Hi, I’m Suzanne, aka Zen Mommy
In addition to mommy-ing to two magical girls born in 2000 and 2003, my husband and I were blessed with boy and girl twins in February of 2010. I am a mother of nine, four here on earth and five who got their wings before birth.
I am a mom, a physical therapist and an Infant Massage Instructor. I teach, speak and write about the connection that we are, and to this end, being a mom of these nine is my greatest credential.
My husband and I are both Physical Therapists and have a holistic health center in Saint Louis, Missouri. Shawn is my business partner and life partner. Though I stay home with our children, I moonlight as a parenting coach and an Infant Massage Instructor, facilitating weekly parent classes on mindfulness and infant massage (which I can tell you more about here.) Exploring the connectedness that we are in parenting and in life is as close to my bliss as I have found.
I find great wisdom in Kahlil Gibran’s words to parents about their children. “You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.” I strive to be more like my kids every day. I believe many things, but if you asked me here and now to name five things I believe, they would be:
1. I believe in holding on to letting go.
2. I believe that you and I are one.
3. I believe in stillness.
4. I believe that we are here to know and be known.
5. I believe that where there is love, so too there is transformation.
Being a parent has helped to make my life a-parent to me. The spiritual challenges and awakenings that came with my first pregnancy, in motherhood, kept on coming. With each birth, each child, each miscarriage, with each and every day of being mom, new opportunities to face my fears and follow my bliss. The very same things I’ve bumped up against my whole life, things like guilt, belonging and acceptance, in motherhood, take on new meaning and a sort of urgency.
Facing my demons, loving my light, embracing the chaos and accepting the un-acceptable as a parent has led me closer to what I understand to be my life purpose: to know and love myself. I breathe in, I love myself. I breathe out, I am enough.
My greatest wish in parenting is to know and love myself, that my children may too. It’s the bumps along the road of motherhood and my personal challenges with self love and acceptance that has me here, sharing with you.
I hope My Mommy Manual helps you connect in love to yourself and the wisdom that lies within you alone. You are the manual and though it may not always seem like it, you already have the answers. Their inside. All that is required is the space and time for you to go within, to ask the questions and to listen. It is within each of us, our own personal mommy manual for this spiritual journey they call motherhood.
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What??! You’re still reading? I’m honored. Here are 16 Things about Me (a bit lighter than my beliefs to round things out.) And finally, my top three My Mommy Manual post picks for sharing “me” with you would be:
How To Be Enough (where I struggle with BEING enough…)
How to Recognize Warning Signs (where I miss the warning signs…)
and How Spirit Moves (where spirit moved… and how)
There. That aught to do it. You now know more about me than most of my neighbors! Please share who you are with me by sending me an email to tuckersuzanne @ sbcglobal (dot) net, a tweet to @ZenMommy or by commenting here on My Mommy Manual.
Thanks for taking the time to learn about me. Now tell me about YOU!
I’d LOVE to be your Parent Coach:
If I can be of help as a Parenting Coach to you and your family, I would be honored. I do most sessions on skype, some over the phone. My track record is pretty good with only needing 3-6 sessions (30 or 60 minutes) to help you meet your goals. If you want to see if we’re a match, email me and we’ll schedule your first 20 minute session free of charge.
Here are some of the things my clients have said:
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“I am finding so many positive changes just in the time that we have spent so far. I’m even talking about it with my friends! This is the first time that I’ve been in a type of therapy that I have been proud, not ashamed. Maybe because I am seeing results? Maybe because you are my coach, not my therapist? But whatever the reason, I wanted to say thanks. I feel open, excited and so much more AWARE.”
Jennifer, mom of two
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“Thank you for being such an encouragement to me in the most difficult times. Sleep deprivation after having a baby is something no one can understand until you go through it. But you have a way of showing you understand. The advice you gave me helped me see that I need to take care of myself, too, so that I can take care of my son. I cannot say thank you enough!”
Katharine N., first time mom
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“Suzanne,
Jonathan started crying pretty hard shortly after we talked. It went on for close to 7-8 minutes but I just held him and walked with him. I normally would have nursed him at that point even though it was barely 2 hours. Well…. He fell asleep and slept for FIFTY minutes. I’m starting to wonder if some of his fussiness is really over-tiredness. I’m going to experiment with that over the next few days. I hate for him to cry like that so I think I fall back on nursing, but that’s keeping me from getting on a schedule. Needless to say, I got my shower! 
Will keep you posted. Thanks again!!!”
*** then the next morning:
“The night went well. He slept until 4:20am, so I got 5 hrs sleep. He nursed and then slept 3 more hours!!! He has never done that (is usually back up in 1.5-2 hours.) We’re going to try your advice and the staying awake 2-3 hour max thing today. Thx again with the “compassionate” sleep support!” I never wanted to have to do the “cry-it-out thing” and with your advice I’m hopeful we won’t ever have to.”
-Mom of an 11 week old with reflux, after three thirty-minute sessions
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Mom after three sessions where I encouraged her to follow her intuition which was telling her to move her 5 mo old out of her bed and into his crib:
“Going great, thanks! Last night he slept 7.5 hours before waking at 3am and then didn’t wake again until 5:30am, then 7:15am. Perfect!
