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Inner Peace Is an Onion
Peel Back the Layers to Find the Mind-Body Connection By Jenn Director Knudsen
So key to her own and any mother's search for mind-body balance is simplifying the effort. Make it fun, make it brief and be sure to make it daily.
"After all, we learn best when we are having a good time," Frost says. "We enjoy ourselves when we are really experiencing what is happening right now."
Involve your kids, says Maya Talisman Frost, who offers the e-course, Giggling Allowed: Mindfulness Games to Play with Your Preschooler.
Children can't really tap into true meditation, she says. Instead, emphasize to them the good it does their bodies and minds simply to just be in a moment.
Most evenings, Frost takes her children along to a plaza near the family's Mazatlan, Mexico, home. There, they listen to and are aware of the sounds enveloping them: children laughing, people walking by, others' conversations.
Frost says her kids owe their greater overall happiness to this mindfulness exercise.
Another way parents can introduce kids to the concept of mind-body balance is "engage [children] using what nature gave them a wild imagination," says Wellness Consultant Kerstin Sjoquist.
"Simply ask any child to picture a unicorn or pretend they are on a trip to the moon, and they're off on a wonderful inner excursion," says Sjoquist, whose techniques can be found at www.blisstrips.com.
"Whatever your child suggests, go with it," she says, as it will benefit the two of you. "This is also a lovely way for a parent to spend some quiet time with their kids."