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Experiencing the Joy of Connecting With Our Children
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Mindful Parenting is a contemplative practice through which we become more mindful of our children and, in doing so, experience a more joyful life.
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The Mindful Parent is an organization devoted to sharing with parents and other child caregivers ways in which to enhance the many joys of parenting.  By mindfully attending to our children, both when we are physically present with them and when we are physically separated from them, we can enhance our sense of connection to them and, in turn, our connection to the cosmos.  This makes us a better parent, a happier person, and a more vital human being.
 
To facilitate a more mindful approach to parenting, The Mindful Parent publishes on its website, and in its newsletter, mindful parenting verses and commentaries.  The Mindful Parent website also serves as a community forum that encourages and supports a mindful parenting dialogue and the sharing of mindful parenting experiences.
 
In the spirit of developing a mindful parenting community, we encourage you to submit a mindful parenting verse, commentary, and imagery to share with others.  We believe that through our collective experience, we can help each other develop a deeper and more meaningful mindful parenting practice.  Click here to learn more about making a submssion.  We thank everyone who has contributed or is considering making this very compassionate contribution.

Click here to learn what recent events are taking place.  Please contact us with your questions about mindful parenting or to share a mindful parenting experience.  The Mindful Parent conducts mindful parenting  workshops and seminars.  We are devoted to working with you to enhance your ability to "be" with your children, and to experience the bliss that awaits you.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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The Mindful Parent is a servicemark of Zen Health.
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Please share your comments on today's column.  If you would like to receive a courtesy copy of The Morning Cup column e-mailed to you each morning, click here.
 
A complete archive of "The Morning Cup" columns can be found here.
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Sign up for The Mindful Parent newsletter and receive information and tips on mindful parenting. It's easy, free, and fulfilling.
     -------------------------------------------
Please share your comments on today's column.  If you would like to receive a courtesy copy of The Morning Cup column e-mailed to you each morning, click here.
 
A complete archive of "The Morning Cup" columns can be found here.
     -------------------------------------------
Monday January 9, 2006
The Daily Sip:  Winter, Renewal and Connection
 

For many of us, Winter is in full bloom – yes, even Winter blossoms.  As this season moves through us, we have the opportunity to wake up to so many things.  At the surface, crisp cool air flows around our skin and pours into our lungs.  Snow flakes fall, bodies of water turn to ice.  Leaves disappear and animals become scarce.  At a deeper level, there is renewal.  We experience feeling states that have come to be associated with the holiday season – joy, compassion, sentimentality, and the various moods that arise and fall away.  The New Year arrives and we start anew, as we have done so many times before.  At a deeper level still, we touch the nature of our forever changing world.  We sense directly birth and death, and the impermanence of all that has ever been and will ever be.

 

Today, as cool air chills your body, breathe deeply and draw the air into your lungs.  Open to the sensation and experience it without thinking about it.  Notice the physical changes to your body.  Rather than remark “I am cold” or “It’s freezing,” (for once you use words to describe your experience, you stop experiencing it) empty your mind of such thoughts and glide into the moment.

 

Then, as you feel the air inside your lungs, visualize your child breathing and bring your attention to your child’s rising and falling belly.  The cycle of life flows within your beautiful child’s every inhalation and exhalation.  Place your hands on your belly and feel your belly slowly rise and fall.  Then, imagine placing your hands on your child’s belly.  Do this for a few moments.  Then, expand your awareness even farther and sense the breathing of nearby animals – birds, dogs, mice.  As you continue to breathe deeply, sense the breathing of other people, and of plants and other animals throughout the world.  Then, return to your own breathing.  Feel you belly pressing again the palms of your hands.

 

By moving awareness from your body to your child’s, and then to life around you, you enliven the interconnectedness between you and the cosmos.  Returning to your body, your ground yourself more fully in the present moment.  This is an exercise you can do any moment of the day, whatever the season.  But cold air and your connection to your child can serve as a helpful cue and deepen the experience.