Mindfulness for Mums

Relaxation doesn’t come easily to me.  I’ve always enjoyed being busy but being a parent brings busy to a whole new level, so when it comes to switching off, I struggle. Coupled with a thyroid problem that causes bouts of insomnia (to be continued…), means that I sometimes, spend days exhausted and in desperate need of R&R. So in my late night, “please help me sleep” internet searches, it was only a matter of time before I encountered mindfulness and started to take steps to integrate it into my daily life.

Mindfulness might seem like the latest buzz word but it’s certainly not new.  Its roots can be found in Buddhist meditation, some 2,500 years ago.  In more recent times, mindfulness as a secular practice has found its way into mainstream society, largely due to Jon Kabat-Zinn and his work at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he began his Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program in 1979. Since then thousands of studies have been conducted into the physical and mental health benefits of mindfulness, and MBSR, in particular, making it a highly regarded technique for helping to combat anxiety and reduce stress.

Acceptance is a key component of mindfulness.  We not only bring our attention and awareness to our thoughts and our feelings, but we accept them, without judgement.  There is no right or wrong, good or bad way to feel at any given moment.  Rather, we focus our attention on our breath and our thoughts and tune into what we are experiencing in the present moment instead of focusing on the past or trying to imagine the future.

We don’t have to be sitting cross legged in the lotus position by the sea or half way up the side of a mountain to simply stop and take a moment to focus our attention, although both certainly do lend themselves beautifully to the experience!  It’s more about the everyday practice of coming out of our thoughts when we find ourselves lost in them.

Thinking, day dreaming and planning are all necessary activities and mindfulness does not try and change these things. What it does, is offer us opportunities to step out of negative self-talk and emotional reactions.  It releases us from rehashing painful memories and ruminating on the past and encourages us to focus on the now, instead of being anxious about the future. Awareness of our breath, the out breath in particular, is valuable because the out breath calms the nervous system.  It can also help to maintain presence of mind when we find ourselves in difficult situations.

In our Mindful Mums workshops we combine some gentle, stress releasing stretches, with mindful breathing techniques, a relaxing body scan, mediation and some positive affirmation work so that mums leave with some effective new tools to incorporate into our daily lives.

Our next Mindful Mums Workshop is on March 14th @ 7 in the tranquil setting of the Carlow Holistic Center.

See.www.TheBabyRoom.ie for more details and booking information.

Creating A Better Future Together - A New Maternity Strategy

During the week, I listened to mother Shauna Keyes bravely describe the sheer horror that she and her family endured at the hands of the HSE.  Shauna was 18 years old and in labour with her first baby when she was given a drug called Syntocinon, a synthetic form of the hormone Oxytocin, a drug used routinely in Irish maternity hospitals, to speed up delivery. 

Pic with thanks to the Irish Independent 

Baby Joshua did not tolerate the drug well and he died, an hour after being delivered by emergency caesarean section at the Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise.  Shauna and her partner were given several different reasons for the death of their baby.  They were told that his organs were too heavy, that he showed signs of Down Syndrome and would never have survived, that a heavy blow during pregnancy could have caused his death.  An eventual inquest into baby Joshua’s death ruled that he had in-fact died as a result of intrapartal anoxia, that is oxygen deprivation at birth. 

Shauna described having a few minutes with her son before he was taken from her.  She described how he was dressed in hospital clothing, not the new baby clothes that she had so lovingly packed into her hospital case. She described the utter indignity of how her son was left on a wheelchair, outside her room in an ill-fitting white box, with a lid, covered over by a sheet.  She was told not to hold him because he was “on ice”.  She talked about her battle for answers in the months and years following her son’s death.  Her voice didn’t falter as she talked about encountering other families on the maternity ward and not wanting her grief to intrude on their happiness. 

Lastly, Shauna talked about her “great hopes” for the future of maternity care.  She was referring to Ireland’s first National Maternity Strategy – Creating A Better Future Together, which was published last week.  The Strategy hopes to restore confidence in maternity services and to make them as safe as possible, working in partnership with expectant mothers.  A new National Women and Infants’ Health Programme will offer multi-disciplinary care.  A new community midwifery service will be developed.  Expectant mothers will be offered choices around their care, ranging from home birth to specialised assistance.  Services will be appropriately resourced, underpinned by strong, effective leadership, management and governance arrangements, and delivered by skilled, competent staff.

The death of baby Joshua, contributed to the development of this Strategy.  The deaths of four other babies at Portlaoise hospital in recent years, contributed to the development of this Strategy.  Their precious tiny lives and the lives of women like Savita Halappanavar, Sally Rowlette, Bimbo Onanuga, and Dhara Kivlehan, who all died as a direct result of their experiences within our maternity services, were not forgotten. 

Their lives mattered and their deaths mattered.  They have helped to shape the future of our maternity services and I for one, will be forever indebted to their families, for their bravery, determination and love. 

www.thebabyroom.ie

Teaching Toddler Yoga

When I tell people I teach Toddler Yoga, I think they envisage some form of organised chaos.  It might be hard to imagine 18 month old's actively engaged in yoga poses and relaxation, yet this is exactly what happens in my classes, and a whole lot more.

I trained as a Toddler Yoga Instructor with The Birthlight Trust, a UK based non-profit organisation, dedicated to enhancing the health and well being of women and their families from conception through to the fourth year.  I teach their SMART Toddler Yoga programme, which stands for Stretch, Move And Relax Together. 

Toddler Yoga classes offer a structured base for parents to exercise and have fun with their children.  Our five-week course promotes strength, flexibility, balance and relaxation to contrast with the energetic activity of our weekly expeditions to The Zoo, The Moon, Weather Walk, Old MacDonald’s Farm and our Under Water Adventure. 

It enhances the physical wellbeing of both parent and child.  The weekly use of songs and rhymes helps to stimulate language, listening and developmental skills and provide a sense of continuity, helping to lay the foundations for a healthy life style.

Toddler Yoga also helps to nourish the spirit and to foster and strengthen family bonds.  As toddler’s make the transition from infancy to independent movement, physical contact with their parent often lessens, new babies very often make an appearance too, which can leave toddlers struggling to make sense of their changed place in the family unit.  Toddler Yoga can help to support loving and playful contact, helping parents to share a new experience and learn new ways of interacting with their child.  It is also a fantastic way of encouraging parents to get in touch with their own “inner child”.  There’s nothing like crawling on the floor, shaking our imaginary lions tail, to remind us that we’re never too old for play time!!

The emphasis on relaxation is another key element of our Toddler Yoga class.  It teaches parents the skills they require to disengage and be in a quiet, still, calm state whilst still being physically present with their child.  Parents are encouraged to relax so that their child can relax.  It’s vital that our children learn to respect that we need time for ourselves, and so class finishes each week with dedicated relaxation time, where I dim the lights, put on some music and encourage parents to let go, to just breathe and to concentrate on themselves, their strength’s and their capabilities.

Francoise Freedman, the Founder and Director of Birthlight, is a medical anthropologist.  The philosophy which underpins the development of her baby and toddler yoga courses is that “in the increasingly fast pace of the modern world, our children need all the help we can give them in order to create a foundation of well-being, that will serve them all their life”.

Our Toddler Yoga Classes take place Tuesday and Saturday mornings in the tranquil setting of the Carlow Holistic Centre.

Visit www.TheBabyRoom.ie for more details.