My meditation journey started after seeing a TED TALK by the founder of Headspace on YouTube one day. So I looked up the app and started with the ten minutes of meditation for ten days on the free app version, and after I finished, I wanted to continue as I felt calmer more at ease.
At that time, I was pregnant with my first child. I was nervous about the birth, and I decided to meditate daily for a month before the delivery. I wanted to ease my anxiety about the birth, and I wanted to feel calm and grounded so my baby would feel the same way. I don't know if it is the meditation alone, but I definitely would not be able to deal with the long, natural birth if I didn't meditate before to help me mentally prepare for the delivery.
Since then, I have been meditating regularly for six years, and I have reaped the benefits of meditation, and I can even say that it made me a present and calmer mother. I would not be the same person if I did not meditate. So as a holistic health coach for mothers, meditation is one of the first things I recommend my clients to do.
Here are the ten reasons why every mother need to meditate:
1. Reduces Stress Levels
Meditation helps you free up your mind from all negative thoughts. It also assists you in focusing on what is essential in motherhood and what to prioritize, like rest and sleep. By having a good plan on what to do first and what to do last, mothers could have a clearer schedule in mind and reduce the stress that accompanies the need to achieve everything at once.
2. Better Sleep
After a long day of running around, you need a good sleep. However, sometimes we can stress overwork, and overthinking does not allow our mind to rest. Meditation will, therefore, help you to have a calm and peaceful mind, allowing you to relax and have a better sleep. I meditate before bedtime, and it helps me fall asleep quicker, and I have a better sleep.
3. Reduces Anxiety
An anxiety rush might kick in when some mothers realize they haven't gotten something done. For some, they will take medication to help them cope with anxiety. But nowadays, some alternatives could help you have the power to cope with all that. Meditation could indeed be one of them. To keep your emotions under control, you can relax your body and mind and figure out things in a calm and collected manner.
4. Improves Your Attention
Meditating is a customary practice. At first, you will start with a shorter time. Then, as days go by, you learn to concentrate better by focusing on what's important. Focus also impacts your attention in real life as you train your mind to be attentive to what's important. Eventually, you can meditate longer.
5. Improves Self-Awareness
As you meditate, you become more aware of your body and emotions. As a result, you control how your body and mind react to different environments, such as keeping your temper or excitement in check.
6. Helps You Practice Patience
Patience is a challenging skill for everyone to master, not just moms. When the baby doesn't stop crying, the kids won't stop fighting, or the house is messy again, you may feel like screaming at everyone.
Meditation helps to regulate our emotions. For example, when we experience intense anger or frustration, we can return to the skills we have learned to stay patient instead of screaming.
7. Increases Self-compassion
Being a mother parent is not always easy. For example, if your kids misbehave or your baby can't stop crying, you can start blaming yourself or comparing yourself to other mums. It can sometimes make women feel down, not good enough, or think they fail as a mother. However, you can stop worrying about messing up your kids and stop dwelling on mistakes. Forgiving yourself and moving forward is one of the most important steps to being a better parent, and meditation can help you get there.
8. Helps Build Resilience
Being a mother tests even the strongest of us. However, we can bounce back from challenging situations and heartaches when we have resilience. Meditation helps strengthen our resilience to help us fight back against those hard days and try to make every day better than the last. Life is unpredictable, but we can choose how we react to those tough times.
9. Helps Fight Depression
Being a mom can feel very isolating and depressing at times. It's hard to feel like we don't have support or that no one understands. Depression is an epidemic and affects a lot of us. While meditation may not heal our depression, it may give us the added strength to survive that day or week ahead of us.
10. Greater happiness
Meditation helps you tune in with what makes you truly happy. You can let the stresses and anxiety of parenting melt away while you focus on your personal needs and wants. Often, those are in line with what your kids need and want. Meditating can help you live in the moment, paying attention to what truly matters and giving you more joy while your kids are still around.
Have you tried meditation? Do you want to start meditating? Book a call with me and I can help you get started.