Mindfulness Focused New Moms’ Group ( 1-6 months) (Next group starting October 2013)
Come join other new mothers and babies in a supportive meditation/discussion/support group aimed at reducing stress, securing self-confidence, and strengthening your emotional connection to your infant and partner. We will practice mindfulness skills, no prior experience necessary, and talk about infant-parent attachment as well as other topics related to early motherhood and mindfulness. Groups meet for 8 weeks and participants are encouraged to continue meeting after the 8 weeks of facilitation.
Sample topics include: cultivating compassion for ourselves and our partners, responding versus reacting, navigating changes in our relationship and our identity, processing our birth experience, bringing awareness to how our own childhood experiences impact our beliefs, impulses, and behavior with our children and partners.
2nd Time Moms Groups: Mindfulness Focused
(Next group begins October 2013)
Similar to the New Moms’ Group – the 2nd-Time Moms’
Group is a combination of meditation/discussion/support group geared towards mothers of babies up to 6 months of age who have one or more older children. These groups meet for 8 weeks and provide an opportunity for moms to talk about the joys and challenges of integrating your newborn into your family and balancing the care needs of your children, yourself, and your partner. We will practice mindfulness skills, build community, and discuss topics relevant to mindful mothering.
Sample topics might include: balancing the needs of two or more children, helping older child in the transition to becoming an older sister/brother, attending to your relationship, and staying “present” in the midst of the chaos, providing scaffolding for the development of a positive sibling relationship, and more.
Strengthening the Family Foundation – A Class for Expectant Parents
(2.5 hour class offered October 5th) –
The transition from partners to parents can be a time of tramendous growth for a couple, setting the stage for the birth of their family and the legacy they pass on to the children they bring into the world. Spending time reflecting on the choices you want to make as a couple, solidifying your couplehood and improving communication are all important skills in strengthening the foundation of your family before welcoming baby into your home. This two-and-a-half hour class will allow couples the opportunity to reflect on the kinds of parenting legacy they want to create, help strengthen skills for positive communication and connection, and allow couples to dialogue and share concerns and hopes regarding this transition.
Mindful Moms Group for Older Babes – ( 5+ months)
(Fridays @ noon starting in October)
The practice of living meditation is not to run away or disregard the distractions but to use these distractions themselves as our focus to practice mindfulness.
Mindful parenting is the practice of embodying wholeness, of being fully present with our children at any given moment. In order to connect with our children more deeply, we must honor both our connectedness and separateness. Parenting mindfully is hard work. It requires a kind of discipline that helps free us from our habitual reactivity, and creates the space for us to respond in a more thoughtful and conscious manner. While at times we can feel like our children are a distraction from our spiritual practice, we can also see our children as our spiritual teachers. If we allow our attention to be fully present, with our children, we can dramatically deepen our connection to them and to ourselves.
This group creates a play-space within which mothers can explore the path of mindful mothering through moment-to-moment awareness. Often the little ones in this group are mobile and the balance between being present and giving space is a constant in this group. Mothers make a 4-week commitment and can renew for as many cycles as desired.
For more details or to register please contact me at ghassanphd@aol.com
Mama Mindful Google Group –
This group was created for Mamas interested in incorporating MIndfulness into their daily lives to receive inspiration and share ideas. If you are interested in receiving occasional emails with invitations to join in discussions relevant to mindfulness and mothering please send me a request and I will send you an invitation to the group.