BUDDHA MOM: The Path of Mindful Mothering

Jacqueline Kramer has been a practicing Buddhist for 20 years, but some of her best insights into Buddhism have come not from meditation but from mothering. "I was led to believe that mothering was a side track on the path toward spiritual liberation, but that wasn't my experience," she explains. "I have found mothering to be a direct path to spiritual insight." In this gentle book, she explores how she has become a better Buddhist through opening herself to motherhood. Even childbirth (which she did sans epidural) became, for her, a valuable meditation lesson, since the pain forced her to consciously relax and surrender control. In fact, surrendering control is the central theme of the entire book. There are chapters on housekeeping, nurturing (particularly regarding food) and the practice of loving-kindness, or metta. For Kramer, motherhood has been a catalyst to strive for greater selflessness and connection with the universe, both core Buddhist principles. It has also brought home to her the impermanence of all things; there is nothing like the rapid growth of children to remind us that all relationships are destined to change. Such impermanence has led Kramer to a conscious decision to be fully present in the here and now, determined not to miss a moment of her daughter's life—or her own. This fluid book on "mindful mothering" will appeal to many readers who are interested in the profound spiritual significance of the everyday acts of motherhood metta. (Apr.)