The Heart of Parenting (Introductory Course)

“The future is in our hands so the children are the main human beings who will take care of the world.  Taking care of the world is actually taking care of yourselves.” - Dalai Lama

In this introductory course, Arnina Kashtan and Heather Austin invite parents on a courageous and transformational parenting adventure to transcend socialized parenting paradigms and limiting beliefs instilled from their own childhood experiences. Rather than teach parenting techniques or behavior management, their hope is to reconnect parents with their own innate wisdom so they can engage with their children more compassionately and responsively rather than parenting on auto-pilot that is fueled by repetitive patterns.  

Packed with wisdom from their own challenges and discoveries, Arnina and Heather will teach and encourage self-care, self-kindness, and self-compassion, because experience (and science!) has taught them that doing so gives parents more of each to offer their children. Additionally, when children experience settled nervous systems modeled in the home by their parents, they are much less likely to interpret stress as their fault and carry burdens that are not theirs to carry. 

“The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

Arnina and Heather will also share practices and principles for cultivating more presence, awareness, compassion and resilience so parents can show up in ways that are more deeply aligned with their values and dreams. And because children learn more from what parents do than what they say, you will be instilling these same life-serving qualities in your children as you cultivate them within yourself. 

This short introductory course distills a wide range of content, while allowing some space for deep engagement in order to receive these benefits: 

• Compassion for yourself through understanding why your capacity may lag so far behind your commitment, and what you can do to bridge the gap;
• Compassion for your children as you understand better what life is like within their experience rather than from the outside looking in;
• Compassion for and from other parents: so many parents, especially those shifting into more liberating paradigms, feel alone and lack support. Here you will find others whose struggles are similar;
• A glimpse of life beyond right/wrong thinking as you release yourself from both the old and the new concepts of what is right, such as "an obedient child" and "a parent who never loses it”;
• Practices for cultivating more mindful and heartful presence for yourself and with your children;
• A growing capacity to remain empathic with your children even in challenging moments and increased transparency about your own needs as natural limits;
• More choice about your “yes” and your “no”; and
• More capacity to remain calm when your children become dysregulated and more skills to help their nervous systems settle, both which help you cultivate a deep sense of togetherness in your relationship with them over time.