What is Holistic Parenting?
When I started writing my book "Holistic Parenting," this description came to mind because I wanted to look at parenting from the perspective of the various roles I fulfill in my life: (Forensic) Educational Psychologist, mother, Mindful Parenting trainer, family therapist, family counselor, and energy therapist. It wasn't until I was writing that it dawned on me that the common denominator in all these roles is your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies. Balancing these bodies ensures that you feel supported during parenting.
But how do you bring each of these four bodies into balance?
Using exercises, you can bring each body into balance, making you feel more confident in your parenting and enabling you to raise children with more ease and pleasure.
Physical body
You can use a body-focused exercise, for example, when you feel regret after yelling at your child or saying something unkind. The first step is to notice the physical sensations this evokes. Is this feeling of regret hard or soft, throbbing, or more like tingling and shooting? And where in your body do you feel it? In your lower abdomen, your calves, or perhaps everywhere. Can this feeling of regret be there for a moment? Really felt, so that your body feels fully recognized?
Mental body
An example of a mindset you might want to change is when you think, "Why did I do this?" This often involves a belief like, "I'm not good enough." A mindset shift involves thinking differently, for example, "I'm a parent, I'm learning, and I'm allowed to make mistakes." These thoughts are channeled into your subconscious through meditation and then become your new belief.
Emotional body
Examples of emotion-focused exercises are practical energy exercises. For example, my daughter experienced blackouts during tests at the beginning of high school. Through simple, home-based energy exercises, she was able to feel and process her fears and the associated energy, and take the tests with the right focus.
Spiritual body
An example of a spiritually oriented practice is spreading love; truly seeing, hearing, and feeling your child and yourself. I wasn't raised religious at all, and I didn't really think about religion, spirituality, etc., my whole life until I read about spirituality as expanding love. That's when I was convinced, because that's what I want to contribute to.
In summary
Holistic parenting is raising children through awareness of multiple dimensions, such as emotions, thoughts, love, and your body. By strengthening these dimensions, you, as a parent, will feel supported to parent with joy and ease and guide your child to experience happiness and confidence.