Review of Mothering from Your Center, Tami Lynn Kent
Reading this book was a wonderful confirmation of my own
mothering experience.
Eventually, every mother is torn between two things – and
following the rhythm of her children and babies, and having her own time and
space to work on any creative projects or work. Author Tami Lynn Kent has found
a way to combine the two, by energetically getting in touch with her creative
center, and surrendering to that flow. She is a women’s health
physical therapist, energy worker and writer, with three boys and lots of practical experience with finding balance in home life.
In her first book, The
Wild Feminine, Tami Kent provided visualizations of the pelvic bowl, as
she calls it, and stories of her healing work with women’s pelvic traumas, as
well as an exploration of the feminine energy system. This new book goes along
the same lines, but especially addresses pregnancy, birth and mothering. She focuses
on the pelvic bowl as the place of both physical and creative space where we
“gestate and birth our creations”.
Kent calls mothering an epic journey, a spiritual quest, a
‘sacred process akin to the soul journeys of a shaman”. And we mothers know that it calls up all our strength
and courage, and pushes all our buttons too. What I love best about this book are the practical
tools offered, the know-how to restore a connection to the feminine center, and discover how
to mother from a centered place. I especially enjoyed the visualizations and energy
medicine exercises. It’s so good to
learn that mothering can be energizing rather than depleting. That’s a message I wish I had read before
setting out on the journey to mothering.
I have always known that as mother I am the center, the
hearth, the tuning fork for the rest of the family. Tending to my own center
and balance, however, demands time and patience. For example, Kent advises
women get more rest during the first few weeks of postpartum time right after birth. Let the
housework go, or hire help and see how close to home you can stay, as if on
retreat. There is a big self-care component in this book – an honouring of the reality
of being mother. Most days it is hard, physical work, and emotionally
draining. Tami is not prescriptive, however, and leaves it up to the reader to
make decisions from the wisdom of her center – about things like sharing a
family bed, nursing vs bottles, and replenishing the well. There is no one
right way of doing things.
I know this book could have helped me negotiate a
smoother transition between time for me and time for my babies, without feeling
guilty or resentful, and without feeling the constant need to be ‘busy’. As the author rightly says, the challenge is that we don’t
know how to slow down and follow our own inner rhythm, especially for those
mothers who may be staying home for the first time after working at
an outside job. Sometimes we keep over-busy to avoid our sad and mad feelings. Kent chose not to return to work outside the
home right away, as did I, because as she says, “My child had called me back to my
center, and from the center I eventually wove a life and work-family balance
that would support us.” There are lots
of great chapters like “Taking care of You: A Loving Daily Practice” with
self-care rituals as simple as drinking a cup of tea without being interrupted,
resisting the urge to multi-task and letting the kids sit quietly or play
nearby until her tea is finished.
This book addresses all women, those who haven’t birthed a
child, those who co-mother or are step-mothers and adoptive mothers. Any woman
who wants to reconnect to her Creative Core and her feminine self, find the
energy connection with her child and strengthen it, will benefit from reading
this book.
“When in the midst of a challenging mothering moment, instead
of reacting to what is happening, I focus on finding my center and feeling my
feet on the ground. I breathe deeply into my connection to the earth and bring
more flow into my root…From there, I may be able to better comfort my child,
deflate a conflict by taking a different approach, or engage the situation in an
entirely new matter.”
Wouldn't any woman want to learn that? Ultimately, a woman
needs to connect with her own body and inner guidance. To learn how to mother
from the potential of her own center.
Read this book!
Musemother
Youtube: Video with Tami Lynn Kent
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