Mindfulness for Parents and Families

Perhaps it is not surprising that the pioneer in the field of mindful parenting is the one and the same Jon Kabat-Zinn who developed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). In 1997, Kabat-Zinn, together with his wife Myla, a childbirth educator, who are themselves the parents of three children, published Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting, (Hyperion Books, 1998).Their book, about which Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, exclaimed “At last an emotionally intelligent guide for parents,” set the stage for the interest in the uses of mindfulness in the context of families. Since that time, the applications of mindfulness in family life have gradually grown, with programs being developed in various contexts. Today there is the beginning of a body of research literature focused on family-related mindfulness interventions, as well.