Mindful Motherhood, by Cassandra Vieten PhD
Sub-Title: Practical Tools for Staying Sane in Pregnancy and Your Child's First Year
Paperback
ISBN-13: 9781572246294
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Published: 2009
Size: approximatley 15.2 x 20.4 cm
Pages: 216
Book Description:
From hormones to stretch marks, labor pains to diaper changes, motherhood is an adventure like none other. The rapid changes in your body, your lifestyle, and your very identity call for a certain mental agility. Mindfulness can help you meet the challenge and approach every experience with your new baby with open eyes and an open heart. Easy ten-minute meditation exercises and yoga poses throughout this book will help you cultivate greater flexibility and mindful awareness during pregnancy, childbirth, and your baby's first year. Whenever you have a moment to spare, open Mindful Motherhood and discover a skill that will help you find balance and fulfillment during those times when you feel most overwhelmed.
(Please see the Reviews and Table of Contents, below.)
About the Author:
Cassandra Vieten PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist, Director of Research at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Co-Director of the Mind Body Medicine Research Group at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute in San Francisco, CA, and Co-President of the Institute for Spirituality and Psychology. Her research has focused on mindfulness-based approaches to cultivating emotional balance, the involvement of biology, psychology, and emotion in addiction and recovery, the role of compassionate intent and belief in healing, and the factors, experiences, and practices involved in psychospiritual transformation. She has published several academic articles and chapters, has conducted numerous presentations at international scientific conferences, and is co-author of Living Deeply.
Reviews:
"In
Mindful Motherhood you'll experience the wisdom of a mother, clinician, and researcher who outlines the accessible, practical steps to take to turn challenge into triumph during pregnancy and the parenting of young children. Read this book, give it as a baby shower present, carry it with you into the pediatrician's office - but most of all, take it in and savour its secrets for a richer life for yourself and your child." -
Daniel Siegel, author of Parenting from the Inside Out, Mindsight, The Mindful Brain, and The Whole-Brain Child.
"This book will inspire, guide, and reassure mothers in pregnancy and after childbirth. Nothing could be more important to our families, our children, and the future of the world. Dads will benefit, also." - Paul Ekman PhD, co-author, with the Dalai Lama, of Emotional Awareness
"Mindful Motherhood contains what so many other parenting books omit:: the consoling information that each mother has the ability to know, deep within, how to care for her child. Mindful Motherhood is a gem." - Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom
"The connection between mother and baby is one of the most spiritual relationships we have." - Baba Ram Dass, also known as Richard Alpert, author of Remember, Be Here Now
"Wise, soothing, and helpful-this is really good stuff for new mothers." - Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart
"As a mother of two and a psychologist who specializes in working with pregnant and postpartum women, I found Casi Vieten's book Mindful Motherhood, an invaluable resource. It is written in a down-to-earth manner and describes the practice of mindfulness in a way that it makes it accessible to anyone--even the most sleep deprived of new mothers. Vietan's book gives practical suggestions for how to navigate this joyful yet challenging period. While the book is focused towards pregnant women and new mothers, the simple and clear way that Dr. Vietan describes mindfulness makes it a useful tool for anyone who is interested in how to live their lives more fully in the present as opposed to having their lives live them. Filled with suggestions of how to practice and incorporate the skills of mindfulness into a busy life, Vietan uses humor and candor to describe how even someone with years of experience has to come back to the path over and over again with compassion and insight. Teaching new moms to stay connected to themselves while attending to their babies will have a far-reaching impact on improving our society in general. If we raise our children with awareness and intention the world can only become a better place." - Gina Hassan, Ph.D., A Mindful Beginning: Mindfulness-Based New Mothers' Groups
Library Journal Annex: "From the hormones and pains of pregnancy to handling a colicky baby who just won't sleep, motherhood can be overwhelming. Vieten, a psychologist specializing in mood disorders at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, presents the Buddhist concept of mindfulness (nonjudgmental awareness of present-moment experience) as a way for new and expectant moms to deal with difficult situations while staying connected to the baby. Verdict: Vieten's approach - more psychological than spiritual - will benefit moms who are open to Eastern philosophies but aren't necessarily interested in becoming practicing Buddhists. Directed at readers new to mindfulness and motherhood, the book - like the concept it introduces - is realistic, aware, and compassionate. A good choice for public libraries." - Mindy Rhiger, St. Paul, MN (Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information. Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.)
"This is a brilliant book, and thank you Cassandra Vieten for writing it. I am a psychotherapist working with mothers and their families as they adjust to parenthood, and have young children of my own. For many of us the early years of parenting pass by in a fog, where we at best get through on autopilot. This book shows us in easy-to-read, bite-sized chapters how we can actually thrive during these years and beyond, and not merely survive. It shows us how, even in the midst of a fog, we can develop a sense of calm, vitality and balance in our mothering, experiencing our babies with open eyes and an open heart. The gifts of this are infinite. Vieten achieves this in a practical, do-able way, making the beauty of mindfulness available to everyone. I didn't expect to laugh while reading this book, but laugh out loud I did! She writes with great humour, compassion and insight, bringing parents a set of tools which should be in every nappy bag and bedside table. Without hesitation I give it 5 stars." - Catharina, Australia (from Amazon)
