Shonda Moralis MSW - Breathe, Mama, Breathe: 5-Minute Mindfulness for Busy Moms

Breathe, Mama, Breathe is a breath of fresh air for stressed-out moms. At once practical and creative, author Shonda Moralis offers mindfulness tools and strategies for real-life moms needing peace, calm, and centeringalong with a dash of compassion and humor that come from her own experiences as both a mom and a long-time mindfulness expert. This is an excellent and much-needed book!

DONALD ALTMAN, MA, LPC, author of Clearing Emotional Clutter, One-Minute Mindfulness, and The Mindfulness Toolbox

Breathe, Mama, Breathe is filled with wise, helpful, and perhaps most importantly, totally doable practices for busy mothers. Im so grateful Shonda wrote this gem of a book!

CARLA NAUMBURG, PHD, author of Ready, Set, Breathe: Practicing Mindfulness with Your Children for Fewer Meltdowns and a More Peaceful Family

Breathe, Mama, Breathe is a fun, practical guide to paying attention. Shonda Moralis shows us that mindfulness isnt about finding more time in the dayits about savoring the moments we have.

LEIGH ANN HENION, New York Timesbestselling author of Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurers Search for Wonder in the Natural World

Through honest, relatable, and often hilarious stories from her real life as a parent and professional, Shonda Moralis helps busy mamas everywhere understand the physical, emotional, and social benefits of consistent mindfulness practice. With dozens of practical, realistic ways to incorporate mindfulness into even the busiest of schedules, this is a book I will use over and over again!

SIGNE WHITSON, LSW, author of 8 Keys to End Bullying: Strategies for Parents and Schools and How to Be Angry: An Assertive Anger Expression Group Guide for Kids and Teens

Packed full of practical, totally doable mindfulness practices that can fit seamlessly into anyones daily routine, Breathe, Mama, Breathe offers effective ways to become more present and mindfulsending all of your excuses right out the window. This is not just a helpful resource; beautifully readable and wise, its essential reading for every mom (and dad!) trying to navigate parentingand daily lifein a mindful way.

KIRA WILLEY, award-winning songwriter and kids yoga expert, creator of Rockin Yoga school programs, and author of the upcoming childrens book Back Seat Yoga (Rodale)

Breathe, Mama, Breathe: 5-Minute Mindfulness for Busy Moms
Copyright 2017 by Shonda Moralis

Excerpt from May I Suggest by Susan Werner reprinted with permission. Copyright Susan Werner, 2001 (Frank Chance Music, ASCAP)

All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or online reviews, no portion of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Moralis, Shonda, author.
Title: Breathe, mama, breathe : 5-minute mindfulness for busy moms / Shonda
Moralis, MSW, LCSW.
Description: New York : Experiment, [2017] | Includes bibliographical
references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016025924 (print) | LCCN 2016044066 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Awareness. | Self-consciousness (Awareness) | Mindfulness (Psychology) | Parenthood.
Classification: LCC BF311 .M6297 2017 (print) | LCC BF311 (ebook) | DDC 155.3/339--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016025924

Ebook ISBN 978-1-61519-357-8

Cover and text design by Sarah Smith
Author photograph by Elaine Zelker

To my parents, Linda and Richard Bear

And to Erik, Anika, and Ben

With immeasurable love and gratitude

In giving birth to our babies, we may find that we give birth to new possibilities within ourselves.
MYLA AND JON KABAT-ZINN

How are you?

Good... busy. Really busy!

Sound familiar? Busy is the standard mom reply. Our kids are highly enriched; our homes are clean(ish); weve taken on yet another commitment and are valiantly attempting to keep it all together. What I want to know is this: How are you really?

Fulfilled? Content? At ease? If you dig down for an honest answer, your eyes may fill with tears as you admit to an emotional, overwhelmed no. Honest answers may sound more like this:

• I am stressed out, exhausted, and have no time for myself.
• The balance is off in my life. The pace feels too frantic and out of control.
• I yell at my children more than I enjoy them.
• Even when I am spending time with my kids, I am often distractedly running through my to-do list or checking my phone once again.
• I feel guilty that I am not doing enough. How do all those other moms manage to balance it all?

Ive found that with just five minutes a day of consistent mindfulness meditation practice, however, my day is much different:

• I remain more calm and aware throughout the day.
• I am more in control of my responses to stressful situations rather than reacting habitually and in less-than-ideal ways.
• I look forward to those five minutes of quiet, rest, and calm and miss them when a day passes without them.
• I feel more connected with my children, partner, and the simple things in life.
• I have learned to automatically drop my tense shoulders and take a few full breaths throughout the day.
• I smile more, laugh more, and play more.

The term mindfulness seems to be omnipresent these days. Just google it and you can spend hours lost in practically infinite sources of information about it and its applications. Everyones doing it: Oprah, the Seattle Seahawks, Congressman Tim Ryan, and companies such as Google, Apple, and IBM. Time magazine even had a cover story entitled The Mindful Revolution. But what exactly is mindfulness?

Have you ever gotten into your car and arrived at a destination with little recollection of actually driving there? Most of us have. This is an example of our minds operating on autopilot, and many busy moms often move through life this waydistracted, only partially aware, and with a chronic sense of missing the moment.