Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom (204 page)

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Authors: Christiane Northrup

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8
. N. Kristof and S. WuDunn, “The Women’s Crusade,”
New York Times Magazine
(August 17, 2009), available online at
www.nytimes.com/2009/ 08/23/magazine/23Woment.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
.

Acknowledgments

I gratefully acknowledge all who contributed to the first three editions of this book back in 1994, 1998, and 2006 and helped lay the original foundation upon which this book is built. Leslie Meredith, Mona Lisa Schulz, M.D., Ph.D., and Joel Hargrove, M.D. My original partners at Women to Women, Marcelle Pick, R.N.C., Annie Rafter, R.N.C., and Ellen Fenn, M.D. Thanks also to Bethany Hays, M.D., Susan Doughty, R.N.C., and Hector Terrazza, M.D., Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Maine Medical Center. To my former Bantam team with whom I enjoyed a legendary and productive relationship for over 15 years: Irwyn Applebaum, former president of Bantam Books who believed in me from the start, Toni Burbank, an editor who has the ability to help an author birth a better book than she ever thought possible, and Barb Burg, former head of publicity at Bantam. I miss you all.

For this fourth edition, thanks to Beth Rashbaum and Theresa Zoro for providing continuity and “tribal memory” with Bantam. Also a big thank-you to Nita Taublib for being such a strong supporter from the beginning.

Great appreciation to Ned Leavitt, my literary agent, with whom I continue to share a rich history and spiritual kinship.

To Katy Koontz, scribe extraordinaire, whose innate feeling for this material and whose research and organizational ability have made yet another magnum opus a true pleasure to write.

To Scott Leighton, for your outstanding medical illustrations—and for the joy of co-creating with you.

To Regena Thomashauer for having the courage to live a new story for women and show all of us a better way of relating to men—and one another.

To Joan and Tomas Heartfield for establishing the Divine Feminine/ Awakened Masculine Institute and providing models for healthy, sustainable loving.

To Ina May Gaskin for her vision of childbirth as an ecstatic life-changing event—plus the research that backs that up!

To Chip Gray, the Gray family, and the staff of the wonderful Har-raseeket Inn. Your beautifully prepared and delicious organic meals served in such a warm and cozy atmosphere have sustained me through the writing of three books (not to mention providing me with the perfect venue for trying out new material). I am deeply grateful.

To the staff of the Royal River Grillhouse for making my business lunches so delicious and fun.

To Fern Tsao and her daughter Maureen Manetti for providing me and my family with the gift of traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture through all these years.

To Julie Hofheimer for your healing bodywork skills.

To Hope Matthews, my Pilates instructor, for helping me transform my body and mind.

To Shelbie, Jill, Emily, and Vanessa at the J Kelley Salon for great styling. And to Agnes at the Joseph Martin Salon in New York City for the world’s best haircuts.

To Deena Spear, vibrational healer and good friend. Our ghostbusting, dog healings, and other extraordinary happenings, plus my personal “tunings” with you, have been not only a blessing but, most important, a lot of laughs!

To Doris Cohen, Ph.D., and to her guides and angels. You have helped me mend a broken heart, have faith in the future, and learn to trust my intuition more profoundly than ever. You are a major blessing in my life—and also, like Deena, a source of endless laughter and good cheer!

To Louise Hay, Reid Tracy, Margarete Nielson, Nancy Levin, Dani Riehl, Donna Abate, and all of the Hay House staff. You have shown me that work, pleasure, and prosperity go together beautifully. I give thanks every day for our association. Thanks also to Hay House radio for wonderful assistance in getting my message out through my radio show,
Flourish!

To Niki Vettel, my PBS co-producer, for assisting me with getting the message over the airwaves and helping a good cause at the same time.

To Judie Harvey—my e-letter and website editor whose sense of humor and fun are a delight.

To Abby Shattuck for your winning ways with flowers and gardening.

To Mike Brewer for making me smile every time I pull in to my driveway and see the lawn.

To Sue Abel for helping keep the home fires burning, the wood stacked, and my cat Buddy happy and healthy.

To Paulina Carr, my girl Friday, for doing whatever needs to be done— including bringing in her truck when necessary.

To Janet Lambert for your incredible bookkeeping and business skills.

To Diane Grover, whose organizational skills, intuitive gifts, loyalty, friendship, and personal cheerleading on behalf of my business, personal health, happiness, and prosperity are divine gifts in my life. You are the CEO of Everything and do the work of at least four people—all efficiently and with a lot of laughter. Thank you for being a cheerleader for the emerging tango dancer and courtesan within me. And also for doing regular Divine Love meditations with me. And for having the good sense to marry your charming husband, Charlie, more than thirty years ago.

I thank my parents for the support they have always provided: my indomitable mother, Edna, and my late father, Wilbur, whose work I have carried forth in my own way. My heart is full of appreciation for my sister, Penny, her husband, Phil, my brother John, his wife, Annie, and also my brother Bill and his wife, Lori. You all create an incredibly strong first chakra that makes my immunity and sense of belonging really solid and secure. I appreciate you more now than ever before.

And finally, I acknowledge and thank my two daughters, Annie and Katie, who are living the legacy of this work in their own lives and sharing it with all their visionary friends. Because of you both, I can see the torch of women’s wisdom burning brightly for years to come. I am filled with gratitude for your beauty, your vibrant good health, your enthusiasm for life, and your loud and boisterous laughter (which is not unlike my own!).

Christiane Northrup, M.D.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

C
HRISTIANE
Northrup, M.D., is also the author of the #1
New
York Times
bestseller
The Wisdom of Menopause
and
Mother-
Daughter Wisdom,
and the host of seven public television specials. A board-certified OB/GYN and past president of the American Holistic Medical Association with more than twenty-five years of clinical and medical teaching experience, Dr. Northrup was a pioneer in the partnership between conventional and complementary medicine. Her work has been featured on
The Oprah Winfrey Show, Today,
and
Good Morning
America,
among many others. She lives in Maine and is the mother of two adult daughters.