Cassandra Vieten - Mindful Motherhood: Practical Tools for Staying Sane During Pregnancy and Your Childs First Year

About the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS)

Noetic Books is an imprint of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, which was founded in 1973 by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell. IONS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research, education, and membership organization whose mission is advancing the science of consciousness and human experience to serve individual and collective transformation. Noetic comes from the Greek word nous, which means intuitive mind or inner knowing. The Institutes primary program areas include consciousness and healing, extended human capacities, and emerging worldviews. The specific work of the institute includes the following:

• Sponsorship of and participation in original research
• Publication of the quarterly magazine Shift: At the Frontiers of Consciousness
• The monthly membership program, Shift in Action, and its associated website, www.shiftinaction.com
• Presentation and cosponsorship of regional and international workshops and conferences
• The hosting of residential seminars and workshops at its on-campus retreat facility, located on 200 acres thirty minutes north of San Francisco
• The support of a global volunteer network of community groups

IONS also publishes The Shift Report, a now bi-annual publication that charts shifts in worldview across a wide range of disciplines and areas of human activity. Information on these reports can be found at www.shiftreport.org. More information about Noetic Books is available at www.noeticbooks.org.

To learn more about the Institute and its activities and programs, please contact

Institute of Noetic Sciences
101 San Antonio Road
Petaluma, CA 94952-9524
707-775-3500 / fax: 707-781-7420
www.noetic.org

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 Womens Bodies, Womens Wisdom

Wise, soothing, and helpfulthis is really good stuff for new mothers.

Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart

In Mindful Motherhood, youll 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 pediatricians officebut 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 bookdeeply 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 Vietens 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

With wisdom, depth, and humility, Mindful Motherhood guides us through the miraculous and challenging path of becoming a mother. It weaves together scholarship, personal experience, and practical tools, helping us become the most loving, present and joyful parents we can be. As a scholar and mother, I found this book immensely valuable.

Shauna Shapiro, coauthor, with Linda Carlson, of The Art and Science of Mindfulness

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

Publishers Note

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books

A copublication of New Harbinger Publications and Noetics Books.

Copyright 2009 by Cassandra Vieten

New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

5674 Shattuck Avenue

Oakland, CA 94609

www.newharbinger.com

Silence, 2005, from Too Intimate for Words, published by Integrative Arts, is reprinted with permission from John Astin.

Come Rest, 2009, is printed with permission from John Astin.

The Guest House is reprinted with permission from Coleman Barks. Originally published in The Essential Rumi, 1997, translated by Coleman Barks, Harper Collins, page 109.

Cover design by Amy Shoup; Text design by Amy Shoup and Michele Waters-Kermes; Acquired by Catharine Sutker

All Rights Reserved.

ePub ISBN: 9781608826971

The Library of Congress has Cataloged the Print Edition as:

Vieten, Cassandra. Mindful motherhood : practical tools for staying sane in pregnancy and your childs first year / Cassandra Vieten ; foreword by Sylvia Boorstein. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: 978-1-57224-629-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-57224-629-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Motherhood. I. Title. HQ759.V533 2009 155.6463--dc22

2009007133

This book is dedicated to David and Indigo

and to my circle of fabulous moms

starting with my own, Billie, whose strength and wisdom are a source of constant support, Ameae, whose grace and goodwill have kept me afloat in ways she may not even realize, and to the mamas who support and inspire me more each day:

Amy

Avvy

Elana

Jean

Jen

Jnana

Julia

Kim

Rachel

Vicky

&

Wendy