Meditation - A Calm Approach to Caring for Yourself and Your Children

Are you all as busy as I am? Are you just surviving the day? Do you spend all your time ruminating about the past or dreaming of the future? I am often amazed at all the thoughts scurrying through my head. While feeding the kids their dinner and discussing the day’s events, I am also thinking about the washing machine that is full of wet clothes and how I need to go to the bank. This monkey mind is a hard habit to break and sometimes not so practical. By the time I get home from work it’s late, and I have to multitask to get everything done!

We have heard that living with this stress chronically can be unhealthy but western medicine still doesn’t know a lot about the mind-body interaction. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM.org) has been looking at the connection between the mind and health for many years now. When we are stressed the sympathetic nervous system (i.e., part of the autonomic nervous system) activates the fight-or-flight response. Physically it causes the heart rate to elevate as well as the breathing. The blood vessels narrow and the muscles tighten. This is helpful when we are under attack because it mobilizes us for action. But what if we’re just busy? We are not preparing to fight a war or run from a lion; we’re just trying to balance family and work and our own needs. It is thought that meditation helps with stress by activating our parasympathetic nervous system (i.e., the other part of the autonomic nervous system) and helping our body relax. This is the rest and digest response. The heart rate and breathing slows and the vessels dilate. Our bodies relax and enter a state of calm.

This state of calm brings enormous benefits to us as well as our children. Author Sarah Napthali reminds us in Buddhism for Mothers: A Calm Approach to Caring for Yourself and Your Children: “The more healthy, positive and kind our minds are, the more happiness we can experience and the more benefits for our children”. It’s a great book and a good place to start if you’re interested in meditation and the benefits with regards to parenting. I will talk more about this and the mind-body connection in future columns. Until then relax….

Please e-mail me if you have questions or comments…


Dr. Sheila Cason