Self-Nurture: Learning to Care for Youself as Effectively as You Care for Everyone Else (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: restructured thought, mindful sex, body scan relaxation, Herbert Benson, Jon Kabat-Zinn, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

One of the greatest challenges women face is learning how to nurture themselves. The tendency, of course, is for women to put themselves last on the list--taking care of everyone and everything else before they tend to their own emotional, physical, or spiritual needs, according to author Alice D. Domar, Ph.D. Yet, ironically, when women put themselves last on the list, they find themselves stressed out, depleted of energy, and unable to give their family members or jobs the full attention they need. As the director of the Mind/Body Center for Women's Health at Harvard Medical School, Domar has developed a comprehensive, year-long program to help women learn the crucial art of self-nurturing.

The book is divided into a year of seasonal themes, starting with winter, which represents a time of "primal self-care." Domar offers specific meditation and relaxation exercises as well as essays that help women contemplate their role in the family. In springtime, Domar emphasizes physical strengthening and healing through exercises, yoga, and creating a more positive body image. Ultimately, Domar leads women into a discussion of spiritual strengthening--how to bring the soul into the workplace, and why it's essential that women commit to a connection with God or one's unique spirituality. Fortunately, Domar has been teaching this path for years, which means her advice is tried and tested (she's somewhat famous for treating stress-reduction techniques to chronically infertile women and helping the vast majority to conceive). Her approach is inviting, funny, and (best of all) practical for women of all walks of life. --Gail Hudson

From Publishers Weekly

Distinguished from other books on managing women's particular stresses by Domar's expert credentials and the respect, collegiality and purpose with which she addresses her audience, this book persuasively argues that all women should commit as much effort to their own creative, emotional and spiritual self-care as they do to the needs of others. At a Harvard fertility clinic, psychologist Ph.D. Domar introduced a variety of stress management techniques to women whose high-tech fertilization procedures were not working. The high pregnancy rates that followed were widely covered by the media. As a result, Harvard funded a Mind/Body Center for Women's Health at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, directed by Domar, to explore the effects of stress on women's illnesses. Well versed in the literature and research of mind-body practices, Domar (Healing Mind, Healthy Woman) synthesizes popular and effective stress-reduction techniquesAincluding Benson's Relaxation Response, breathing work, muscle relaxation, meditation, mindfulness and yogaAand recommends their specific application. She draws from the work of Maggie Scarf, Julia Cameron and Thomas Moore, as well as from her practice and her own life, to illustrate their effects. Contemporary but by no means faddish, the book encourages keeping a journal and using affirmations, nurturing one's body, and performing acts of kindness. Moreover, it effectively demonstrates the need and value of these practices in women's lives. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (December 27, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670882860
• ISBN-13: 978-0670882861
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #883,474 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comforting and Empowering, January 21, 2000

By A Customer

This is such a supportive, warm, helpful, penetrating book. It helps enormously for me to rethink my life in terms of this concept of self-nurturance. What is great is how Dr. Domar takes you through so many different aspects of life and gives you practical and spiritual and psychological ways to nurture yourself in all these different areas--relationships, family, creativity, work, play, and faith. (I hate to admit it, but it also gives me confidence to know that she's a Harvard Med. School person.) I never fully realized just how exhausting and draining it can be to be so focussed on everyone else's needs. This book is giving me permission to really take time for myself, and it's giving me all sorts of ideas on how to use that time wisely, for my health, well-being, and capacity for joy. The stories are engaging, and there's something of value on every page. What a gift! I'm telling all my friends that this one is a must.

75 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No longer a burnout!, January 5, 2000

By A Customer

This book helps especially women to learn to love themselves and to appreciate themselves. Men could profit from this book too. The author shows creatively practical examples and analogies how women can achieve a self-appreciation for what they do, and how stress is reduced and proper self-esteem is developed and established. Another book along these lines that is extremely helpful and goes hand in hand with this one, and I highly recommend, is Dietmar Scherf's "I Love Me: Avoiding and Overcoming Depression" also available at Amazon.

56 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!, February 4, 2000

By	rachel (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews

This is an amazing book. Lots of women that I know (myself included) have trouble taking time for themselves, yet they put in incredible amounts of time helping their female friends. This book helps you deal with that problem. I was also lucky enough to hear Alice Domar when she was on National Public Radio a few weeks ago. I found the interview fascinating. Dr. Domar talked about how you need to take time for yourself; so many of us feel guilty when we give ourselves time to relax. She has helped me realize that doing nice things for yourself is something that women need to do more of, and that we shouldn't feel guilty for doing it. I HIGHLY recommend this book to any woman.