With Mindful Birthing, Nancy Bardacke, nurse-midwife and mindfulness teacher, lays out her innovative program for pregnancy, childbirth, and beyond. Drawing on groundbreaking research in neuroscience, mindfulness meditation, and mind/body medicine, Bardacke offers practices that will help you find calm and ease during this life-changing time, providing lifelong skills for healthy living and wise parenting. SOME OF THE BENEFITS OF MINDFUL BIRTHING: Increases confidence and decreases fear of childbirth Taps into deep inner resources for working with pain Improves couple communication, connection, and cooperation Provides stress-reducing skills for greater joy and wellbeing

Hypnotherapist and experienced doula Sophie Fletcher shares with you the secrets to having a safe, natural and positive birth. Using a powerful combination of mindfulness, hypnosis and relaxation techniques, Sophie will ensure you feel genuinely excited and completely prepared for birth. With stories from women who have successfully used the tools in this book, and downloadable hypnosis and relaxation tracks, discover how to: - use your mind and body together to stay focused and in control - draw on visualisation and breathing techniques to help birth progress - feel positive and empowered, before, during and after you give birth Reassuring, practical and based entirely on what works, Mindful Hypnobirthing is your essential guide to giving birth the way you want to.

Strengthening your own foundation is one of the very best beginnings you can give your child. In The Mindful Mom-to-Be, doula and pregnancy coach Lori Bregman guides you in your journey toward motherhood by empowering you to find what works best for you and your baby. In addition to concrete, prescriptive health information, including nutritional advice, natural remedies, developmental milestones, and techniques for labor, she offers simple and enjoyable spiritual and emotional exercises to help you prepare for motherhood. As Lori explains, you're not just birthing a baby; you're birthing yourself as a mom, too. With month-by-month advice, comprehensive checklists, and customizable birth plans, this is your indispensible, holistic companion for pregnancy, birth, and beyond.

Living mindfully is a simple practice that can have dramatic effects on your life and wellbeing.

From hormones to stretch marks, labor pains to diaper changes, motherhood is an adventure like none other. The rapid changes in your body, your lifestyle, and your very identity call for a certain mental agility. Mindfulness can help you meet the challenge and approach every experience with your new baby with open eyes and an open heart. Easy ten-minute meditation exercises and yoga poses throughout this book will help you cultivate greater flexibility and mindful awareness during pregnancy, childbirth, and your baby's first year. Whenever you have a moment to spare, open Mindful Motherhood and discover a skill that will help you find balance and fulfillment during those times when you feel most overwhelmed. Co-published with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). 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 Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom Wise, soothing, and helpful-this is really good stuff for new mothers. -Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart

'The expert's expert. Simplicity is the key with this technique.' The Times 'Do you guys know about Headspace...? It's kind of genuis.' Emma Watson The best start for your baby begins with your mind Widely acknowledged as one of the world's foremost experts on mindfulness, Andy Puddicombe, co - founder of Headspace, is your friendly guide in this wonderful new approach to pregnancy, birth and new parenthood. Whether you are trying for a baby, are mid-term, or have already arrived home with your new baby, this practical and reassuring guide will teach you and your partner how to calmly navigate the anxieties and demands of this epic adventure. With helpful exercises for both mother to be and her partner, Andy shows how to live mindfully and get the most from pregnancy and the early days of parenthood. The Headspace Guide To...A Mindful Pregnancy provides you with tools to live mindfully during this rare and precious opportunity to nurture a healthy happy mind. Imagine creating the most peaceful environment possible for your child and this book will show you how.

Drawing on a landmark study involving more than one hundred pregnant women and mothers, a renowned OB/GYN synthesizes the secrets to a good birth—medically and emotionally. Most doctors are trained to think of a “good” birth only in terms of its medical success. But Dr. Anne Lyerly knows firsthand that there are many other important elements that often get overlooked. Her three-year study of a diverse group of over one hundred expectant moms asked what matters most to women during childbirth. The results, presented to the public for the first time in A Good Birth, show what really matters goes beyond the clinical outcome or even the usual questions of hospital versus birthing center, and reveal universal needs of women, like the importance of feeling connected, safe, and respected. Bringing a new perspective to childbirth, the book’s wisdom is drawn from in-depth interviews with women with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, and whose birth stories range from quick and simple to complicated and frightening. Describing what went well, what didn’t, and what they’d do differently next time, these mothers give voice to the complete experience of childbirth, helping both women and their healthcare providers develop strategies to address the emotional needs of the mother, going beyond the standard birth plans and conversations. Transcending the “medical” versus “natural” childbirth debate, A Good Birth paves the entryway to motherhood, turning our attention to the deeper and more important question of what truly makes for the best birth possible.