Self-Nurture: Learning to Care for Yourself as Effectively as You Care for Everyone Else

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 techniques--including Benson's Relaxation Response, breathing work, muscle relaxation, meditation, mindfulness and yoga--and 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.)