Mindfulness is a form of intentional and compassionate attention. It is a foundation that supports us to be with and be curious about whatever arises in the present moment with openness, discernment, and non-judgmental awareness. More than just a stress reduction technique, mindfulness helps us create a more compassionate, kind, and wise relationship to our lived experience in all of its complexity. Mindfulness asks us to stay with what we are experiencing, and to patiently attune to the sensations, emotions, and thoughts of our bodies, hearts, and minds without attachment. As we begin to develop a deeper capacity to be with and relate to the moment with more gentleness and ease - rather than giving in to our habitual behavioral or emotional reactions - we can open to new possibilities of being and relating to ourselves and others. Mindfulness is a relational practice that supports us to show up in our lives and in our relationships with more courage, sensitivity, authenticity, and loving-kindness. It is also a path to healing and liberation.
Families, however defined, are important sources of love and support, attachment building, social-emotional learning, and joy. Families are also places of relational complexity and familial relationships can push us beyond our preconceived capacities to love and grow. In our families and intimate relationships we experience our deepest bonds that can both sustain and lift us, and cause great discomfort or pain in the ways we are challenged to be in relationship with each other and ourselves. Because these bonds are so impactful, they can be the most activating of the habitual, reactive emotional and behavioral patterns that no longer serve us. Additional factors that inform our lived experience, such as sociocultural contexts, intergenerational legacies, intersectional identity, institutional & systemic oppression, work, school, and/or financial instability, also play into relational dynamics, impacting how well we can be in loving and empathetic relationship with those closest to us. These external and internal factors create the causes and conditions of our relational lives, including our strengths and our challenges.
The Mindful Families Project (MFP) framework is constructed from the insights and wisdom teachings of Indo-Tibetan contemplative practices, family systems therapy, somatic, mind/body processes, contemporary attachment theory, anti-oppressive & anti-racist praxis, and in interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB).
The MFP framework is deeply rooted in a commitment to racial and social justice, and healing the traumas of intergenerational and systemic oppression. MFP holds the understanding that our social locations, subjectivities, and intersectional identities are profoundly and intimately interconnected to our lived experiences and relationships. MFP honors these experiences and encourages them to be shared, witnessed, and understood alongside a significant and trusted other.
By introducing contemplative practices and/or therapy into your or your family's life, you can start to develop the relationally resilient capacity to meet life's challenges with more clarity, compassion, and spaciousness.
Families, however defined, are important sources of love and support, attachment building, social-emotional learning, and joy. Families are also places of relational complexity and familial relationships can push us beyond our preconceived capacities to love and grow. In our families and intimate relationships we experience our deepest bonds that can both sustain and lift us, and cause great discomfort or pain in the ways we are challenged to be in relationship with each other and ourselves. Because these bonds are so impactful, they can be the most activating of the habitual, reactive emotional and behavioral patterns that no longer serve us. Additional factors that inform our lived experience, such as sociocultural contexts, intergenerational legacies, intersectional identity, institutional & systemic oppression, work, school, and/or financial instability, also play into relational dynamics, impacting how well we can be in loving and empathetic relationship with those closest to us. These external and internal factors create the causes and conditions of our relational lives, including our strengths and our challenges.
The Mindful Families Project (MFP) framework is constructed from the insights and wisdom teachings of Indo-Tibetan contemplative practices, family systems therapy, somatic, mind/body processes, contemporary attachment theory, anti-oppressive & anti-racist praxis, and in interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB).
The MFP framework is deeply rooted in a commitment to racial and social justice, and healing the traumas of intergenerational and systemic oppression. MFP holds the understanding that our social locations, subjectivities, and intersectional identities are profoundly and intimately interconnected to our lived experiences and relationships. MFP honors these experiences and encourages them to be shared, witnessed, and understood alongside a significant and trusted other.
By introducing contemplative practices and/or therapy into your or your family's life, you can start to develop the relationally resilient capacity to meet life's challenges with more clarity, compassion, and spaciousness.