Mothering and Homemaking as a Spiritual Practice

Mothering and Homemaking as a Spiritual Practice

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"Jacqueline Kramer offers important, empowering, and compassionate words, reminding us to tend our lives as sacred temples, to awaken where we are." - Jack Kornfield

Jacqueline Kramer

Book Reviews

"In a time when pregnancy has become pathology, mothering mundane, and householding halfhearted, Buddha Mom shine as a beacon of light. Taking pregnancy, mothering, and householding as spiritual practice gives each of these valuable aspects of living the richness and vibrance they deserve. I wish my mom had been a Buddha Mom!"

Susan Corso, D.D. author of God's Dictionary

Publishers Weekly, March 17, 2003

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 wasn¹t 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 in 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 daughter¹s 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.

Library Journal, March 1, 2003

Buddha Mom: Motherhood as a Spiritual Path
By Jacqueline Kramer

Unlike most parenting books, which stress gaining skills through experience, this one opts to explore mothering from a conscious psychic perspective. Kramer, a spiritual counselor and practicing Buddhist, shows how to incorporate spiritual concepts such as self-love, unconditional love, and joyful service into the pregnancy, birthing, and mothering roles. Notably, she finds that a parent may unconsciously hold "habits of powerlessness" that may manifest themselves in different ways in her career, sexual relationships, parenting, and spiritual work. Everyday tasks such as cooking and homemaking in terms of "spirit in action" are also discussed. No background on Buddhist principles is provided, yet Kramer makes clear her purpose: conscious mothering fosters spiritual development in the one who undertakes it. As a result, she is often able to bring a healing touch to a chaotic world. Ultimately, through fine descriptive passages, she also moves the reader to feel various emotions, in turn, nurturing a joyful, spiritual sense of "whole being" beyond just feeling well mentally. Suitable for spirituality and parenting sections in public libraries.

Lisa Liquori,
M.L.S., Syracuse, NY