Mindful Motherhood: Practical Tools for Staying Sane During Pregnancy and Your Child's First Year (Noetic Books) [Paperback]

Cassandra Vieten (Author), Sylvia Boorstein (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2009 | ISBN-10: 1572246294 | ISBN-13: 978-1572246294 | Edition: 1

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.

Co-published with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS).

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

Wise, soothing, and helpful-this is really good stuff for new mothers.
-Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart

Editorial Reviews

Review

“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

“Vieten writes with love and tenderness about the mindful mother and the importance of staying in the present. Regardless of the age of your child, you will never go wrong by acting as a teacher of love and patience.”
—Jerry Jampolsky, MD, coauthor of A Mini Course for Life

“Wise, soothing, and helpful—this is really good stuff for new mothers.”
—Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart

“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 savor its secrets for a richer life for yourself and your child.”
—Daniel J. Siegel, MD, author of Parenting from the Inside Out and The Mindful Brain

“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, Ph.D., coauthor, with the Dalai Lama, of Emotional Awareness

“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

“This is a beautiful book—deeply moving, intensely practical, and filled with wisdom.”
—Ruth A. Baer, Ph.D., professor of psychology at University of Kentucky

“This is a welcome and needed book. These practical meditations for women may be a great help with prenatal and postnatal challenges. These essential psychological practices come from a woman who has earned the right to teach a classical path of human development through motherhood.”
—Robert Bruce Newman, author of Calm Birth and Calm Healing

“Mindfulness, when extended from mother to child, weaves a blanket of grounded attunement sufficient for two. Cassandra Vieten’s down-to-earth suggestions will help all newly enlarged families navigate this wonderful, but often disruptive milestone.”
—Zindel V. Segal, Ph.D., C.Psych., Morgan Firestone Chair in Psychotherapy at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, ON, Canada

From the Publisher

In Mindful Motherhood, a psychologist specializing in mood disorders who is also a mother herself presents a mindfulness training program developed at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute. Clinical studies showed that this program was effective in helping new mothers parent their children and manage changes in mood, stress levels, and behavior.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications; 1 edition (May 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572246294
• ISBN-13: 978-1572246294
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cassandra Vieten, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist, Executive Director of Research at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (www.noetic.org), and Scientist at the Mind Body Medicine Research Group at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute in San Francisco, CA.

Her research on mindfulness-based approaches to dealing with addictions, mood disorders, and for stress reduction during pregnancy and early motherhood has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the State of California, and several private foundations. She is author of Mindful Motherhood: Practical Tools for Staying Sane During Pregnancy and Your Child's First Year.

Her research has also focused on spiritual practices and health, and how people make significant changes in their lives toward more meaning, health, and well-being. In addition to Mindful Motherhood, she is coauthor, along with Marilyn Schlitz and Tina Amorok, of Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life.

She is an avid soccer player, lives in the Northern California Bay Area, and is mom to an eleven year-old daughter.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, Practical, & Down to Earth June 20, 2009

By Gina Hassan, Ph.D. Facilitator of Mindfulness-Based New Moms' Groups

Format:Paperback

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

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for all parents May 5, 2009

By Catharina

Format:Paperback

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 ajdust 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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Confidence Builder! April 15, 2009

By Janet. Dwinells

Format:Paperback

This is a must read for moms new and old! As a mom of three young adults, I wish this book had been available a long, long time ago. But mindfulness training is helpful for us all at any stage of life and thanks to Mindful Motherhood I feel the confidence to connect with children of any age, especially my future grandchildren! I encourage all you pregnant moms to put this book at the top of your reading list. It's filled with easy exercises and stress relieving guidance. I give it a solid 5 stars.