Combining humor, honesty, and plainspoken advice, Momma Zen distills the doubts and frustrations of motherhood into vignettes of Zen wisdom Drawing on her experience as a first-time mother and her years of Zen meditation and study, Karen Miller explores how the daily challenges of parenthood can become the most profound spiritual journey of our lives. Her compelling and wise memoir follows the timeline of early motherhood from pregnancy through toddlerhood. Momma Zen takes readers on a transformative journey, charting a mother’s growth beyond naive expectations and disorientation to finding fulfillment in ordinary tasks, developing greater self-awareness and acceptance—to the gradual discovery of "maternal bliss," a state of abiding happiness and ease that is available to us all. In her gentle and reassuring voice, Karen Miller convinces us that ancient and authentic spiritual lessons can be as familiar as a lullaby, as ordinary as pureed peas, and as frequent as a sleepless night. She offers encouragement for the hard days, consolation for the long haul, and the lightheartedness every new mom needs to face the crooked path of motherhood straight on.

Let go of parenting expectations and fears to raise courageous, confident children. The Zen Mama philosophy is that mother and child complement each other in adventures and experiences, always putting safety first but without getting caught up in the anxieties, drama, impossible expectations and mental baggage that too often comes along with modern parenting. Learning to become a Zen Mama will help you grow and nurture a Zen Child - someone who isn't afraid to be different, who can stand up for himself or his friends, and can travel the world and experiment with new things without being overwhelmed with self-doubt or being scared. Full of facts, actionable advice and practical tips, this book will be about combining the heart and the head with what works for you and your family, not comparing yourselves to others or meeting a societal standard. It will support and nurture the mother's journey like a wise and sympathetic friend and offers ideas and experience rather than judgement. The Zen Mama will help you to find your purpose as a mother. It will instil the self-belief you need to help create a resilient, creative, caring and smart child - and help to survive the journey.

Thirty years ago, "mindfulness" was a Buddhist principle mostly obscure to the west. Today, it is a popular cure-all for Americans' daily problems. A massive and lucrative industry promotes mindfulness in every aspect of life, however mundane or unlikely: Americans of various faiths (or none at all) practice mindful eating, mindful sex, mindful parenting, mindfulness in the office, mindful sports, mindfulness-based stress relief and addiction recovery, and hire mindful divorce lawyers. Mindfulness is touted by members of Congress, CEOs, and Silicon Valley tech gurus, and is even being taught in public schools, hospitals, and the military. Focusing on such processes as the marketing, medicalization, and professionalization of meditation, Jeff Wilson reveals how Buddhism shed its countercultural image and was assimilated into mainstream American culture. The rise of mindfulness in America, Wilson argues, is a perfect example of how Buddhism enters new cultures and is domesticated: in each case, the new cultures take from Buddhism what they believe will relieve their specific distresses and concerns, and in the process create new forms of Buddhism adapted to their needs. Wilson also tackles the economics of the mindfulness movement, examining commercial programs, therapeutic services, and products such as books, films, CDs, and even smartphone applications. Mindful America is the first in-depth study of this phenomenon--invaluable for understanding how mindfulness came to be applied to such a vast array of non-religious concerns and how it can be reconciled with traditional Buddhism in America.

Contemporary popular culture has created a slew of stereotypical roles for girls and women to (willingly or not) play throughout their lives: The Princess, the Nymphette, the Diva, the Single Girl, the Bridezilla, the Tiger Mother, the M.I.L.F, the Cougar, and more. In this book Ames and Burcon investigate the role of cultural texts in gender socialization at specific pre-scripted stages of a woman's life (from girls to the "golden girls") and how that instruction compounds over time. By studying various texts (toys, magazines, blogs, tweets, television shows, Hollywood films, novels, and self-help books) they argue that popular culture exists as a type of funhouse mirror constantly distorting the real world conditions that exist for women, magnifying the gendered expectations they face. Despite the many problematic, conflicting messages women receive throughout their lives, this book also showcases the ways such messages are resisted, allowing women to move past the blurry reality they broadcast and toward, hopefully, gender equality.

With her children at school, a mother is on to a new stage of her life, playing a new role. The daily challenges she confronts have changed, yet for each one Buddhist teachings of mindfulness, compassion and calm are invaluable. This book explores those teachings through many scenarios, including coping with routine and repetition, answering children's tricky questions about how the world works, fitting in with other parents, managing our fears and expectations for our children and dealing with difficult behaviour in both children and adults.

In Contemplative Democracy, Shannon L. Mariotti explores how contemplative practices represent a form of world-building that is valuable for meaningful democracy and an overlooked form of ordinary political theory. Reimagining the work of political theory, employing feminist approaches, and with a focus on educational spaces and democratic modes of pedagogy, Mariotti examines contemplative practices as spaces where ordinary people do the work of democracy, creating new political imaginaries, finding new selves, and founding new states of being. Further, this book reveals how the larger body politic may be reshaped by the everyday work people do in their own bodies.

Within these warm and often funny pages, Buddhist teachings are at their most accessible. Even if exploring Buddhism is not where you thought you'd be right now, read any page of Buddhism for Parents on the Go and think about its relevance to your life. Make space in your busy days to be kinder to yourself. From advice to the sleep deprived to dealing with the drama of toddler tantrums to thoughts on teenage egocentrism, this invaluable book will teach you how to manage the expectations you have of yourself, your partner and your children. Buddhism for Parents On the Go will help you conquer the day-to-day challenges of life, reduce your stress levels and gain true insight into the ever-changing joys of parenthood.

This generation of parents is overwhelmed with parenting advice; Carla Naumburg sets out to remind them that they have everything they need to raise healthy, happy children. Mindful parenting is about paying attention to what is going on with your children and yourself without judging it or freaking out about it or thinking everyone, including yourself and your child, should be doing something differently. In Parenting in the Present Moment, Naumburg shares what truly matters in parenting—connecting with children in ways that are meaningful to them and you, staying grounded amidst the craziness of parenting, and staying present for whatever life throws your way. With reassuring, compassionate storytelling, she weaves the most current theories—about healthy relationships, compassionate self-care, and mindfulness—throughout vignettes of her own chaotic childhood and parental struggles. She shows how mindfulness creates a solid foundation for any style of parenting, regardless of your cultural background, socio-economic status, or family structure. She also introduces the STAY model for tough times: Stop whatever it is you’re doing; Take a Breath; Attune to you thoughts and those of your child; and Yield to what is happening so you can respond from a place of connection and compassion. Parenting is an ongoing journey that constantly challenges every parent. Parenting in the Present Moment will help each family find its own way.

Every now and then - not very often - we meet a woman who has mastered the art of being in a couple, who has managed to keep the flame alive long after the honeymoon period and well into the trials of parenting. Sarah Napthali is not one of these women but is happy for readers to learn from her mistakes. With her trademark emphasis on self-compassion, she explains how she has applied Buddhist teachings to patch things up, hold things together and even, on good days, scale the heights of relationship happiness. Written for both men and women, Buddhism for Couples tackles the loaded subjects of housework, anger, sex, conflict and infidelity, before introducing Buddhist strategies that can enrich a relationship. Applying Buddhist teachings can improve our relationship by guiding us to delve more deeply into our psyches. Through mindfulness and ever-growing self-awareness, the teachings help us to become more familiar with the workings of our minds and bodies, more aware of our thoughts and beliefs, so that we can see our behaviours with more clarity. Alongside Buddhist teachings, Sarah explores the latest psychological research on relationships and discovers numerous overlaps. Humorous and informative, Buddhism for Couples provides a fresh approach to living as a couple, persuading us to leave behind stale, habitual ways of relating that don't seem to work.

Beloved and critically acclaimed author Lin Jensen returns with this bounteous volume exploring what the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins calls "deep down things." Richly informed by deep ecology, Lin's writing explores our intimate connection to the land, to the specificities of place, and to the living earth itself-all as Lin uncovers our own deepest nature, the true heart of what it means to be human. There is much in what's happening in our environment now that can and perhaps should be cause for dismay - and Deep Down Things looks squarely at all of this and nonetheless gives us ample cause for celebration.