About this item
Raising happy, compassionate, and responsible children requires both love and limits. In Mindful Discipline, internationally recognized mindfulness expert Shauna Shapiro and pediatrician Chris White weave together ancient wisdom and modern science to provide new perspectives on parenting and discipline. Grounded in mindfulness and neuroscience, this pioneering book redefines discipline and outlines the five essential elements necessary for children to thrive: unconditional love, space for children to be themselves, mentorship, healthy boundaries, and mis-takes that create learning and growth opportunities. In this book, you will also discover parenting practices such as setting limits with love, working with difficult emotions, and forgiveness and compassion meditations that place discipline within a context of mindfulness.
About the Author
I am a board-certified pediatrician, parent educator, life coach, and a father of 2 boys. I created Essential Parenting to help "raise the bar" for parenting in the 21st century, as well as help parents understand and enjoy their kids more in everyday life. I see parenting as the "perfect storm" where we are compelled to grow beyond our self-centeredness and become the best person we can be. We each need to find and give our unique gifts - -to our children and to the communities we live in.
Over the past 15 years, I have committed myself to mindfulness, meditation, inquiry, and many other somatic practices. It is these practices -- more than any textbook -- that have taught me the most about human behavior and guide me in my work with parents and children.
I studied Pediatriacs at The University of West Virginia and now currently practice hospital based medicine in Marin County, California. I am presently making the transition to helping parents and children with developmental and attentional issues.
I was trained at New Ventures West in San Francisco as an Integral Coach. I especially am interested in the "neurobiology of change and maturation" and actively explore the work coming out of the field of Interpersonal Neurobiology spearheaded by Dr. Dan Siegel. I have also studied with Dr. Gordon Neufeld, who if you don't know him, is an incredibly insightful teacher of the importance of healthy attachment in human development. I consider Gordon to be my most important mentor.
Most recently, I have co-authored Mindful Discipline: A Loving Approach to Setting Limits and Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child. I am really proud of this book, which I wrote with Shauna Shapiro PhD. I think we laid a strong foundation for helping parents orient toward discipline in a way that is not only healthy, but reduces the guilt and confusion parents often experience when trying to balance harmony in the home with the long-term development of healthy self-discipline. Kids need both love and limits in order to thrive. Both nourish them toward their full, unique potential in life.
I am a student-practitioner of the Diamond Approach, and currently participating in their teacher training (a 10 year endeavor!) . I have also been involved in and lead several mens groups in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2002. I find great solace and strength in sitting with strong, wise, and loving men who can often see me more clearly than I can see myself.
My life has been a love affair with the process of awakening, unfolding, and authentic expression. My passion for babies and children stems from their capacity for spontaneous and unapologetic authenticity. I have attended thousands of births, including the home-birth of my two sons, and am still often moved to tears at this physical expression of the dynamic unfolding of life and the power that it brings into the room. My
