With all of this worrying (about things that are most probably not in our control) we waste so much time and energy and miss the simple things in life. Mindfulness as a practice is also often misunderstood; some believe they have to be fully committed to meditation and it makes you feel calm and relaxed. Mindfulness for mums” are buzzwords that we’re hearing a lot in the counselling and psychology fields. You can practise mindfulness anywhere, but it can be especially helpful to take a mindful approach if you realise that, for several minutes, you have been trapped in reliving past problems or pre-living future worries. Firstly, notice how you breathe during the day and try and get into the habit of breathing in through your nose rather than in through your mouth.

Clare Hales (MSc) is a mindfulness and wellbeing practitioner and special yoga teacher for child and adolescent mental health. It is a lovely time to learn from your own baby as they naturally do this… they splash, roll over, pop bubbles and enjoy the water without a care in the world! You may be reading this still pregnant, wondering (if this is your first baby) how you will think and feel as a new mother. We can also get so lost in our ‘over thinking’ mind constantly ‘ruminating’ over things that are in the past or in a ‘story telling’ or ‘worrying’ mode, constantly planning, trying to work out or worrying about the future.It is simply a method of mental training; It is about seeing the world, and your thoughts and feelings with greater clarity so that you can take wiser action to change the things that need to be changed or accept the things you can do nothing about. We constantly ask ourselves if we’re doing a good enough job and our mind is spinning with the mental load. When we are stressed or anxious, our brain’s alarm system (the fight-flight-freeze) can feel ready to go off at any minute and we can be living on our nerves pretty much a lot of the time. Giving each task a beginning and an end can also help, so that each task feels new and has a completion before you begin a new one.

I was not surprised to read that one in ten women aged between 30 and 40 visit the doctor for depression and anxiety thanks to increasing stress of career, raising children and, no surprises here, the often toxic influence of social media. The sooner you can accept that in your life, the easier it will be to enjoy actually being a mother. Studieshave shown that mindfulness can positively impact children’smental health, wellbeing, mood, self‐esteem, self‐regulation, positive behaviour, and academic learning. More importantly, understanding this, can help us create a self-care routine or build in helpful techniques into our lives. Mindfulness meditation involves sitting silently and paying attention to thoughts, sounds, the sensations of breathing or parts of the body, bringing your attention back whenever the mind starts to wander.This could be the general busyness of our minds or the noise from our children’s overexcitement, whinging or crying. Part 3: expand your attention and do a quick body scan, notice how you feel from the top of your head to the tips of your toes, working your way down and focusing on the face, neck, shoulders and so on.