116-“1‑Minute Mindfulness Hacks for Stressed Parents of Teens & A 40 Day Reset

#ParentingTeens #MindfulParenting #SelfCareForMoms

When the school day ends, the homework starts, the grocery list never shrinks, and the “me‑time” you promised yourself feels like a distant memory—how can you stay calm, present, and energized? In this raw, un‑edited WTF episode, I share the mindfulness practice that has kept me centered for years and show how a single minute can re‑wire your brain for lasting peace.

I also introduce The Cleansing Within, a 40‑day guided fall‑reset that blends Kundalini yoga, Yoga Nidra, holistic wellness and sensory‑friendly mindfulness—perfect for parents of teens who feel stretched thin but still want to show up fully for their families.

👉 Ready to try a micro‑mindfulness habit? Set a timer for ONE minute tonight, breathe, stretch, or read a page. Share your experience in the comments or DM me!

🔗 Links to the program, resources, and the show notes are in the description below.

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Speaker 1
00:04 - 00:27
Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of Parenting Teens Advice Redefined. This is the WTF series. Welcome to Friday, or what the foop you get to decide based on the week you've had. And I'm sitting here with my Disco coffee if you are ever in Cambridge, Ontario, you need to look up disco coffee.

Speaker 1
00:27 - 01:21
They're not my sponsor I just love this stuff when I need to refuel the stuff is amazing. The place is amazing So if you get a chance pop in read a magazine have a coffee and there's my tip for today So The WTF series is real and raw and honest and of course I'm always honest in my podcast if you've ever listened but also uncut and unedited which means I will totally screw things up in this process so just get ready for it. So today I wanted to talk about and I sprinkle this in I think all of my podcast episodes in some way shape or form and that is the topic of mindfulness the kind of practice that I have been doing for years and years.

Speaker 1
01:21 - 01:58
And, you know, I just wanted to share with you that when you get into these kind of practices, and it can be anything, it can be meditation, it can be walking, it can be being out in nature, it can be just grounding, it can be journaling, visualization, whatever it is for you. The results that I have from doing these practices for literally years, and this is a season of my life where I can get up early and I can have a slow morning and I can take an hour to do these things. But it wasn't always like that.

Speaker 1
01:58 - 02:43
When the kids were running around and we had things to do and work to get to, it could have been just three minutes hiding in the bathroom just to take a breath. But I notice the differences that are usually very, very subtle. And when you come up against a really challenging time or even just an event, It takes me a few minutes to realize that 10 years ago, there would be a very different reaction from me. It almost allows me to build up this bubble of, they call, equanimity, where nothing really gets to the core of you.

Speaker 1
02:44 - 03:16
an event happens a distraction happens and You feel like okay, that's it. That's over there and it's doing whatever it's doing because It needs to do it or I'm learning something from it. But deep down inside you have the super solid calm feeling and you don't even realize until you think oh Why am I not reacting like this? Or somebody says to you, I can't believe you're so calm.

Speaker 1
03:16 - 03:42
I can't believe you're still smiling after all this. And that's what this practice does. As summer starts to wind down, do you feel like crap? Do you say to yourself, oh, I made all these promises to myself to find time, to find some ease, to find some joy, maybe get a little slice of relief from what can often feel like a constant push to get things done.

Speaker 1
03:42 - 04:07
Get the kids to practice, pick them up from the mall, clean, groceries, the summer vacation, hopes of relaxing are marred by the extra work it takes to even get there. You got to extra grocery shop and plan a different list and get a dog sitter and pack and unpack. Listen, by the time the holiday is over, two days later, do you even remember if you had any time to relax? I remember those weekends.

Speaker 1
04:08 - 04:50
And then sometimes we make these massive promises to ourselves about self-care practice. But if they are huge and overwhelming, it goes against everything in your well-attentioned goal. So, I invite you to consider starting your practices with these tiny wins that in the moment might feel so insignificant, but I promise if they are not, try that again, Cheryl, but I promise they are not insignificant. See, unedited, I told you.

Speaker 1
04:51 - 05:16
But if we try one minute of something, breathing, stretching, read one page of the book we haven't cracked open, two pages of that decorator magazine sitting on the coffee table, one minute. Set your timer. And even if you love doing it and you want to keep doing it, when the timer goes off, you stop. Try it for a week.

Speaker 1
05:18 - 05:39
and then maybe increase it to three minutes for the next week and five minutes for the next week. Here's what happens. You stop doing something you are enjoying and you want to keep doing it. you are now rewiring your brain to say, hey, I want more of that.

Speaker 1
05:40 - 05:59
So the next time it's time to do it, you are excited to do it. It's not just something on your checklist. You're excited to do it and isn't that the point? And you are also rewiring your brain to say, You committed to something and you followed through.

Speaker 1
06:00 - 06:44
Instead of making these outrageous commitments to work out at the gym for an hour every day and you quit on the third day because come on, that's ridiculous and you beat yourself up for quitting. Doesn't this make so much sense? So I'd love to kick you off by giving you this little challenge even starting tonight or tomorrow morning, one minute, set your timer, take a breath, take a stretch, pull out the book, whatever it is you really have been just dying to do, but you set your timer and you have to stop after that one minute or a week.

Speaker 1
06:45 - 07:02
And let me know how that goes. And to kick off your fall, I am super excited and super honored. I have joined an extraordinary project as a collaborator. And it is called The Cleansing Within.

Speaker 1
07:02 - 07:26
So this practice I'm challenging you to now. We'll get you ready for this practice in September. It is a 40-day guided practice to release and renew and awaken and come back to yourself and it's not just another wellness challenge or try harder. Listen, this world is already filled with the chaos and the imbalance and the cleansing within.

Speaker 1
07:27 - 07:54
brings you back to just a slice of peace, some ease. It's a space that we step away from the collective noise and into practices that will guide us through. And the best part about this is you are now in a community. There's nothing more isolating than Feeling like you have these practices and wanting to talk to somebody about it but nobody around you understands.

Speaker 1
07:54 - 08:23
Everybody says, oh my God, meditation, I can never sit down, I can never walk, I don't have time. But you want to build this into your life and you know it's important for you. Being surrounded by the people who are doing the same thing is empowering and you get to share your practices and they get to share theirs and you might hear a tip that you didn't know about or you could just spread some love in a community that is spreading love to you.

Speaker 1
08:25 - 08:48
So I'll talk about this program. It brings together the transformative power of kundalini yoga, yoga nidra, holistic wellness and some introspective prompts. It's designed to help you rise above and just connect deeply with yourself. The part of you that knows that you need to find some peace and joy and it's there.

Speaker 1
08:48 - 08:55
You don't have to find it externally. It's helping you find it internally. So you always have the power and control. You don't have to wait.

Speaker 1
08:56 - 09:26
You know, it's not it's not Like I said with community, it's not just a personal journey when you share the space you become part of a growing community Who's committed to the same things you are committed to? So why the fall Fall is a season of reflection, and nature invites us to release what is no longer needed and make space for what's to come. If you think about the trees, they're letting go of their leaves, not because they're dying. It's not loss.

Speaker 1
09:26 - 10:04
They are preparing for growth. and cleansing within is built to align with these rhythms. The daily themes guide you through releasing, nourishing, and awakening so you can move through your own personal transformation with the same grace and purpose that nature offers for us. And my role as a collaborator here, I'm bringing my expertise into making mindfulness accessible for all, especially those who have found trying that traditional meditation or mindfulness and found it so overwhelming and impossible to stick with.

Speaker 1
10:05 - 10:43
My work, particularly with neurodivergence, has taught me how to meet people where they're at. So with methods that invite you to feel and do mindfulness in ways that are flexible or sensory friendly and grounded in real life practical methods. There are approaches you may not have tried before and ways to integrate mindfulness without the pressure to get it right. When it comes to our own self-care, we can't get it wrong when we feel like it's something that we get to do, not something we have to do.

Speaker 1
10:45 - 11:16
A big part of this collaboration is of course with the originator Connie Welsh. I have to say this makes the experience even more powerful because getting to collaborate with Connie Welsh. She is the most incredible osteopath who has transformed my own health. Connie brings this depth of spirituality and holistic understanding and I trust it completely and working alongside her really feels like a natural extension of the healing and transformation I experienced personally.

Speaker 1
11:18 - 11:41
If you are feeling like the pace of life is unrelenting, if you have been feeling like You need more clarity. You need a sense of yourself. You need to connect with yourself. If you want to align with your own rhythms, with nature's wisdom, then this is the space for you.

Speaker 1
11:42 - 12:06
This is not about adding another task to your list. It is about creating moments that refill your energy, restore your balance and reconnect you to yourself. This transformation is subtle and profound at the same time. and it will ripple outward into every relationship and every part of your life.

Speaker 1
12:06 - 12:32
That is a promise. It's a 40-day invitation to live more fully, more present, and more aligned. You will be guided every day by themes that move you gently but powerfully forward. You'll be supported by a community walking the same path, You'll be led by even more amazing practitioners who live this work, including myself and Connie.

Speaker 1
12:34 - 12:58
You don't have to push or force your way into change. You just have to say yes to show up as you are and where you are. I am just really proud and excited to be a part of this and I wanted to share this with you. I'm going to put the link in the show notes, practice with presence, and I would love to have you with us as we move through this season of fall together.

Speaker 1
12:59 - 13:17
Let's reflect, release and make space for the growth we are actually ready for and craving. I can't wait to see what unfolds. If you have questions, feel free to DM me on the socials and I'm more than happy to bring any clarity you may need. Thank you for spending this time with me today.

Speaker 1
13:17 - 13:41
Thank you for allowing me to share this exciting project. Remember, presence is not a luxury, it's a necessity. And when you choose it for yourself, you give permission for everyone around you to do the same. Until next time, take a deep breath, stay curious, and know you're already perfect just as you are.

Speaker 1
13:41 - 13:44
Have a wonderful Friday. We'll see you next week.