Tá Lá na Máithreacha ar an Domhnach! Agus mar sin beidh mé ag caint ar mháithreacha agus aireachas sa bhlag seo! Chomh maith leis sin, tá mo chead chúrsa eile do dhaoine fásta le tosú i ndiaidh na Cásca agus b’fhéidir go mbeidh suim ag cuid de na máithreacha sin ann. Just Relax for Adults is ainm don chúrsa mar beimid ag ligint ár scíth, ag tógáil sosa agus ag suigh linn féin ar feadh uaire an chloig in aghaidh na seachtaine. Sa bhlag seo tá mé ag iarraidh labhairt faoin maitheas a dhéanann cleachtadh aireachais do mháithreacha agus faoin éifeacht maith a bhíonn aige ar an teaghlach ar fad.

Mother’s Day on Sunday and I have started advertising my next adult mindfulness course. This course is called Just Relax for Adults as relaxing, resting and sitting with ourselves is a lot of what we will be doing so for this blog I want to talk a little about the benefits of mindfulness for mothers and how taking time out for yourself.

Tá sé ríthábhachtach go dtugann muid aire dúinn féin, ní rud é gur féidir leat neamhaird a dhéanamh air ar feadh rófhada agus mar sin, má tá aon mháithreacha amuigh ansin ag mothú ciontach toisc go siad ag smaoineamh ar rud éigin a dhéanamh dóibh féin, beidh ort neamhaird a dhéanamh ar an mothúchán sin. Más duine agus máthair níos séimhe thú déanfaidh sé maitheas don chlann ar fad! Mar a thuigfidh tú ar ball.   

Self-care is essential, not a luxury, so anyone feeling any mum-guilt needs to push it aside because you practicing mindfulness, self-care and relaxation can actually benefit your whole family.

Toisc go mbímse ag obair le páistí agus máithreacha go minic cloisim go leor cainte ó na máithreacha sin faoin a bheith ag mothú ciontach. Mothaíonn siad ciontach toisc go bhfuil faitíos orthu go ndúirt siad nó go ndearna siad rud éigin mícheart, bíonn siad buartha go bhfuil na páistí ag cailliúint amach ar am lena gcairde, tá eagla orthu nach bhfuil an bia a chuireann siad ar fáil maith go leor, nó go bhfuil siad ar scáileáin rófhada...agus leanann sé ar aghaidh. Nuair a smaoiníonn tú go bhfuil seo ar fad in intinn máithreacha cheana féin, luíonn sé le ciall go mbeadh siad ag mothú ciontach agus iad ag iarraidh ama leo féin, ar mhaithe leo féin.

Mum-guilt is something I’ve heard every mother talk about in my classes. They feel guilty that they may have said or done the wrong thing, they worry that their child is missing out on essential developmental and social activities, they worry if they are providing the most nutritional food, or the amount of screen time their child consumes. The list goes on. All of this guilt and worry that that mothers are experiencing means that it is no surprise that when it comes to taking time out for themselves so many experience the mum guilt all over again.

Dúirt dalta a bhí i mo chúrsa deireanach do dhaoine fásta gur mhothaigh sí ciontach gach seachtain nuair a bhí uirthi a hiníon a fhágáil lena athair agus í ag teacht chugainn don chúrsa. Mhothaigh sí go dona agus í ag iarraidh rud éigin a dhéanamh dí féin nuair a bhí sé ‘de cheart’ aici a bheith lena hiníon. 

A student in my adult Cultivating Inner Kindness course told me this week that every time she has to leave her daughter with her dad in order for her to attend my course, she feels guilty. She feels bad for doing something for herself when she ‘should’ be with her daughter. 

Lean an dalta céanna ar aghaidh ag teacht go dtí na ranganna, in ainneoin an mothúchán seo agus bheartaigh sí teacht go dtí an cúrsa ar an gcéad lá mar thuig sí go ndéanfadh sé maitheas di féin agus dá hiníon dá má rud é go raibh sí féin ag cleachtadh aireachais. Thuig sí go gcruthóidh sé atmaisféar níos síochánta ina hintinn féin agus mar sin go mbeadh atmaisféar níos síochánta sa teach dá hiníon. Ach níl an tuiscint sin ag gach duine agus sin an fáth go bhfuil mise anseo daoibh!  

The student continued coming to the classes and even signed up in the first place because she knows that her practicing mindfulness creates a calmer, more peaceful mind for herself and then in turn she is able to provide a calmer atmosphere for her daughter to live in. However, not everyone is aware of this so I’m here to help you! 

Laghdaíonn cleachtadh aireachais strus agus buaireamh. Cruthaíonn sé atmaisféar síochánta agus socair istigh ionat féin. Le linn an chleachtaidh, bogann muid ár n-aird amach as ár gcloigeann gnóthach agus isteach sa cholainn. Tugann muid aird dár gcosa, ár lámha agus go dtí an anáil. Níl tú in ann a bheith ag smaoineamh ar rudaí difriúla má tá d’aird ar do cholainn agus ar an méid atá ag tarlú istigh ionat féin ag an nóiméad sin. Tá fianaise ann a léiríonn má tá duine amháin sa teach ag cleachtadh aireachais airíonn gach duine eile sa teach difir.

Mindfulness helps to relieve stress and anxiety and it creates a sense of peace and calm as we move our attention out of our ever-busy mind and into our physical body. It has been proven that if one person in the household practices mindfulness that it benefits everyone in the household.

Agus tú airdeallach ar do cholainn agus an bealach go n-airíonn sé tosaíonn tú ag tabhairt faoi deara go dtagann na smaointe chugat ar aon nós. Le linn an chleachtaidh táimid ag iarraidh fios a bheith againn go bhfuil na smaointe ann ach níl muid ag iarraidh ligint dóibh smacht a bheith acu orainn. Tarlaíonn sé rómhinic dúinn ar fad go mbíonn muid ag smaoineamh ar rud éigin agus ní a fhios againn conas ar tháinig muid ar an ábhar sin. Más féidir linn ár smaointe a aithint ciallaíonn sé sin gur féidir linn seasamh siar uathu agus breáthú orthu agus le cleachtadh agus le himeacht ama beidh tú in ann an cleachtadh sin a thabhairt amach sa saol agus beidh sé níos fusa duit seasamh siar agus smaoineamh ar do fhreagra in ionad an chéad rud a thagann chugat a rá. Bíonn muid ag iarraidh tuigmháil nach ionann ár smaointe agus an fhirinne.    

Mindfulness and meditation teaches us to become aware of our thoughts so that our thoughts do not have control over us. All too often we find ourselves thinking about something and we don’t even know how we got onto that subject. A mindfulness practice helps us to gain control of our thoughts. As we learn to step back from our thoughts we can become aware of how we think and what we think. This in turn results in us being able to step back from situations as they arise in our life, we can step back and assess what to say and do. We learn to respond and not to react. 

Samhlaigh anois gur máthair thú atá ag mothú síochánta agus séimh istigh i do cholainn agus d’intinn féin. An dóigh leat go mbeidh éifeacht ar an síocháin sin ar do chlann?

Now, imagine that you are a mother who feels a sense of peace and calm in your body and mind. How do you think that peace would affect your family? 

Creideann go leor daoine go bhfuil go leor oibre i gceist leis an aireachas a chleachtadh. Síleann siad go gcaithfidh siad rud sa bhreis a dheanamh le go mbeidh cleachtadh acu ach tá mise anseo le hinsint duit nach bhfuil sin fíor!

A lot of people think that to practice mindfulness you have to put work into it. It can be thought of as something else to add to an already full to-do list but I am here to tell you that that doesn’t have to be the case! 

Táimid ar fad an-ghnóthach cheana féin agus níl aon rud eile uainn sa saol le rudaí a dhéanamh níos gnóthaí! Agus leis an smaoineamh sin, le haireachas a chleachtadh ní gá duit ach a bheith airdeallach ar an méid atá tú ag déanamh cheana féin. An tseachtain seo caite labhair mé ar an gcaoi gur féidir leat suigh nó a bheith má tá tú ag iarraidh suigh síos go ciúin in áit éigin leis an aireachas a chleachtadh. Bhí mé ag déanamh tagartha do chleachtadh ar leith; nuair atá am ar leith agat le gur féidir leat suigh síos agus a bheith ciúin. Muna bhfuil am mar sin agat is féidir leat aireachas a chleachtadh ag úsáid rudaí a dhéanann tú cheana féin.

We are all already really busy, we don’t need to add anything else to our lists and so that is how we can practice mindfulness. We can use something we already do and simply bring a mindful awareness to it and voila! We have a mindfulness practice! Last week I spoke about how to sit or lie when you are practicing mindfulness but that blog referred to a seated meditation practice, if that is what you have time to do or what you want to do but sitting in quiet meditation is not the only way to practice mindfulness.

Mar shampla, is féidir leat cleachtadh aireachais a dhéanamh as do bhricfeasta. Bí airdeallach ar an mbia a roghnaíonn tú le hithe, bí airdeallach ar an mbealach go ndéanann tú an bia sin réidh agus mothaigh an bia sin i do bhéal, an blas, conas a mothaíonn sé agus tú críochnaithe. An ólann tú aon rud? An bhfuil an rud sin té nó fuar, cén boladh atá aige.

For example you can practice mindfulness when you are having your breakfast. You can become aware of your food choices, the colours of your food, what you do in order to prepare it, how does your food taste? Do you drink anything? What does your drink of taste look like, taste like, smell like?

Agus sin do chleachtadh aireachais. Ní gá duit rud mór casta a dhéanamh as, coinnigh go simplí é agus beidh sé i bhfad níos fusa duit!

And that is your mindfulness practice. Please don’t make it more complicated then that, because it is not complicated! Mindfulness is simply the practice of bring awareness to what we are doing so if you bring that awareness to whatever you are doing then you are practicing mindfulness. Simple.