Key Takeaways:
[4:11] Why Dr. Willard first became interested in mindfulness and meditation
[7:40] How breath is a superpower
[11:37] Benefits of mindfulness that are not always talked about
[15:40] How to make mindfulness more fun for kids
[21:13] How often Dr. Willard exposed his own children to mindfulness
[26:13] What to do when visualization is more difficult for someone
[29:51] How adults can bring mindfulness into their daily lives
[32:31] A challenge to the listeners
Memorable Moments:
“If we can regulate our breath, we can regulate our body…If we’re regulating our body, we’re regulating our nervous system. Our brain is the biggest part of our nervous system. And then we’re regulating our impulses, our attention, our emotions, all of these things that everybody struggles with, but kids with attention issues and executive function challenges really tend to struggle with.”
“Just by shifting the way that we breathe, we actually can shift our attention and shift gears and meet the moment for what’s required of us.”
“If your computer’s not working, what do they say? Hit the reset button. It works 90% of the time. We humans have a reset button for our brain, and it’s in the bottom of our lungs.”
“I know how to create stressed out, miserable students who are unfocused. You just surround them with stressed out, miserable distracted parents and teachers and adults… If we want our kids to be well regulated and present and focused and mindful we need to surround them with adults who are doing this.”
“Mindfulness is contagious. Focus is contagious. Calm is contagious. Self-regulation is contagious.”
“Finding these ways to keep ourselves well-regulated…that’s actually more important than saying to your kid, ‘Go do some breathes’…because then they’re learning it through modeling, and they’re learning it experientially.”
“This is at least as important – if not more important – for parents and caregivers as it is for the kids themselves.”
“What matters with mindfulness is not that you know 20 different ways of meditating but that you know 1 or 2 that are going to work for you…and a few of those that you can share with your kids.”
How to Connect with Christopher Willard
Website: https://www.drchristopherwillard.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drchriswillard/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drchriswillard
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drchriswillard/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/drchriswillard
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