1:1 Programme and The Lion King

Whether you're a Disney fan or not there are always lessons that can be learnt from the characters in the films.

I’m looking forward to sharing four ways that The Lion King relates to my 1:1 Transform Programme.

I'm guessing you've probably watched it before. If you haven't, you need to watch it!

Before you start reading I’ll share a fun fact that you might not know about me.

I worked at The Disney Store when I was 16 for 6 years!

This was my first experience of working and connecting with children and families visiting the store.

Lesson 1 - Being present can help you discover or rediscover who you are

Rafiki embodies mindfulness and encourages Simba to live in the present while letting go of the past.

He asks him “The question is: Who are you?”.

How does this relate to Transform?

When you're a parent carer, there's a likely chance that you don't know who you are outside of caring for your child(ren).

Your top priorities will be supporting and advocating for your child. Which, of course, is important and necessary.

However, your own interests, passions, and personality might feel hidden or forgotten within you.

Inside the programme, you're taken on a journey to deeply connect with yourself through meditation, mindfulness, and gentle yoga practices.

When you create time and with ongoing support, for prioritising your wellbeing you’ll feel more present within yourself and with your family.

And you’ll start uncovering ‘who you are’.

That means that you're less stressed about what has already happened or the outcome of what could happen.

Focusing on your mental and emotional wellbeing creates more energy and makes the mental pressure that you're carrying feel lighter.

Lesson 2 - You can always remember “who you are”.

When Simba looks in the water, with Rafiki, his reflection changes to Mufasa who reminds him to “Remember who you are”.

When your life revolves around meetings, appointments, filling in forms and advocating for your child you'll probably not stop to think about yourself.

It's probably more likely that you'll keep going, without creating pockets of time to fully rest, then you feel like you're going to burnout.

When join Transform, you're provided with space to remember who you are beyond your caring responsibilities.

If you haven't heard of Yoga Nidra before, it's a deeply relaxing form of meditation.

It takes you through the different levels of awareness throughout your mind and body.

The intention is to bring you into a state that feels like you're dozing off to sleep, but you're aware of what's happening and you become deeply relaxed.

You'll experience three monthly online Yoga Nidra sessions to bring a feeling of calm to your mind and body.

When you practise Yoga Nidra you become connected to your inner world and you might have realisations or insights about your ‘true self’.

This might appear as an inner voice, or feeling connected to your intuition, beneath all your thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

When you connect to your inner world you can start feeling more relaxed and present towards yourself and your family.

Which is why I purposefully wanted to offer you a way to deeply connect to yourself while prioritising your needs to help you uncover who you are.

The programme further offers you a collection of gentle yoga, breathing techniques, mindfulness and meditation to bring your awareness inside where you can simply be you.

Lessons 3 - It's ok to be afraid of change

Do you fear change?

Change can be feared or welcomed.

You might have spent months, or even years, attending appointments where you've heard the same things over and over with no progress/change.

Depending on the situation, you'll view change as being good or bad.

Yet, the only certain thing in life is change.

Everything changes from moment to moment, day by day and week by week.

If I were to ask you “What change do you want to make for you in your life?”

What would your answer be?

Rafiki tells Simba that “Change is good.”

Would you agree?

You might be at a point where you need to go through a change to protect your mental health. You could be in the habit of spending your down time mindlessly scrolling through social media. Then by the time you look at the clock it's hours later.

You might have consciously or subconsciously been comparing yourself and your life to others while scrolling.

There are more positive ways to spend the limited free time that you have.

Transform was created using my ‘Burnout Prevention Method’ as the foundation. This Method helps parent carers discover what steps they can take to prevent reaching burnout.

Using beginner-friendly tools and techniques you will be supported to start taking action towards focusing on your wellbeing. As a result, you will feel more connected to yourself and your family.

That means that you will have more energy for all the caring responsibilities you have too.

Lesson 4 - There's no time like the present

My last quote from The Lion King for you is:

“Don't dawdle. Hurry up!”

This might seem odd for a mindfulness and gentle practices based programme.

Don't worry, I don't want you to literally start rushing around.

Instead, I want to remind you that the only person who can make a change and make something happen is yourself.

Of course, you can work with someone to guide you in the right direction.

However, if you don't take the first step and stay stuck procrastinating, the thing that you want to materialise won't happen.

Then, you'll likely have the same repeated thought pattern of judging your thoughts and comparing your life/experiences with others.

You choose…

Are you ready to start taking action to prioritise your wellbeing and feel calmer in your everyday life?

Or would you rather continue feeling tired, stressed and not having dedicated time to look after yourself?

If you nodded your head to the first question then, then my fully online Transform Programme is for you!

This programme was created especially for parents with a neurodivergent child(ren).

Over 12 weeks, you'll be supported to explore a range of practices designed to help you release stress and take care of your wellbeing.

You can discover more about my Transform Programme by clicking here.