If you have children in this fast-paced world, it’s hard enough to find time to get everything done and have anything left over for yourself. But a short meditation that can be done anywhere can give you the balance, clarity, renewed energy, and focus that you need to get through the day. Research has shown that meditation is a powerful tool for calming our minds and our bodies. It can help us cope with the effects of stress, anxiety, lack of sleep and emotional disruptions.
The cat just puked on the living room rug.
The baby is crying.
Dinner is boiling over on the stove and your seven year old just announced that he is supposed to bring something for the bake sale at school tomorrow – “Remember mom?”
Your nerves are frayed. What you really want to do is just go lie down, but first you have to turn off the dinner, clean up the cat puke, figure out what to do about another stupid bake sale and the baby should probably be picked up to see if she is wet, hungry or just in need of comfort.
And if you found two seconds to look at the Internet today, you can laugh that you even considered reading a message about taking the time to meditate. Ha!
Why Mothers Should Make Time to Meditate
• Meditation can change your life; it just can't change your baby or make dinner. When we think of meditation, we think of sitting on a pillow in some quiet, peaceful and serene place and finding deep relaxation within the cosmos. Then life intervenes and there is no pillow, let alone peace and quiet. Still, meditation for new mothers or any mothers can be positively life-altering. Why? A short meditation can relax your nervous system and give you a feeling of peace and well being; it can sharpen your clarity and energize you. In short, taking a few minutes to meditate can greatly contribute to a more balanced life.
• You could find the time to meditate within a group or class somewhere, but your demanding life may not allow for that. So I am going to suggest a meditation for moms that you can do anywhere, anytime and doesn’t require a pillow. And you can still get the same benefits that meditation brings to those who practice it more formally.
Meditation is Breath Awareness
So much of meditation is about breathing. Breathing can regulate our pulse and our blood pressure, as well as help reduce anxiety. Lots of moms have anxiety. Who wouldn't in this
world? You can't be super mom every second of the day! Sometimes I don’t think that we even realize how bombarded we are with input and action. Mother’s are the original multi-taskers and there is just no other way around the job, so moms need to be aware of how they can take moments throughout the day to nurture their hearts and minds.
Simple Meditation Technique
Go pick up that crying baby and sit in a comfortable chair.
While holding the baby, take a deep breath in through the nose and let it out through the mouth with a quiet, breathy ahhhhh sound. Let your belly get soft and your shoulders drop. Continue to do this about 15 times. Your baby will probably get quiet as you do. Pay attention to the feel of the breath going in through your nose and the soft sound it makes as you exhale. Let your thoughts go. It’s not that you are going to be able to stop all thought, but you will notice that your mind stops jumping around so much.
If you feel like you just can't stop thinking at all, create a mantra for yourself. A mantra is something that you repeat over and over again to help still your mind. A simple mantra might be "thank you" as you inhale and as you exhale. Just keep repeating 'thank you' in your mind as you breathe deeply through the nose and exhale softly through the mouth.
You will notice that after a few minutes your body will begin to relax and your mind won't be jumpy.
Portable Meditation
The key is to breathe deeply and slowly. You can do this as you cook; as you pick up toys; as you walk outside pushing a stroller. You can do this several times a day. Research shows that when we breathe deeply and quiet the mind, our body chemistry changes. The body creates good chemicals that are healing as opposed to bad chemicals which can raise our blood pressure and create inflammation. Plus, a more relaxed body and mind just feels better throughout the day. This is a great little meditation if you suffer from anxiety. You can practice it anywhere at any time, and it's a good tool to have in your tool box for coping with the stresses and demands of motherhood.
Stephanie Raffelock is the President and Co-Founder of Sound Formulas, LLC, a company that manufactures the highest quality prenatal and postnatal vitamin systems and is dedicated to educating women about natural health care. She leads woman's groups and is a frequent guest speaker at colleges and community centers lecturing on the politics of women’s healthcare and women and spirituality. She has published several magazine and newspaper articles and has conducted poetry and writing workshops for special interest groups, senior centers and elementary schools as well as teaching English as a second language. Her website is
http://www.soundformulas.com 
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