…..…Happy Mothers Day to you for every day of the year…..Mothers Day has well and truly been, and like mine I hope you received home made cards and gifts that your children were excited about giving.  For the first year my husband said “ I haven’t gotten you anything for mothers day” and my response “that’s good”, as I was loving the excitement my eldest daughter was expressing by giving me things she had made at Kinder, Creche and Bunnings ,(yes Bunnings had an evening where fathers could take their children to make things for their mums). But my mother’s day is not the reason for this article….I want to introduce the concept of Mindful Breathing. Breathing! I hear you mutter, yes, we all know how to do it, and need to do it in order to stay alive! However, how often are you aware of your breathing and mindful to it?  Not often!  As a counsellor integrating mindfulness, I have begun to see the positive results ‘mindfulness’ can offer.

Mindfulness, is seeing objectively, being present, being in the moment - truly living, feeling, seeing it. If you haven’t read ‘Buddhism for Mothers’ by Sarah Napthali, I strongly recommend you do (you can order her books  here at www.jellyfishconnection.com). Without stating the obvious being a mother is busy, constantly on the go with something to do, things half done, which can leave us feeling overwhelmed, stressed, anxious…and the list goes on. 

Mindful Breathing is a great way to bring you back to the now…try it now, as no doubt whilst you have been reading this you have probably had to go back and re read a sentence or two as your mind had wandered.  Start focussing on your breath, breathe in….. breathe out….. become aware of the breath…. allow the breath to become effortless and natural….. some breaths will be deeper than others…when you find your mind has wandered, gently bring your awareness back to your breath, this may happen a lot, that’s okay, without judgement, be aware of the breath in…..and breath out.  Try and do this for at least a minute.

Next time you are feeling overwhelmed, or thoughts are going around and around in your mind, or you are on auto pilot…..focus on your breath and come back to the now.  This is just one of many techniques related to Mindfulness and is a great one for those of us who are time poor. And as an advocate of Self Care, this one is free and you can do mindful breathing, any time, anywhere.

Eryka Rhodes is the director of 'Looking Forward Counselling. Eryka can help you learn techniques to unlock your inner strength using Counselling Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with Mindfulness.   Integrating the two methods helps you to understand why you feel and react the way you do.