Buddhism for Mothers: A Calm Approach to Caring for Yourself and Your Children
Buddhist practitioner Napthali has written an eminently practical book that gives frazzled mothers usable advice and empathy. At a time in their lives when women must balance the pulls of instinct, hormonally charged emotion and familial and social expectations, it is both possible and highly beneficial to practice Buddhism. While Buddhism has a long history of monastic practice and application, its modern expansion into the West has emphasized its relevance to householders. Parenting books are a logical application, though still relatively few in number (e.g. Jacqueline Kramer's Buddha Mom: The Path of Mindful Mothering). In a highly selective culling of teachings, Napthali wisely focuses on maternal mind states and how Buddhism can give a mother insight and literal breathing space before she responds to any parenting situation. The essential Buddhist teaching that all things are impermanent is highly relevant when responding to, for example, a toddler throwing a tantrum in public. The book is perhaps less deep than those written by longtime teachers, as so many Buddhist books are. But precisely because she is not a teacher and is in the midst of mothering, Napthali offers the approachable and authentic perspective of a rank-and-file practitioner who lives the techniques and situations she writes about. This book will be most useful for mothers of young children, providing them spiritual resources at a life stage when women need all the help they can get.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.