We hear the beautiful birthing stories. But where are our motherhood stories, too? I am honored in this episode to bring on Ivy, who shares her maiden-to-mother journey, with all of its beauty and difficulties. This will be a balm to any new mother in the depths of the postpartum time, or a woman who is close to undergoing this rite of passage herself. Ivy's story, and others like her, are the medicine stories. As women, we are meant to share, gather, listen, be the story-keepers. Enjoy.

She shares...

- Ivy's relationship to motherhood, doula work, and her desire for a child before getting pregnant

- Witnessing birth from the outside vs. being the birthing woman

- What Ivy's postpartum journey was like; the aftermath of birth trauma within the system

- The nuance of "hard" in early mothering - expansion of capacity, heart expansion and softening.

- Postpartum as meeting the dark goddess while also being held in Love by the Great Mother

- Her internal energetic practices for coming into the "frequency of the goddess" during the postpartum time

- Each step along the initiation that is early motherhood perfectly prepares us for the next

- The expansive capacity of the human spirit, and our ability to alchemize our difficulties into our greatest treasures

- How she processed the profound grief of losing a beloved mother figure during her postpartum time

- The entwinement of birth and death, and its many lessons

- Who is Ivy now as a woman? Her answer: "I'm more me than I ever have been - it's such a relief."

- How as we get older, we get more free and unravel the binds that hold us

- The holiness and sacred honor that we are tasked with as mothers

- The importance of RECEIVING in the postpartum time and beyond

Ivy  Challis is yoga teacher, mindfulness educator, and mother. Before devoting herself to her role as a mother, Ivy’s passion was guiding people to experience a more profound connection with themselves, the earth, and the divine, through movement practices and energy awareness. She taught yoga and worked with people to offer deeply nourishing, transformative, heart healing. She now dedicates herself to her daughter and husband, passionately offering herself fully to her highest  calling. Ivy hopes to share her experience, knowing that the deepest  medicine we can offer as women and mothers is our stories and our authentic truth.

Music credit: Edwina Masson

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Ways to Support My Work:

⁠www.bethanywilde.com

Shakti Priya is a woman I invited to come on, to speak to the hearts of maidens, and this conversation went into that and so many more expansive topics. This is a must-listen conversation for any woman to heal the wounded maiden aspects within that block us from the highest and most joyful evolution of our womanhood. Mothers and elders, we can never let the maiden within us die. You will feel the integrity of Shakti Priya as a woman that has walked this path herself.

We talk about:

- Shakti Priya's time moving into deep embodiment, maturity and wisdom, purification, healing her matriarchy through her time at an ashram

- Her purification and cultivation of the three pillars: Qi, Jing, and Shen

- Her issues with (mainstream, agenda-led, liberal) feminism. How the wound of losing trust in men leads a woman open to sexual manipulation.

- The ancient collective wounding of reproach - disappointment, resentment, hatred towards sacred masculine - and the disruption within women, divine unions, and families. The dark field that is created within that energy

- How our first cellular memories during conception form the idea of union

- The archetypal journey of the maiden and her spiritual tasks - the thresholds to cross and rites of passages to move through

- The energy of longing to be an integrated, embodied maiden. Shakti as feminine creative energy, erotic innocence, humility, and the unbending will to evolve

- "Receiving the tools to be able to guide yourself is key, but also knowing when to ask for help, knowing when the help that is coming towards you is truly divine intervention"

- Understanding and healing our masculine + union wounds as women

- Working through the maidenhood and matriarchy as the precursor to being a fully initiated mother who is in all of her light and beauty

- Supporting our young daughters in their embodiment and joyful maidenhood

- The inherent desire to create life after purifying the womb and thoughts for why so many young women don't want to become mothers

- Collective stories around birthing and motherhood and the current re-coding happening

- Remembering the shakti and inner maiden that always flows through us

- Why women have the primary role in collective change

- Patriarchy vs the dominator model, into the partnership model

- Shakti Priya's mentorship offering for the journey from wounded maiden into warrior maiden

Zuri Snow: Matriarchal Feminism

Music credit: Edwina Masson

Shakti Priya is a heart awakener, internal architect, and High Priestess of the divine light. She is passionate about uplifting women into their goddess nature, and teaching them to heal sexual trauma because this work saved her life. Read her complete, full bio over HERE and find her on IG @iamshaktipriya.

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Ways to Support My Work:

My Instagram is @⁠bethanyjanewilde⁠

⁠www.bethanywilde.com

Hope you enjoy as much as I did, listening to Neely's beautiful wild, freebirth of her daughter, including how she healed fibromyalgia naturally by addressing emotional aspects and aligning with natural living, and her incredible fast first birth. Neely is such a wise and peaceful mother, and I feel other first-time mothers would be inspired by her and her story. Enjoy!

Follow Neely @barefoot_birds on IG

Music credit: Edwina Masson

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Ways to Support My Work:

My Instagram is @⁠bethanyjanewilde⁠

⁠www.bethanywilde.com

Today I have on the intuitive Amber, on to share her stories of choosing to trust herself and her baby by birthing outside the system, after being told after a surgical fibroid removal that she would never be able to have a vaginal birth. Amber walks us through her path of healing blocked uterine (fallopian) tubes naturally, pregnancy loss, leaving the medical system at 32 weeks, and finding power and trust in her body's intelligence. We also have a conversation about her immediate postpartum and her choice to seek newborn medical care, weaving community in early motherhood, and words of wisdom and resources for other women who are dealing with womb imbalances who desire to get pregnant.

Amber McConnon has worked in organic vegetable seed for almost a decade. Her background spans from commercial seed production, to community outreach, to research. Working for years in organic agriculture had given her a holistic and systems perspective to draw from. She knew her body was designed to thrive and function perfectly if she supported it properly. After undergoing a therapeutic lifestyle change, wherein she embraced things like stoicism, mindfulness, yoga and clean intuitive eating, she and her husband were able to conceive and eventually welcome their son into the world last October. She shares her story of overcoming her own mental blocks, navigating the manipulation and fear mongering of the allopathic medical system, and planning for a VBAM (vaginal birth after myomectomy) at home unattended by any medical professionals.

Five months postpartum, Amber is now focusing on building community, working with women in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, and is developing a mentoring network to support women who choose to have home births outside of the medical system. Her website houses the extensive research she and her husband compiled during her pregnancy about vaginal births after myomectomy including case studies, clinical research, testimonials and other resources. Connect with Amber and follow her work as it continues to evolve at her website, IG, or FB

Music credit: Edwina Masson

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Ways to Support My Work:

My Instagram is @⁠bethanyjanewilde⁠

⁠www.bethanywilde.com

This is a mini-class, taken from my retired practitioner training to both give women a preview of that well of knowledge, and also offer some information on this important and big topic. In this short class, I talk about:

- The nature of trauma imprints held in the pelvis, and both the traumatic and blissful experiences we hold here

- Women's experiences and socializations

- How the nature of womb to be receptive, alchemical + to amplify

- When a woman holds trauma here, it holds back her vital life force

- What integrity can look like when being a Wise/Medicine Woman

- Alchemizing pain and grief into bliss and joy

- The deep heart-womb connection

- Trauma as feeling safe within incoherence and disharmony, and attuning to new, uncomfortable rhythms for re-wiring

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Ways to Support My Work:

My Instagram is @⁠bethanyjanewilde⁠

⁠www.bethanywilde.com

This week I have a special woman on to share her work supporting women and couples in the preconception space, her wild, world-traveling journeys and raising 2 daughters with consciousness, intention and grace. And infused throughout is Jocelyn's heart on dreaming up a new earth by bringing in "wise, ancient souls"...

We talk about:

- Fertility blocks and conception as a state of yin

- Jocelyn's work with fertility and conception; the flower of life of all factors that affect our holistic health

- How women know what they need right underneath the surface with a shift from everyday consciousness

- Organic birth - stay human!

- How this new generation of girls is growing up different, appreciating a new type of feminism, seeking balanced partnerships and to be co-creators of the earth, etc.

- External achievement dynamic + matrix mindset, vs. seeing our children as our greatest achievements

- Returning to the profound mystery of creation + procreation

- Jocelyn's wild, world-traveling journeys with bringing in her 2 daughters

- Raising daughters well + what Jocelyn has brought/is bringing into their lives. Alternative education

- How important consciousness + owning our mistakes is in mothering

- Her daughter's middle childhood transition ceremony

- No one is a perfect, peaceful mother all the time. It's not about perfection, it's about intention

- Conception traditions + creating our own

About Jocelyn

Jocelyn Gordon is a Conscious Conception Coach and embodiment educator helping women and their partners up-level their self-care, remove fertility blocks, and prepare life and home for baby.

Having lived, danced, and studied birth traditions in Bermuda, the U.S., Indonesia, and New Zealand, Jocelyn understands the power of movement and the importance of cultural sensitivity. Touring with Wanderlust Yoga Festivals, being a six-time facilitator at the Bali Spirit Festival, and presenting on the mainstage for Mindvalley at A-Fest Thailand, taught her how to connect with hundreds while speaking directly to the heart of each individual.

Jocelyn's work integrates embodiment, leadership, and fertility wisdom to support individuals and organizations with innovation, creative problem solving, and mindful living.

Resources Mentioned:

Birthing Bliss: An Introduction to Conscious Conception

Make Space for Baby: A Holistic Preconception Preparation Journey

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Ways to Support My Work:

My Instagram is @⁠bethanyjanewilde⁠

⁠www.bethanywilde.com

My Talk: "Altered Rhythms: Preparing for Postpartum Emergence" - Nourished Postpartum Summit (Plus 15 other RICH video conversations)

In this special mid-week bonus episode in honor of the Nourished Postpartum Summit that I am part of (along with other incredible women), I'm talking with Nicole Parker, the wise mama of 4 who created it all. I wanted to hear about her lived experience and insight. As you'll listen, this woman has a deep love for this sacred time, and wants to see a cultural resurgence around the postpartum conversation that truly centers mother-baby. We talk about:

- Nicole's path into early motherhood, and loss as her first postpartum experience

- How she describes her first postpartum as bliss and holy reclamation after a traumatic birth

- "I didn't know humans could access pleasure like this, that we were capable of feeling this good."

- How she set herself up for the most ease, bringing her partner into awareness on what postpartum looks like

- The father as guardian and protector of mother-baby in the postpartum

- Guiding question: "If your solution for support is anything that steps between mama and child, that's not actual support. Great motive, but felt sense is one of disruption."

- What Nicole claimed in her next postpartum experience, how things change when adding a second child and the felt experience of loss and grief

- The postpartum experience of her her 3rd child and how that integration was

- Newborn and toddler rhythms, differences and how to weave them together

- Sibling integration in the postpartum time and beyond, especially the experience of the first-born

- How important it is to prioritize serving new mothers, to show your children and partner what it looks like and making it a core family value

- Committing to holding physical stillness, which translates to emotional and energetic stillness

- How creating a beautiful postpartum doesn't have to be so hard or exceptional/unattainable

- Core pillars of postpartum wellness and vitality

- Examining your own template for safety, reception, nourishment

- Postpartum care is an *entire* cultural and community prioritization

- About the Nourished Postpartum summit as like sitting at the feet of your community

"Postpartum is the imprint for motherhood"

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Ways to Support My Work:

My Instagram is @⁠bethanyjanewilde⁠

⁠www.bethanywilde.com

Enjoy this expansive conversation from a woman who holds unique perspectives on male-female dynamics and energetics. I'm bringing her to share her philosophy and wisdom on the topic of how to raise boys well (and if you have daughters, check out episodes 10 + 15). Here's what we talk about:

- Where Anjelica is at in her 2nd pregnancy

- Going away from the narrative of depletion in motherhood, not accepting the martyr mother, and meeting needs of ALL members of the family

- How our body is a reflection of our energy stores, and the importance of preserving the maiden energy throughout the life cycle

- Her feelings about child spacing + the reality of infancy as up to 3 years

- How she feels her dharma is to be an advocate for boyhood, and her philosophy of raising boys

- Viewing character structure through the lens of astrology in addition to biological sex

- Current state of maturity in modern boys

- Her issues with the *modern* form of nuclear family

- Biological connections to gender roles and her issues with traditional gender roles

- How she sees the essential roles for mothers of boys in early childhood; cultivating in boys a relationship to the feminine that isn't dependent on his successes and failures

- Different ages + stages: natural desire to have additional male mentor(s), skill-building, to be tested

- Contrast of the female nature which tends to be harmonizing/social cohesion

- Inherent energies of young boys; honoring their natural aggression and working with them rather than suppressing, how boys are often scapegoated

- What the nursing relationship means for boys

- The importance of a healthy mother-father relationship and what projection occurs when it's unhealthy

- The spiritual and social scope of male-female relating and modern issues

- Inherent male archetypes to connect with in boyhood

Quotes:

"Once my child was two, the entire philosophy of self-led regulation pretty much collapsed. A child cannot live in a world of Mother alone after the primary stage of infancy. "

"The defining quality of manhood is Honor"

ABOUT

Anjelica is an advisor on polarity dynamics between men and women, and the multidimensional healing process of the individual. She is also an advocate of free birth, child-led education, and regenerative lifestyle practices. As a trained yoga and massage therapist who led herself through a debilitating healing crisis in her teens, she integrates many aspects of body-based spirituality into her offerings.

Her primary roles in daily life are as Mother, Wife, Homemaker, & Muse and she sources much of her teachings from immersion in these traditional occupations. Through years of supporting private clients, she has developed group study programs online with comprehensive material most commonly required in the personal and marriage development process. She offers e-books, guided meditations, and class recordings at nymphprayer.com. You can also read her prolific, regular insightful writings on Instagram @nymph.prayer

My Talk: Altered Rhythms - Nourished Postpartum Summit

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Ways to Support My Work:

My Instagram is @⁠bethanyjanewilde⁠

⁠www.bethanywilde.com

This episode's title is inspired by our conversation, but also a couple of different offerings from Kristin Hauser, an acupuncturist whose voice I appreciate for her grounded and articulate wisdom on womb cycle vitality and sexual identity in motherhood. We talk about:

Resources Mentioned:

Astrocartography

Betty Martin's Wheel of Consent

Ellen Heed's STREAM Training

Kristin Hauser is an acupuncturist, Herbalist and Somatic Sex Educator. Her practice is focused on women’s hormonal, sexual and pelvic health, fertility through postpartum. She is a mama of 3. She is also the founder of Womb Medicine, a virtual education platform that centers embodied healing, body literacy, hormonal know-how and sexual identity integration. Kristin brings compassion, curiosity, expert knowledge and embodied experience into her offerings. She invites you into your own sense of agency, healing and nourishment.

You can visit Kristin and her body of work/offerings at www.wombmedicine.com and on IG @kristinhauser

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Ways to Support My Work:

My Instagram is @⁠bethanyjanewilde⁠

⁠www.bethanywilde.com

Enjoy these beautiful birth stories in this episode with Anisa Woodall, Preconception Nutritionist. She shares the stories of her two births and talks about the differences between her first midwife attended birth and her second freebirth. Anisa shares her wisdom throughout the episode on aligning with the body's intelligence to create a peaceful pregnancy, birth, and motherhood experience.

We didn't have the time to dive deep into preconception nutrition and preparation, but she is releasing her upcoming course (see resources below), for any woman who is preparing her body to get pregnant in the next 2 years.

Things we mention in this episode:

Check out her live webinar 1/24/23: 3 Reasons Why You're Still Not Pregnant

Natural Mama's Guide to Newborn Essentials

Above and Beyond: Flow State (meditation album)

Resilient Motherhood: A Step-by-Step Guide to Preparing for Conception and Beyond

($100 off coupon for her upcoming preconception nutrition course, use the code: BETHANY100)

Anisa Woodall, MS CN is a holistically minded Certified Nutritionist and natural mama of 2 adventurous boys living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Her life's purpose is to inspire and educate women to live, eat and move with intention and confidence so they can create the family of their dreams.

She obtained her BS degree in Nutrition and Exercise Science and MS degree in Clinical Nutrition at Bastyr University, the leading institution in natural health sciences. Upon entering clinical practice 7 years ago, Anisa quickly realized the immense challenges that women face when they are ready to start a family. So, she deepened her inner and outer knowledge and began applying everything she was learning to her own life. Throughout this process she unlearned common patterns of relating to women’s bodies, gained key insights into how to adopt the mindset of a Resilient Mother, how to intuitively tune-in to the needs of her body and her baby, and to ultimately trust fully in the wisdom of her body, every step of the way.

Equipped with this vast database of real-world knowledge, inner-connection and trust in her body and intuition, she went into her pregnancies confident that she did everything in her power to achieve her desired outcome of birthing not only a healthy babies at home in the common definition (live) but ones that are vital, strong and resilient. And she wants all of this for you!

Anisa serves women throughout their motherhood transition via 1:1 holistic nutrition coaching online and through her online preconception preparation course, Resilient Motherhood. You can learn more at anisawoodall.com and follow @anisawoodallnutrition

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Ways to Support My Work:

My Instagram is @⁠bethanyjanewilde⁠

⁠www.bethanywilde.com