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MALAYSIA'S FIRST & ONLY STRUCTURED MINDFULNESS-BASED PROGRAM WHICH IS SUPPORTED BY THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH (MYSIHAT) AND LOCAL RESEARCH (UPM, UM, UKM, SUNWAY U, NUS)...

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Mindful Parenting Group




The concept of mindful parenting is rather new and it was introduced to the group of enthusiastic parents in Kinrara Metta Buddhist Association (KMBA) on the 29th June of 2014. The introductory session illustrated the source of parenting stress, understanding of mindfulness in parenting and ways of to practice mindful parenting. The talk received good responses by the audiences. This served as a good foundation to call upon the group of parents to participate the subsequent training sessions, namely the Mindful Parenting Group. 

There were four sessions conducted throughout the month of July and August. A total of approximate 30 interested parents participated the group training. The group was given training on how to apply mindfulness skills in relating to their children. The topics that were delivered include automatic parenting, self-compassion, applying beginner’s mind in parenting, understanding the influences of family system in parenting, responding vs reacting to parenting stress. Group discussion, group activity, role play and demonstration were used to present the content in order to promote better understanding among the parents.

The content of the delivered topics are summarized as below:

  • -    Automatic Parenting: Understanding how parenting process can become “automatic” that parents learn “reacting” instead of “responding” to daily stressors.

  • -       Self-compassion: Understanding and applying the self-compassion onto parents themselves that to allow space for further improvement.

  • -        Beginner’s mind in parenting: Using new perspectives to observe and understand our children, learn to see them as ‘raisin.’

  • -       Family system in parenting: Learning on how parent’s family of origin could limit the parenting experiences and understanding the subtle influences of how parents were influenced by their past upbringing experiences

  • -        Reacting vs responding to parenting stress: Understanding how parents could react or respond to their children’s problems based on their own expectations and belief system.


The group members were enthusiastic and passionate about learning. They were taught about the concepts of automatic parenting and being guided on how to be aware of their body sensations. In the sessions, parents were guided on reflecting themselves in their parenting role, learning about how to apply beginner’s mind in perceiving their children, applying self-compassion on themselves when they made mistakes, and practicing to respond to their children’s needs with awareness. The group members were also given home practice in order to apply the learnt skills on their parenting experiences.

Being the trainer, I felt honored that I have been given this opportunity to conduct the group sessions in KMBA. Throughout the process, I learnt that this group is a unique group that the participants are truthful and kind to each other. I sensed the group’s respect for each other, especially every time when there was someone shared about him/herself. I like the way the group members encouraged each other by giving space and being patience to listen and take turn to share. Although it was a rather big group for group processing, I felt pleasant and relax that the parents were mindful about the group process and learning to express themselves. I am thankful to all the participants who made this group process as a meaningful learning experience for each other.

Prepared by,
MAY LIU MOY YUB
Clinical Psychologist
KL Buddhist Mental Health Association