In all my years of supporting expectant parents as they navigate their pregnancy, birth and parenting, finding the right health care providers, the right therapists, the right doula has been front and center for them, and for those of us who are advocates. We’ve created guides and lists, and even healthcare personality quizzes to help…
Mindfulness
Mindfulness Challenge: Day 9
LOVING-KINDNESS MEDITATION Now, perhaps more than ever, we are faced with messages of hate, rejection, fear and exclusion. I experience visceral reactions when hearing said messages spoken by our leaders, the media, people in our communities and beyond and notice the impact on both my physical and emotional wellbeing. Changing these messages must begin at…
Mindfulness Challenge: Day 8
MOUNTAIN MINDFULNESS EXERCISE When feeling uneasy, restless or anxious, I gravitate towards mindfulness exercises that ground me and serve as a reminder that I am NOT my struggle. What a welcome insight in times of difficulty! Mindfulness practice does not have the power to stop whatever pain we are experiencing, but it can create opportunity…
Mindfulness Challenge: Day 7
LETTING GO OF SELF-IMAGE Our self-focused culture emphasizes the importance of self-image and constantly sends us messages of how we should look, should act, should be. This proves to be exhausting! Today’s practice is inspired by a quote from Pema Chodron which beautifully explains what we are missing when we live our lives entrenched in…
Mindfulness Challenge: Day 6
MINDFUL WALKING In winter, a practice I use to bookend my days is mindful walking. I focus on the feeling of my feet striking and pushing off the pavement that lies between the train and my destination. Tasks and memories and judgments and desires surface and distract me. I notice the distractions, accept my distractibility,…
Mindfulness Challenge: Day 5
RADICAL ACCEPTANCE When thinking about a mindfulness exercise to practice today, I suddenly had a chuckle, remembering a time I tried to practice a mindful breathing exercise on the bus and immediately gave up after the driver slammed on the breaks. “Clearly this isn’t the right time to do mindfulness. It’s too hard,” I thought…
Mindfulness Challenge: Day 4
TOUCH Today’s exercise utilizes our sense of touch. Mindfulness – non-judgmental observation – often comes readily when we focus on tactile sensations. Anxiety, stress, and heightened emotion can take our mental presence outside of our physical space. To return to where we actually are, it can be grounding to recognize and connect with our physical…
Mindfulness Challenge: Day 2
JUST LISTEN Today’s mindfulness challenge is beautiful in its simplicity. How often do we find ourselves multitasking, leaving on music or TV for company or distraction, or somehow avoiding being alone with ourselves? This exercise is meant to be different from our usual ways of being, without too many detailed instructions. To start, set a…
Mindfulness Challenge: Day 1
Welcome to Wildflower’s 10-Day Mindfulness Challenge! Our team has made a commitment to completing at least one mindfulness exercise per day over the next ten days and sharing our experiences in the comments section of this blog. We invite our colleagues, clients and friends to join us in this endeavor! Every day you will see…
