my daughter is already an anxious soul (it seems to run in our family!) I am keen for her to learn mindfulness at a young age so that she has coping strategies as she gets older. However, I know that I can’t expect her to be mindful if I’m not practising myself. I’m very excited about the mindful monkey part of the course.
See you all on Monday!
x
Hi Mary! I remember that same struggle to bond with my daughter (my first, now almost 10). I remember telling my husband how it all felt so “intellectual,” like I was just following instructions instead of being emotionally involved…. Crazy what this experience can be like! My daughter also deals with anxiety, and mindfulness has helped her a bit (when she doesn’t roll her eyes at mom’s “mindfulness tricks.” LOL).
I’m so glad you are here … good luck with all the back-to-school transitions!
Hi! I am a mom of 2 boys. One is 11 and the other is in the “sweet” 14s. I am looking forward to a delightful journey.
Welcome Delia!
Hello everyone. I’m Manuela from Italy, I am a teacher in primary school, a psychoterapist and I’m waiting for my first baby. I’m at the 8^ mounth of pregnacy. I would like to improve my practice by this course in this particoular season of my life. I’m sorry for my english that isn’t so good… I’ll try to do my best!
Welcome Manuela! What a great time to be starting your practice. Congratulations to you!
Hi there- I’m Karen in Seattle. Mom to 3 and 5 year old little boys, and history teacher to 150 or so teenagers. I’m teaching mindfulness to said teens this year and I have some practice with, um, practice, but I’m really looking forward to the mama and her monkeys focus here!
Ah, a fellow social studies teacher — yay! I taught mindfulness for several years in my SS courses and kids loved it. So glad to have you here!
My name is Rachel. I have a 7 year old daughter and a 3 year old son. I work full time in a subacute health care facility and struggle with the stress of juggling a time consuming , high stress job with family life. My husband works two jobs and we don’t have much family support around us so I find it is easy to get caught up in the “craziness” of each day and all the responsibilities. Meditation has helped me over the past year to find a way to slow things down and truly appreciate each moment with my children for what it is. I am learning to let go of the stress and anxiety and be more present. I am eager to continue my practice as it is ever evolving and learn more techniques and strategies to incorporate it into our family life as well as to continue to teach it to my children. I have observed the benefits that they are also receiving from what I have incorporated in their lives thus far. I am thankful for the opportunity to take this course!
Welcome Rachel! Indeed it sounds like there are lots of stressors, and it’s wonderful that you have already found some ways to work with them. I’m so glad you’ve found your way here!
Hello, my name is Nagla. I’m a wife, mother, and teacher. These roles can get quite overwhelming at times. I’m not new to mindfulness and have learned quite a bit about it in recent years. However, I struggle with putting into practice actual strategies and therefore find myself tired, stressed, and overwhelmed much of the time. I’m hoping that this course will allow me to start small but somehow become a practitioner of mindful strategies so that I can be a happy, more relaxed mom, wife, and teacher.
Amen to that, Nagla! Welcome!
Hello,
Hope you are all well this AM. I am working on breaking the chains of the past. I am mindful already but I have anger that I am trying to work through. I hope to evolve to a point that I accept life in the moment without expectations of a specific event. my goal is to also help my husband and 3 children 19,8 and 6 as well. I look forward to learning sharing and opening my heart to what this course and instructor has to offer. Thank you
Welcome, Melissa. We will talk through the course about working with emotions, especially anger. It can be so challenging, but we will definitely learn strategies for learning to BE with anger, and not let it control us. I’m so glad you are here!
Hello! My name is Danielle, sorry for the mis-spelling of my name on everything you might see. I was so excited to register that I was clearly typing too fast! HAHA! I am a wife and a mom to two boys, Ethan (9) and Cayden (5). Both my husband and I work full time. I am a Graduate Gemologist and do all the buying, appraisals, I run the shop (we do repairs and are a manufacturer) at a family owned Jewelry store. I am hoping to find ways to not just help myself but things my family will benefit from as well.
Welcome Danielle! I think you’ll find that these practices that help us with motherhood also help us with work and other stressors, too. Glad you are here!
Hello Everyone,
I am Anne and I have 3 children, a teenager, toddler and middle child! 🙂 I own and run a preschool and daycare. I have brought mindfulness practices and gratitude journals to the school for our staff this year as part of our professional development. We also have been practicing breathing skills and techniques for even our very youngest learners. We practice smelling flowers and blowing out candles during circle time! We also have been modeling to our little learners how we think about gratitude, “What makes us HAPPY!” and we write on special charts in each classroom.
I hope to bring more mindfulness techniques to my staff and students as well as my family. I hope to instill the reflective and meditation skills I practice in my own children so that they may learn to enjoy their life, be happy and healthy and share the special gifts they have to contribute!
I have been struggling with relating to my teenage daughter, 13! I sometimes feel I am unable to utilize the mindfulness techniques I use to help myself at work with the teachers, children, parents and even other family members. I am hoping to gain more techniques and understand why I am feeling so frustrated with my relationship with her at this point of her development, and mine!! 🙂
Glad to be part of this! Thanks for creating such a course!
Welcome, Anne! It can often be so much harder with our own children, right? I’m excited to hear about all you are doing with your preschoolers and your staff. We all need mindfulness!
Hi everyone!! I live in North Dakota where it is a chilly 50 degrees this morning. I’m ready for fall to arrive but don’t want winter to show it’s face! I am a school counselor for grades 7 – 12. I am familiar with mindfulness but really need to begin to practice. I’m the mother of two adult children. My daughter is 21 and my son is 18. I know I’ll be able to gain great benefits for myself in this course and also hope to learn enough to pass bits on to students, parents and my own children, even though they are “grown.” I’m very excited to begin!
Welcome Kris! It was in the 50’s here too this morning– seems Fall goes by pretty quickly up here! Welcome to the class — I’m sure you’ll find lots of helpful things for working with your students — and yourself!
Hello all! This course was highly recommended by a friend, and I look forward to it!
I have a daughter who is almost 3, and very active and demanding – she’s just starting to discover tantrums and how to push my buttons.
In addition to being a full time mom, I volunteer on two Boards of Directors as President and VP, and these jobs are taking more of my time than I anticipated. I look forward to finding out how to maintain composure when overstressed, and how to fit “me-time” into a ridiculous schedule.
Thanks!
Welcome, Jessica — mine are great at finding the buttons I didn’t even know I had! Sounds like you are busy and definitely ready for some self-care. I’m so glad you’re here!
Thanks for the welcome! Oh, and I’m in Minnesota.
Hi all!
My name is Dena and I have 2 little ones. My daughter is 2 and my son is 8 months. I live in New Jersey and run a stroller based fitness program for Moms.
This stage of my life presents lots of challenges and I want to be able to really really be in the moment with my kids before I blink my eyes and it’s gone.
I have a large network of Moms in my area because of my business which has kept me sane but I am longing to learn more about being more mindful to help help myself, my relationship with my husband, and to steer the course of our family life.
Motherhood seems to be so hard to sum up in words, I almost don’t know what to write!
Looking forward to this course and meeting you all!
Welcome, Dena! That’s great that you have such a big village already for support — and here we’ll work on the internal nurturing and self-care that’s so important to. And I LOVE your work — I could have used that when my kiddos were little. Glad to have you here.
Hello everyone! I am married to a wonderful man and have been for 23 years now. I am mother to 3 children, 19 yr old high-functioning autistic son, 17 yr old son, and 11 yr old daughter. I run an in-home daycare program in Maryland. My life is extremely hectic. I need to learn to slow down and I need to teach all 3 of my children to slow down as well. All three have extreme anxiety issues along with myself. All of us have anger issues as well. I am very excited to start this course!
Welcome, Tracey! Mindfulness can be so powerful for working with anger and anxiety, so you are in the right spot! We’ll work on slowing down and not being driven all over by our emotions. I’m glad you’re here!
Hello everyone, I am very excited to join all of you on this journey! I have been married for 25 years and have twin boys age 12. I am an Executive Director of three child care centres and we have been working on mindfulness in our organization with the staff and the children over the past year and a half. It is a real passion of mine and I am grateful for this on line course. I look forward to the learning and practising mindful meditations. My hope is to be able to deal with sensitive issues with my tweens and try to stay calm and centred during the drama. Thank you.
Welcome Allyson — “calm and centered during the drama” — YES! I’m so excited that you are bringing this to your staff. It’s wonderful!
Hi everyone. I’m a mother of two amazing but energetic kids – a 6 year old girl and 8 year old boy. I’m also a teacher (a few of us here!) 4 days a week which is taking its toll on me along with the parenting, getting the kids to and from school and keeping up with their energy levels and all the things a mother is required to do! When I’m short on time (which is most of the time!) I lose patience quickly and snap at the kids and react in ways I know are not helpful or a good model for my kids to learn from. I want to help them to be able to calm themselves when they are angry, worried etc and most of all I just want to be a kind Mum. Can’t wait to get started!
I can relate to so much of this Jane — balancing work and kids and our own self-care can be a challenge! It becomes more of a search for allowing it all to “flow.” And we will ALL lose our patience and snap from time to time, and we’ve all taken a big step toward doing that less by being here. Welcome!
Hi everyone,
I am the mother of two precious boys (3 and 5). We live in the Netherlands, so I do a lot of cycling everyday to daycare, school and work at the university. I have taken a mindfulness course and a selfcompassion course in the past, and found both extremely helpful, and I try to keep up a regular pactice. However, I still struggle with how to “just be with my anger”, rather than to react from it or to try to ignore it, especially when every body is tired, hungry and cranky. So I am definitely hoping to grow in that area!
Best,
Ellen
Welcome Ellen! I think it’s hard for all of us to choose mindfulness when we’re tired and hungry and cranky! My kids were just introduced to the word “hangry” and it’s been so helpful — we now recognize when our bodies aren’t taken care of, and how that impacts our mood. We’ll spend lots of time talking about how to stay with anger, and how to nurture ourselves. So glad you are here!
Hi, Everyone! My name is Stacey and I live in the Boston area. My husband and I have been together for 22 years and have a 3 (almost 4) year old boy and a 20 month old girl. We both work full time and are almost always tired, with pretty much all of our energy going into our kids and jobs. Our kids are awesome (with typical challenges and tantrums!), but we’re having trouble being as patient and understanding with each other. As much as we’re happy we waited so long to have children, it’s definitely an adjustment in our relationship.
I’ve always wanted to get into a mindfulness practice, since by nature I’m a multi-tasker who’s thinking about what’s next rather than staying present in the moment. I also work with children with Autism and their families and think much of this information could be useful to them as well. I’m very excited to be part of this group with all of you!
Welcome, Stacey. Yes, a big part of mothering mindfully is also figuring out how to work with our partner (if we have one) mindfully. It IS such an adjustment, and so many parts of parenting are so unpredictable it’s hard to set a plan ahead of time. I hope this course gives you and your husband some things to talk about and work together on!
Hello – My name is Kristina Early. I think I’m in the same boat as many but want to find a different course of how to handle my stress. I have two girls (9 and 5), work full time, and my husband works at night and on the weekends. I’ve dabbled in mindfulness but nothing “sticks”. Last night I lost it and realized, something’s gotta give! Oh, I live in Pennsylvania and can’t wait to start this course!
Welcome Kristina! We’ve ALL had the moments of losing it… it’s the “finding it” and coming back that matters. I’m so glad you are joining us here.
Wow . . . I feel like I have something in common with all the Mamas on our journey. So wonderful to read all of your stories!
I’m Tina, Mother to a 6.5 year old girl who has been diagnosed with every acronym you can imagine – ODD, SPD, ADHD, MOUSE, etc… My focus on bringing her peace, balancing travel, my husband’s world, our jobs, the home, fill-in-the-blank, has had me living in a world where mindfulness is non-existent . . .time to stop the train.
I’ve wanted to stop and reflect and just “be” for forever – and I know I needed accountability to make it happen. So here I am.
Very much looking forward to moving forward with all of you – let the journey begin.
-Tina
Welcome Tina. I truly hope you are able to make time to just be…. It’s exactly what we mamas need, and it sounds like you are balancing quite a bit of roles! Take care of yourself — this week (week 2) should be very helpful!
Hi Everyone! I am Josephine (Jo). I live in Minnesota with my husband, our two children, and our dogs. I am the mother of a 15 year old boy and a 9 year old girl. I am excited about this group and reconnecting with my journey of mindfulness. I am looking forward to our call in just a few minutes!
Welcome Jo — another fellow Minnesotan! Glad to have you here– and thanks for your great questions on the call last week!
Hi,
I am joining in a little late, but very keen to get going!
I am a mother of a three year old, I work as a Psychotherapist with children, adolescents and adults. I attended a mindfulness based stress reduction course about 8 years ago which was very useful, but I find it difficult to incorporate practice into my day to day life (hence the late joining!)
I really want to reduce my stress levels and be more ‘available’ and ‘present’ at work and home. I’m also very keen to start introducing my daughter to mindful ideas and ways of managing overwhelming feelings as she grows.
Welcome Kelly! available and present — it’s what we all really want to be, and as you said, can be so hard! I’m glad you are here 🙂
Hello everyone! I joined the group a little late as well. Playing catch up this week.
I am a mother of three beautiful children, 11, 5, and 3. I work full-time as an executive assistant at a non-profit organization. I also coach basketball for our middle school and for my daughter’s AAU team.
I just recently, started learning about mindfulness. The other coach for my daughter’s team was a big promoter of teaching kids how to think and not what to think. This led to more research, which led to a lot of mindfulness topics popping up on pintrest. I eventually found this program, which really stuck out to me.
My 5 year old son wears his heart on his sleeve. He shows every single emotion with out hesitation and that can be overwhelming at times. I’ve tried everything from consequences, raising my voice, threatening to take toys, etc. etc., but nothing seems to work. I’ve accepted that he is just an emotional kid and that I should be mindful of his personality. Don’t get me wrong he is a fun, very loving, hilarious kid, but those times when he is not, really test my patience. My daughter is a pre-teen, enough said. My baby boy is a very fun loving, intelligent, easy going kid, but I feel I need to be more mindful of my time with him and to give him his time with me.
I hope to gain insight, knowledge and tactics on how to remain mindful in the heat of the battlefield. 🙂
Welcome Margaret! Yes, they do wear their emotions outwardly… and that can be both wonderful and draining! We’ll be talking about lots of ways for us to handle their outbursts, and and for our kiddos to deal with their emotions, too. So glad you found this program and that you are here.
Hello,
Finally catching up on things, sorry for the late joining.
I am a mom of two; one turning nine and one seven. Two years ago I took a Mindful Based Stress Reduction class that changed my life. I have just completed a class with Mindful Schools and can now teach children K-12 the basics of mindfulness. In addition I completed my first level of children’s yoga and mindfulness with Little Flower Yoga. Soon I will be teaching.
All that said, I find you need a tribe and a daily practice to keep your mindfulness practice going strong. It is so easy to get off target when your a mom. By taking classes, like this, I am held accountable. So with great pleasures I am happy to join such an amazing group. I look forward to growing mindfully together.
Now, if I can only figure out Facebook…
Welcome, Wendie! I’m so excited to hear you’ve done the Mindful Schools course — I absolutely LOVED their trainings! And yes, it is so important to have a group to practice and share with. So glad to have you here!
Hello all!
I have stumbled upon this course (and Sarah) just today and immediately registered. I am not one to do such things so spontaneously however I felt inexplicably drawn to this and had to do it. I am excited to join you all.
I have a 2 year old son and work an Air Traffic Controller in northern BC, Canada.
Welcome, Tabitha! We’re happy to have you with us!
Hi everyone! My name is Laura Miller, and I live in the Chicagoland area with my family. I have 3 children, ages 4, 3, and 1. I work part-time (3 days/week) and stay at home with my kids the rest of the week. I am really excited for this course. I want to spend this year learning more about mindfulness and how it can help me personally and as a mom.
Hi, I’m Liesl.
I have two little boys, three and almost six. I teach high school English, and am in the midst of a very exciting but stressful change in my job. My husband also works full time, and it feels like both of us are stressed all the time. I’ve been working hard to make changes in my health by eating clean, and it’s time to start taking better care of my mental health. I take medication for depression and anxiety, and just started medication to try get my ADHD under control as I start another Master’s program in the summer session.
Welcome! You definitely have a lot on your plate — I hope you are finding the practices here helpful!
Hi everyone, my name is Elspeth and I have three children aged 28, 26 and 13. I am a Montessori pre-school teacher and peaceful parenting coach. I have long struggled with reactivity, and have two ex-husbands to show for that. However I have really close relationships with my children and see a fair bit of one husband and lots of the other, so am doing better! I have been growing a mindfulness practice over the last year and a half and just feel the need for support and a boost to that to keep me from faltering – with a busy life it seems easy to forget how wonderfully beneficial mediation practice is. I would also love to get to the place where I can train to teach mindfulness meditation to those I work with, though we do regular simple yoga and mindfulness exercises with the children at preschool. I have loved your blog for some time now, Sarah and deeply appreciate your wise Monday emails that always seem to be just what I need… I’m so looking forward to going deeper and learning more with you all
Welcome Elspeth! I hope you are finding the lessons and practices helpful for you, and with your kiddos at school!
Hello, my name is Laurence, I be been living in Bangkok for 6 years now with my husband and our 2 kids aged 7 and 3. I m a housemum and a volunteer in a foundation that helps children of south east Asia to get education. I ve been very interested in mindfulness for about 1 year. Reading and practicing on my own. I was looking for a certified MBSR teacher in my area but couldn’t find one. I might do it on line later . Since I love your blog , I thought Icould totally use some practice as a mother. Thanks for sharing tips and experiences Sarah .. I wish a great time to all of you during the training.
Welcome! I hope you are finding these practices helpful — so lovely to have you here!