Care for Caregivers

I'm Samantha, a kids and family mindfulness expert. In these difficult moments, parents, teachers and caregivers face unique challenges. Whether it's planning homeschool routines, changing diapers between video meetings, or simply keeping kids entertained at home or during class. When we focus on caring for others it can be especially hard to remember to find time to care for ourselves throughout the day. So today I'll be sharing a few different ways you can prioritize self care while still caring for others. But before we begin, let's do a short meditation. Welcome back. Let's jump right in. As a caregiver teacher or parent, you may be finding it hard to find space in the day to check in with yourself while navigating the uncertain circumstances we're currently facing. It can be tempting to always put the needs of the people we're responsible for ahead of our own, but it's important that we make sure our own needs are being met so we can fully be present when caring for others. Any difficult emotion can make us feel more lonely automatically. We feel separate from others and isolated with our feelings. So it can be useful in these moments to take a breath and remember that many other people around the world are feeling this way too. So I'm going to share a few techniques that you can use throughout the day to practice self care while still caring for others. (upbeat music) If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed it can be useful to just take a moment to acknowledge the difficult feeling by saying this is hard in the same instinctual way you would say ouch if you bumped your knee on the corner of a table. An acronym that I find helpful is STOP, which stands for stop what you're doing, take a deep breath, observe sensations in your body, and then proceed. When we acknowledge our discomfort this way we're attuning to ourselves, bringing compassion instead of suppressing the feeling. Once you take a moment to attune to and label what you're feeling and acknowledge it with compassion, you'll have more bandwidth to be present for the ones you're caring for. (upbeat music) Another great technique I like to use is an exercise called compassionate breathing. This is a great exercise because it can be done discreetly while you're interacting with others. To begin take a deep breath and send yourself compassion with the inhale. And as you exhale, send compassion to the person you're caring for. On the deep breath in, you're sending kindness to yourself and attuning with your experience as if to say I see you, I see how hard this is. As you breathe out, you're sending kindness to the struggling student, the child, or a sick family member that you're caring for. You can repeat this a few more times while taking deep breaths and thinking, as I inhale I'm caring for me and as I exhale, I'm caring for you. And just...