Cultivating Mindfulness to Raise Children Who Thrive introduces an expanded view of human development and health, which begins before conception and moves through pregnancy, early childhood and adulthood.

This book is a call for all prenatal and perinatal professionals and policy makers to appreciate indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing and integrate them with scientific evidence in the care of expectant parents and their babies. It explains how this could also tackle pressing social issues facing the modern world and favour social innovations through a revaluation of preconception, pregnancy, birth and childcare practices. Sansone presents the reader with scientific discoveries of epigenetics, interpersonal neuroscience, quantum physics, attachment, anthropology, prenatal and perinatal psychology and mindfulness, which interestingly resonate with the intuitions of primal wisdom.

The book will be of interest to clinicians, policy makers, researchers, parents, and those interested in the prenatal and perinatal roots of human development and well-being.

About the Author

Antonella Sansone is a mother, clinical psychologist, researcher, mindfulness teacher/facilitator and author. Her work with expectant and new parents and infants in UK and Italy, empirical studies of African indigenous cultures and inspiring motherhood have led to the writing of this book and the design of a PhD drawing on it. She has been granted the International Excellence Award from Central Queensland University in Australia.

Reviews

Sansone invites the reader to take a universal approach: to marry science with ancient wisdom; to understand the interconnectedness of everything - the butterfly effect. Every individual makes their mark on this world. The nature of each person's impact will depend on their physical, psychological, emotional, and social wellbeing. Each child has an impact on their family, each family impacts their community, every community impacts their nation, each nation impacts our world and the vast beyond. The visionary message in this book is clear: Healthy babies are the foundation for life-long physical and mental wellbeing, innovation and economic prosperity, and human evolution.

Dr Rosina McAlpine BCom, MCom (Hons), MHEd, PhD,

CEO of Win Win Parenting, Parenting Expert, Author and Multi-Award-Winning University Educator

Sansone's astute mind, literary finesse and unprecedented knowledge of the relational and intersubjective infant has led her to author another unparalleled seminal and landmark publication. Her decades of research have encouraged not only the parent but the 'societal and professional family' to recognise and utilise their collective wisdom to support the mental wellbeing of the infant. She encourages maternal and paternal engagement with the concept of pregnancy and the recognition that the infant once conceived is a sentient being. She gently reminds us that it is not the birth that brings into the world the infant but that the infant is a living, responsive, conscious being from the moment of conception. Sansone's capacity to blend science, mindfulness, psychological theory, in support of the infant deserves only praise. Her compassion permeates her work where she brings alive the concept of consciousness and interconnectedness. She dismisses with foresight the reality of hyperspecialism and individualism and instead encourages combined and ancient wisdom to raise an infant to thrive. This book is a must read for all parents, mental health and maternity professionals alike. If you do not read this book you will be out of touch with the realities of pregnancy, birth and the thriving infant of the 21st century.

Dr Vivien Sabel DPsych - Author of The Blossom Method, Researcher, Psychotherapist, Lecturer.

Antonella Sansone's book stands in the tradition of prenatal psychology research of nearly 100 years, which has mostly been undertaken by men. It gains special importance, because the reality of prenatal life and its lifelong effects are described with the authenticity of a woman and her experiences as a mother. That is not only meaningful on the individual level but has also existential meaning for the deepening and broadening of the human potentials in our societies, that can enable us to come in a new balance with us, our relations and our surrounding nature. This is essential reading for not only parents, but for those involved in mental health, education, public policy, ecology, and indeed anyone interested in the wellbeing of future generations and our planet.

Ludwig Janus, MD, Psychotherapist, Prenatal Psychologist and Psychohistorian. Former President of the International Society for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Medicine (ISPPM) and former President of the German Society for Psychohistory and Political Psychology (GPPP).

Sansone invites the reader to take a universal approach: to marry science with ancient wisdom; to understand the interconnectedness of everything - the butterfly effect. Every individual makes their mark on this world. The nature of each person's impact will depend on their physical, psychological, emotional, and social wellbeing. Each child has an impact on their family, each family impacts their community, every community impacts their nation, each nation impacts our world and the vast beyond. The visionary message in this book is clear: Healthy babies are the foundation for life-long physical and mental wellbeing, innovation and economic prosperity, and human evolution.

Dr Rosina McAlpine BCom, MCom (Hons), MHEd, PhD,

CEO of Win Win Parenting, Parenting Expert, Author and Multi-Award-Winning University Educator

Sansone's astute mind, literary finesse and unprecedented knowledge of the relational and intersubjective infant has led her to author another unparalleled seminal and landmark publication. Her decades of research have encouraged not only the parent but the 'societal and professional family' to recognise and utilise their collective wisdom to support the mental wellbeing of the infant. She encourages maternal and paternal engagement with the concept of pregnancy and the recognition that the infant once conceived is a sentient being. She gently reminds us that it is not the birth that brings into the world the infant but that the infant is a living, responsive, conscious being from the moment of conception. Sansone's capacity to blend science, mindfulness, psychological theory, in support of the infant deserves only praise. Her compassion permeates her work where she brings alive the concept of consciousness and interconnectedness. She dismisses with foresight the reality of hyperspecialism and individualism and instead encourages combined and ancient wisdom to raise an infant to thrive. This book is a must read for all parents, mental health and maternity professionals alike. If you do not read this book you will be out of touch with the realities of pregnancy, birth and the thriving infant of the 21st century.

Dr Vivien Sabel DPsych - Author of The Blossom Method, Researcher, Psychotherapist, Lecturer.

Antonella Sansone's book stands in the tradition of prenatal psychology research of nearly 100 years, which has mostly been undertaken by men. It gains special importance, because the reality of prenatal life and its lifelong effects are described with the authenticity of a woman and her experiences as a mother. That is not only meaningful on the individual level but has also existential meaning for the deepening and broadening of the human potentials in our societies, that can enable us to come in a new balance with us, our relations and our surrounding nature. This is essential reading for not only parents, but for those involved in mental health, education, public policy, ecology, and indeed anyone interested in the wellbeing of future generations and our planet.

Ludwig Janus, MD, Psychotherapist, Prenatal Psychologist and Psychohistorian. Former President of the International Society for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Medicine (ISPPM) and former President of the German Society for Psychohistory and Political Psychology (GPPP).

Book Information
ISBN 9781138598270
Author Antonella Sansone
Format Paperback
Page Count 296
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g