Can a mindfulness practice make you a better parent?

If you’re a parent looking for strategies to support your child through the unique challenges 2020 has thrown at us, the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion at Cambridge Health Alliance is hosting a virtual workshop tonight that might help.

The workshop, called Mindful Parenting, will look at parenting and family needs through the particular lens of post traumatic growth and resilience, according to the program description.

If you’re not familiar with mindfulness, it’s a practice similar to meditation that can be helpful when faced with stressful situations like parenting, or simply being alive in 2020.

Being mindful helps us stay present and aware in the moment, responding appropriately to meet our needs. Practiced over time, it provides a tool for better managing our stress and building resilience to it.

Basically, mindfulness practice is the perfect response for a stressful year like 2020.

Seen through a child’s eyes, the past 10 months have been a rollercoaster of change where they’ve had little to no control over the daily disruptions the virus has brought to their lives. Faced with changes to school schedules, social and athletic experiences, children have faced greater isolation, increased uncertainty, and fears about the virus.

Tonight’s workshop offers parents mindfulness strategies they can use to help their children respond to stress in healthier ways. It “will highlight mindfulness-based lessons and coping strategies for parents as this challenging year comes to a close,” according to the program description.

The program will be led by Yasemin Isler, MA, who, according to her bio, is a coach, teacher and mentor for mindful living for all ages and has practiced mindfulness training for over 30 years. She has completed teacher training at both the UMASS and UCSD Centers for Mindfulness and is a developer and presenter of programs on parenting and on grief in the Boston area.

This workshop is part of the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion’s free daily live-online mindfulness and compassion practice series. It will be held from 8-9 p.m. tonight. Registration is required and there is a suggested donation of $25 for participating.