Mindfulness used to be reserved for Buddhist monks in times of meditation. Its practice has now grown exponentially. We know that parenting can be scary, and mindful practices can help parents raise healthy kids by easing that natural “fight or flight” response when faced with overstimulation (i.e., the joy of grocery shopping with the kiddos, for example).
Mindful meditation requires an awareness of what is happening at any given moment. This is especially pertinent to parenting because it requires a higher capacity to be conscious of the present needs of his/her or child. To some degree, this intuition of knowing their child’s needs becomes automatic for many parents. However, mindful practices will increase that innate capacity tenfold.
The positive effects of mindful practices on the human mind have been well documented and proven over and over again. First and foremost, mindfulness helps with stress eradication. By slowing the brain and body’s reaction to emotionally charged, tense situations that often arise with kids, we can improve the parent-child relationship immensely. But perhaps more importantly, we can increase our overall enjoyment of spending time with our kids.
After embracing the practice of mindful parenting for an 8-week period, parents can begin to see the effect that this practice can have on their minds:
Elimination of Fear
MRI scans have shown some amazing results regarding embracing the mindful approach. The amygdala appears to shrink after a period of eight weeks. The amygdala is the brain’s center for the flight or fight response. When it shrinks, the fear or stress that a parent may have felt in his or her parenting roles would begin diminishing. The shrinking of the amygdala elicits a positive response on other parts of the brain as well.
As the amygdala shrinks, the part of the brain known as the pre-frontal cortex thickens. The thickening of this part of the brain is responsible for higher functions such as decision-making, concentration, and awareness. You can imagine the applications to parenting that this could serve: the thickening pre-frontal cortex increases the parent’s decision-making abilities as well as his/her level of concentration and awareness.
The mindful approach ensures that the connection between the parts of the brain that are responsible for strengthening the levels of attention and concentration keep improving over time. The scale of the improvements depends on the hours that an individual parent has invested in meditation or the other aforementioned mindfulness practices.
Reduction of Pain Levels
At times, a parent might feel the pressure arising of the parenting role to the extent of giving up. The act of parenting can be replete with excess pains that may seem impossible to overcome. However, a parent can see a massive reduction in the level of pain by embracing the mindfulness approach. Advanced meditation ensures that parents feel significantly reduced levels of pain.
The interesting bit with this is that the reduction of pain takes place while the parts of the brain associated with pain experience increased activities. One can liken the effect of mindfulness on the brain to the use of drugs or alcohol. With substances, the parts of the brain associated with pain experiences less activity or stimulation. Mindfulness reduces activity in the parts of the brain responsible for memory, emotion and appraising stimuli. In other words, the practice of mindfulness can make parents less emotionally reactive to their children’s behaviour, making the whole process much more pain-free.
Zen
The feeling of Zen, or complete peace, is not an event. Zen is a constant state that those who practice mindfulness in parenting or other areas of their lives experience. Whether the parent is meditating or not, the long-term effect is a peaceful mind. In fact, the calmness that a person with thousands of hours in mindfulness experiences is akin to what a normal individual goes through when in the process of meditating.
Essentially, the brain of a mindful person appears to be in an overall state of either acceptance or enjoyment. After thousands of hours meditating and enjoying a state of Zen, a parent may begin to enjoy this level of peace and calmness by default. A completely restful parent can perform his or her parenting roles effectively. Whereas mindfulness was a spiritual tool in the past, it is now backed by Science.
Mindful meditation requires an awareness of what is happening at any given moment. This is especially pertinent to parenting because it requires a higher capacity to be conscious of the present needs of his/her or child. To some degree, this intuition of knowing their child’s needs becomes automatic for many parents. However, mindful practices will increase that innate capacity tenfold.
The positive effects of mindful practices on the human mind have been well documented and proven over and over again. First and foremost, mindfulness helps with stress eradication. By slowing the brain and body’s reaction to emotionally charged, tense situations that often arise with kids, we can improve the parent-child relationship immensely. But perhaps more importantly, we can increase our overall enjoyment of spending time with our kids.
After embracing the practice of mindful parenting for an 8-week period, parents can begin to see the effect that this practice can have on their minds:
Elimination of Fear
MRI scans have shown some amazing results regarding embracing the mindful approach. The amygdala appears to shrink after a period of eight weeks. The amygdala is the brain’s center for the flight or fight response. When it shrinks, the fear or stress that a parent may have felt in his or her parenting roles would begin diminishing. The shrinking of the amygdala elicits a positive response on other parts of the brain as well.
As the amygdala shrinks, the part of the brain known as the pre-frontal cortex thickens. The thickening of this part of the brain is responsible for higher functions such as decision-making, concentration, and awareness. You can imagine the applications to parenting that this could serve: the thickening pre-frontal cortex increases the parent’s decision-making abilities as well as his/her level of concentration and awareness.
The mindful approach ensures that the connection between the parts of the brain that are responsible for strengthening the levels of attention and concentration keep improving over time. The scale of the improvements depends on the hours that an individual parent has invested in meditation or the other aforementioned mindfulness practices.
Reduction of Pain Levels
At times, a parent might feel the pressure arising of the parenting role to the extent of giving up. The act of parenting can be replete with excess pains that may seem impossible to overcome. However, a parent can see a massive reduction in the level of pain by embracing the mindfulness approach. Advanced meditation ensures that parents feel significantly reduced levels of pain.
The interesting bit with this is that the reduction of pain takes place while the parts of the brain associated with pain experience increased activities. One can liken the effect of mindfulness on the brain to the use of drugs or alcohol. With substances, the parts of the brain associated with pain experiences less activity or stimulation. Mindfulness reduces activity in the parts of the brain responsible for memory, emotion and appraising stimuli. In other words, the practice of mindfulness can make parents less emotionally reactive to their children’s behaviour, making the whole process much more pain-free.
Zen
The feeling of Zen, or complete peace, is not an event. Zen is a constant state that those who practice mindfulness in parenting or other areas of their lives experience. Whether the parent is meditating or not, the long-term effect is a peaceful mind. In fact, the calmness that a person with thousands of hours in mindfulness experiences is akin to what a normal individual goes through when in the process of meditating.
Essentially, the brain of a mindful person appears to be in an overall state of either acceptance or enjoyment. After thousands of hours meditating and enjoying a state of Zen, a parent may begin to enjoy this level of peace and calmness by default. A completely restful parent can perform his or her parenting roles effectively. Whereas mindfulness was a spiritual tool in the past, it is now backed by Science.