How To Add Mindfulness To Your Routine As A Mom

Wouldn’t it be nice to have more time to practice mindfulness?

As a new mom, running my own business, with two puppies at home, and the intention to grow our family more in the future, finding time to practice mindfulness is something that could easily get pushed to the side.

But just like cutting out exercise, when you cut out personal development, you end up falling into unhealthy habits.

This is why it has remained such a high priority for me, despite finding it challenging at times to fit it in.

As a Mindfulness Coach for moms, I’ve also been able to help thousands of moms with prioritizing mindfulness.

Before we get started, if you’re new here, make sure to save this list of mindfulness resources that can help you the most as you go along on your mindfulness journey:

And with that, here are my best tips for how to add mindfulness to your routine as a mom.

Get Committed To Your “Why”

The first part of making time for mindfulness is to really be committed to why you value it.

If you’re interested in mindfulness, but not committed, you’ll never make time for it.

Think of what you’re committed to in your life now. Take your kids for example. If they need to be picked up from school, you pick them up even if you don’t feel like it in the moment. This is what commitment looks like. It’s doing the thing you value even when you experience resistance.

So, ask yourself what mindfulness means to you and why you find it so important.

For me, I would be a crazy person without my personal development practices! Mindfulness helps me keep my head on straight. Not only that, but mindfulness also helps me calm down, enjoy my daily life, and appreciate even the challenging days. Without mindfulness, I end up putting out mini fires all day, from a place of go-go-go, type-A energy. I’m also harsher and more critical of myself when I don’t do my thought work. This is why prioritizing self care is so important to me. It’s how I take care of myself.

What about you? What does mindfulness mean to you and why is it important?

The clearer you are about these answers, the more you’ll be able to commit to your mindfulness practice.

Resources:

Create A Plan In Advance

Once you’re committed, it’s time to create a plan.

Creating a plan in advance means deciding WHEN you’re going to do your mindfulness practice as well as HOW you want to do it.

The key to creating a mindfulness plan that works for you is to make it doable.

It’s fun to imagine having a one or two hour morning routine all to yourself, right? But let’s be honest here, that is likely not your reality right now as a mom! So, we want to make sure your plan is doable.

Ask yourself: when can you realistically and consistently do a mindfulness practice?

For me, I love thinking “the mornings are for me and the days are for them.” Meaning that the mornings are the perfect time for me to get my personal development in, with whatever time I carve out.

If you have kids in school, it may be later in the day that works better for you.

The best advice I have is to do it consistently.

Resources:

Meet Yourself Where You Are

Instead of thinking about your “dream mindfulness routine” I want you to meet yourself where you are.

What could you do for a mindfulness routine easily.

For example, I know many moms say they for sure can do 10 minutes a day of mindfulness in the morning. This is doable and easy. They don’t have resistance.

This is “meeting yourself where you are” instead of aiming for something you’ll never actually do.

At first, your brain may think it’s silly to do that little of something. But don’t listen to that part of your brain. Instead, decide that some is better than none. And that includes 10 minutes.

Here are some examples of creating a mindfulness routine to meet yourself where you are:

  • Plan to do one mindfulness practice first thing in the morning when you wake up for just 10 minutes every day.
  • Commit to doing one longer mindfulness practice for 30 minutes every Friday morning at 9am, after the kids are at school.
  • Stay in your car after you come home from the gym and do one journal prompt to increase your mindfulness. (Download my free journal prompts here.)
  • Tuesdays and Thursdays after your kids’ bedtime routine, plan on practicing 10 minutes of silence. (I show you how to do this in this in this IG post.)

The list above is not exclusive. You can come up with something completely different. It’s here to get your mind thinking about what meeting yourself where you are really can look like.

Let Go Of Mom Guilt

When you feel guilty for taking time away for yourself it’s even more challenging to practice mindfulness.

The storyline playing in the back of your mind is “they need me right now more than I need this.”

And you know what? That may be true.

But only for a bit. The more and more you say yes to everyone else and say no to yourself, the more you fall into unhealthy habits. The more you find yourself letting go of who you are. The more you stop practicing all self care. And the more you struggle. Before you know it, you’re stuck in a rut with a negative mindset.

  • Side note—if you’re feeing this way, I got you. CLICK HERE to get the How To Copy With Negative Thoughts FREE CLASS.

The truth is, as women we’re taught to “do everything for everyone always.” And this means at the expense of ourselves. So, we have to retrain our brains to think differently. We have to decide that our lives matter and that our inner peace matters most. This way, we can show up in a way we’re most proud of in all areas of our lives.

A Final Note

Adding mindfulness to your routine isn’t a luxury—it’s a must. It will help you decrease anxiety and overwhelm from the inside out. This is doing the inner work on yourself, and it matters. It matters because you matter, mama.