DT | Mindful Parenting with Amy Zoe Schonhoff

Parenting can be one of the most challenging roles of our lives—yet few of us walk into it having the inner resources and skill sets it demands. Mindfulness practices can be a great source of refuge while managing the challenges of modern-day parenting. Over thirty years of research has empirically demonstrated that developing the skills of mindfulness can reduce stress and anxiety, improve well-being, increase relationship satisfaction, adaptability, empathy, and compassion.

"Being a mindful parent means living with greater awareness of our moment-to-moment experience while cultivating a nonjudgmental acceptance of ourselves and our children."

Developing the capacity to be mindful within the parent-child relationship can ameliorate the stress of parenting, foster emotional connection between parent and child and support a child's capacity for self-reflection.

During this program, participants will:

• Be introduced to a working definition of mindful parenting
• Understand the underpinnings of mindful parenting
• Learn how mindful parenting can positively influence our relationships with ourselves, our connection with our children, and support our children in developing their own self-awareness

Speaker Bio:

Amy Zoe Schonhoff is the founder of Mindfulness in the Heartland, a venture dedicated to providing education and training in mindfulness-based interventions. Through her writing, public speaking and teaching, it is her intention to inspire others to live as if every moment matters.

Amy’s life has been significantly influenced by a personal mindfulness practice for over twenty-five years. While studying as an undergraduate in psychology, she was introduced to a mindfulness-based meditation practice that deeply influenced her and provided a sense of peace she had long sought. This introduction began a slow and steady process that began to transform her and the trajectory of her life. 

Many years later, while working as a human resources professional, it became evident to her the enormous benefits the cultivation of present-moment awareness had to offer others—not only in the workplace, but in every facet of life. The question she was left to consider was how to teach mindfulness in a way that the practices and principles could be transmitted to others through a secular (non-religious) lens? Perhaps not ironically, it was at this time of exploration that Amy was introduced to the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). It didn’t take long before she knew this was the answer to her question.

Amy is now a qualified teacher of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), through the UMass Medical School’s Center for Mindfulness. She is also a trained Mindful Schools Educator with additional instruction in Mindful and Nonviolent Communication (NVC).

As a mother, Amy has found the practice of mindful parenting to be a significant source of refuge while managing the stress that comes with raising children. Not surprisingly, she is particularly enthusiastic to share this body of work with parents, educators and child care providers.

To support the deepening of practice for people living in the Midwest, Amy currently serves as the Vice President of Mid America Dharma, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making Insight Meditation available in the central region of the United States. When she is not busy chasing her children around or talking with folks about mindfulness, you will probably find her with her nose in a book, knitting, tending to her garden or meditating.