By Sacred Window Podcast
The podcast currently has 47 episodes available.
In this episode of the podcast, host Christine welcomes Heather Todd Franklin and Dru Erin Houchen, two inspiring women who have blended their passions for postpartum care and conscious business practices. Heather, the owner of Gulfport Yoga and founder of Prana Mama, emphasizes the crucial role of authenticity in her work. She shares how she has navigated the challenges of finding the right branding and identity for her business, ultimately realizing that aligning her offerings with her true self is the key to connecting with her clients on a deeper, emotional level.
Dru, the founder of Golden Hour Motherhood, offers a unique perspective, drawing from her own experience with postpartum depression and anxiety. She underscores the significance of ensuring that a business's brand elements, from color palettes to copywriting, resonate with the emotional needs of the target audience, especially during vulnerable times like the postpartum period. Both Heather and Dru highlight the value of collaboration, not only in supporting their clients but also in helping each other refine their own brands and business models.
Balancing the demands of business and motherhood is a common challenge faced by Heather and Dru. They advocate for flexibility, self-care, and the establishment of clear boundaries to maintain a healthy work-life integration. By sharing their personal strategies, such as dedicated workspaces and the use of separate devices for work and personal life, they inspire other caregivers and entrepreneurs to prioritize their well-being while pursuing their professional passions.
Heather Todd Franklin
Owner of Gulfport Yoga
Founder of Pranamama Ayurvedic Postpartum Care
Dru Erin Houchen
Founder of Golden Hour Motherhood
Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care?
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Reach out! Schedule a time with Christine to find out if our programs are a good fit for you!
Here is the link to out free class
In a thought-provoking conversation, Christine Eck, the director of the Center for Sacred Window Studies, sat down with Gal Gallucci, a seasoned sexological body worker and postpartum caregiver. Their discussion centered on the critical importance of integrating sexological body work into postpartum care. Gal emphasized the holistic approach of this modality, which encompasses not only reproductive health and pelvic floor therapy, but also the vital realm of arousal and sexual well-being.
Gal explained that sexological body work goes beyond traditional pelvic floor therapy by addressing the entire network of tissues and nerves in the body. This comprehensive approach allows for the enhancement of sexual health alongside reproductive health, providing a more complete path to healing and wholeness. One particularly powerful tool highlighted was the practice of vulva mapping, which empowers individuals to understand and address their unique experiences of pleasure potential, numbness, and pain within their intimate areas.
The conversation underscored the pressing need for better postpartum sexual health education and care. Too often, the sexual and intimate aspects of the postpartum journey are overlooked or minimized, leaving many individuals feeling isolated and unsupported in their journey to reclaim their embodied sense of sexuality. By bringing sexological body work into the forefront of postpartum care, Gal and Christine aim to shed light on this vital aspect of the human experience, empowering individuals to navigate the complexities of intimacy with greater awareness, compassion, and self-acceptance.
Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care?
Learn about our programs at www.sacredwindowstudies.com
Follow us on Instagram at @sacredwindowstudies
Facebook at @AyurvedaForPostpartum
Join our Facebook Group
Reach out! Schedule a time with Christine to find out if our programs are a good fit for you!
Here is the link to out free class
Christine welcomes Shelley Rahim to the Sacred Window Podcast, highlighting her journey from a prenatal yoga instructor to a birth and Ayurvedic postpartum doula. Shelley shares how her early experiences of giving birth at a young age led her to discover the benefits of yoga for birth preparation. She describes her prenatal yoga training at Kripalu in 2005 and how it sparked her passion for understanding trauma in birth work. Shelley emphasizes the importance of creating empowering and trauma-informed classes, where every word and guidance can impact the birthing person.
Shelley notes that 65% of her clients come from her prenatal yoga classes, with the rest from referrals and online consultations. She explains how her deep understanding of the childbearing year continuum has been built through hands-on experience and training, allowing her to provide comprehensive support from pregnancy to postpartum. Shelley's prenatal yoga classes serve as a space for community and support, leading to natural referrals for her doula and postpartum services.
Christine and Shelley stress the value of community, self-awareness, and sustainable business practices in supporting caregivers and clients. They discuss the integration of yoga and Ayurveda as sister sciences, enhancing wellness and longevity. Shelley advises those interested in pursuing these paths to find the right training and integrate these practices into their daily lives, emphasizing the importance of self-care for long-term sustainability in the emotionally and physically demanding work of a birth and postpartum doula.
Know more about Shelley Rahim!
Visit her website: https://newmothercaregiving.com/
Check out her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newmothercaregiving
Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care?
Learn about our programs at www.sacredwindowstudies.com
Follow us on Instagram at @sacredwindowstudies
Facebook at @AyurvedaForPostpartum
Join our Facebook Group
Reach out! Schedule a time with Christine to find out if our programs are a good fit for you!
Here is the link to out free class
In a thought-inspiring conversation, Nicolay emphasizes the importance of holistic care that integrates physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. She underscores the significance of creating supportive communities for new parents, who often face deep loneliness and cultural challenges.
As an experienced practitioner, Nicolay shares valuable insights on facilitating effective support circles. She advises fellow practitioners to first ground themselves, establishing a non-biased and supportive space. Establishing clear boundaries and ground rules is crucial to ensure a safe and welcoming environment for participants. Nicolay also recommends incorporating closing ceremonies to help attendees release any lingering emotions, allowing them to transition back into their daily lives with a sense of grounding and positivity.
Recognizing the immense challenges new mothers face, Nicolay stresses the importance of self-care as a foundation for supporting the family. She encourages mothers to give themselves permission to prioritize their own needs, without feeling the burden of guilt or societal expectations. To this end, Nicolay offers a range of virtual and in-person services, including bodywork, Reiki, and personalized nutrition, all aimed at nurturing the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of new mothers during their transformative postpartum journey.
Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care?
Learn about our programs at www.sacredwindowstudies.com
Follow us on Instagram at @sacredwindowstudies
Facebook at @AyurvedaForPostpartum
Join our Facebook Group
Reach out! Schedule a time with Christine to find out if our programs are a good fit for you!
Here is the link to out free class
In this episode, Christine discusses the importance of flexible postpartum planning on the Sacred Window Podcast. She emphasizes the need to adapt plans to accommodate unexpected challenges, rather than rigidly adhering to a set schedule. Christine highlights the significance of food, rest, and community support in postpartum care. She shares personal experiences, such as preparing easy recipes for family members to help with meals. Christine also stresses the importance of mental and emotional well-being, advocating for rest and prioritizing joy. She concludes by encouraging listeners to create a nourishing, flexible postpartum plan that includes a support network.
Christine acknowledges that while the postpartum period can be challenging, it is also a time of profound transformation and growth. She encourages listeners to approach this transition with a spirit of curiosity and self-discovery, rather than fear or anxiety. By being open to the unexpected, Christine believes women can tap into their innate resilience and find new depths of strength and wisdom. She reminds her audience that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to postpartum care, and that the key is to listen to their own bodies and intuition to determine what they need most.
Furthermore, Christine emphasizes the importance of community support in the postpartum period. She stresses that no one person, whether a partner, family member, or professional caregiver, can shoulder the entire burden of postpartum care. Christine encourages listeners to build a "care circle" of trusted individuals who can provide practical, emotional, and spiritual support in a variety of ways. By cultivating this network of care, Christine believes women can feel truly held and nourished, allowing them to focus on their own healing and bonding with their new baby.
Know more about Christine
Christine is the Center’s Founder, Director and one of its Instructors since its inception in 2018. She has a background as an Ayurvedic Practitioner, Educator, Group Facilitator and Birth and Postpartum Doula. She is a busy mother of 4 boys, most of whom have been brought into the world using the principles we teach. She describes Ayurvedic Postpartum Care as truly powerful and transformative, and a missing link in modern postpartum care. Christine lives in Western Massachusetts with her pack of wild boys and amazing husband. Her love of this work continues to evolve as she focuses on the subtle changes people go through not only in postpartum, but throughout life, and how attending to the heart, mind and senses during all times of transition pave the way for healing of the body. Healing for the postpartum window is applicable ongoing as we navigate life as parents, partners and people wanting to do our best in the world!
Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care?
Learn about our programs at www.sacredwindowstudies.com
Follow us on Instagram at @sacredwindowstudies
Facebook at @AyurvedaForPostpartum
Join our Facebook Group
Reach out! Schedule a time with Christine to find out if our programs are a good fit for you!
Here is the link to out free class
In this episode, Christine Devlin Eck and Nicole Bulow discuss the importance of pelvic floor health and its impact on overall well-being. Nicole, founder of SolFuel, a pelvic health physical therapy clinic, shares her journey from sports medicine to pelvic health, influenced by her own postpartum experiences. She emphasizes the interconnectedness of the body and the need for holistic approaches to healing. Nicole highlights common postpartum issues like urinary incontinence, pelvic pain, and the importance of early intervention. She advocates for integrating pelvic health into prenatal care and stresses the need for cultural and systemic changes to support postpartum individuals effectively.
Nicole's approach to pelvic health emphasizes the importance of listening to the body and allowing it to guide the healing process. She explains that by addressing the root causes of pelvic floor dysfunction, such as organ positioning or nervous system imbalances, lasting changes can be achieved. This holistic perspective contrasts with the traditional focus on isolated muscle strengthening, which Nicole believes often falls short in providing long-term solutions.
Furthermore, Nicole underscores the need for a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to pelvic health. She envisions a future where pelvic floor therapists, midwives, doulas, and other healthcare providers work together to support individuals throughout their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum journey. This integrated model would ensure that each person's unique needs are addressed, empowering them to reclaim their pelvic and overall bodily health. By fostering this level of support, Nicole believes we can transform the cultural narrative around postpartum care and empower individuals to prioritize their well-being during this pivotal life transition.
Know more about Nicole Bulow
Nicole Bulow is the founder of SolFuel, a pelvic health physical therapy clinic. Nicole’s background is in sports medicine, and she transitioned into pelvic health as she travelled her own journey of motherhood.
Based in Seattle, Nicole has created her own integrated hands-on approach that treats the body as the interconnected system that it is.
Today, Nicole and I will be talking about pelvic health as full body health. We’ll be exploring how your pelvic floor influences your quality of life, how you feel about your body and the things you are able to do.
We’ll also discuss how our BODY influences the pelvic floor.
Our culture and specifically our systems of postpartum healing do not emphasize pelvic floor healing after birth, and thus it has become a normal thing to experience weakness and imbalance in the pelvic floor. We’ll speak about this too.
Much in alignment with the Ayurvedic approach to healing, Nicole’s approach embraces the mind, body, soul and emotions in how we heal and seek vitality.
SolFuel Wellness | Seattle Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy
Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care?
Learn about our programs at: http://www.sacredwindowstudies.com
Follow us on Instagram at @sacredwindowstudies
Facebook at @AyurvedaForPostpartum
Join our Facebook Group
Reach out! Schedule a time with Christine to find out if our programs are a good fit for you!
Here is the link to out free class.
In this episode, featuring Tatiana Berindei and Sarah Kruse, delves into the concept of sacred windows in Ayurvedic texts, including menarche, postpartum, and perimenopause/menopause.
They emphasize the importance of community, storytelling, and intentional preparation for these life transitions. Tatiana shares her book "Path to Puberty" and its mission to support mothers and daughters. Sarah highlights the role of Ayurveda in balancing hormones and the significance of community support. The conversation underscores the need for cultural shifts to normalize these transitions and foster a supportive environment for women.
Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care?
Learn about our programs at www.sacredwindowstudies.com
Follow us on Instagram at @sacredwindowstudies
Facebook at @AyurvedaForPostpartum
Join our Facebook Group
Reach out! Schedule a time with Christine to find out if our programs are a good fit for you!
Here is the link to out free class
In this episode, Christine introduces Sarah Kruse, founder of Embrace Ayurveda, who supports women in all stages of life through Ayurvedic consultations and coaching programs. Sarah emphasizes the importance of clearing and detoxifying the body, mind, and spirit before nourishment, which is often overlooked in Western medicine. Sarah discovered her passion for Ayurveda through a lecture by Dr. George AC, leading her to pursue further study with Dr. Of Asante lad in Albuquerque.
About Sarah:
Sarah Kruse is an Ayurvedic Doctor. She assists clients in returning to their true nature through Ayurvedic Consultations and Ayurvedic Health Coaching programs. She is in Cannon Beach, Oregon.
Sarah is a mother as well as trained in Ayurvedic postpartum care, which was her area of focus before becoming an Ayurvedic doctor.
Her passion lies around supporting women in receiving nourishment at every stage of life. And before nourishment happens, it is often appropriate to clear and detoxify the body, mind and anything else in the way. Some of the ways Sarah specifically helps her clients are in individual Ayurvedic Consultations, 3-month Ayurvedic coaching programs, her 10-week Metabolic Reset and Panchakarma cleansing retreats.
Sarah also offers a year-long mentorship program where she invites women who are already committed to their health and self-care to deepen their relationship with themselves, their communities and planet, as we follow the rhythms of Ayurveda.
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/RHvYrNYmgrz8mq8ami-uYa1PIsiM0S0QnOpxZ5dq4qyDSeni1OOZTTyLTiFWzx3_.bhOmBNm9OjwpyoK2?startTime=1715184466000
Sarah’s Links:
https://embrace-ayurveda.com/
https://www.instagram.com/embraceayurveda
Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care?
Learn about our programs at www.sacredwindowstudies.com
Follow us on Instagram at @sacredwindowstudies
Facebook at @AyurvedaForPostpartum
Join our Facebook Group
Reach out! Schedule a time with Christine to find out if our programs are a good fit for you!
Here is the link to out free class
In this episode, Jennifer introduced her unique therapy map approach to healing. Christine and Jennifer began exploring the neurological needs of someone in the postpartum window but had more to discuss. Today, they will further examine birth as an initiatory experience and postpartum as 'the return.'
Specifically, Christine and Jennifer want to look more closely at how Western culture tends not to pause during initiations like birth to examine what is happening below the surface. Jennifer believes this contributes greatly to imbalances in mental health. Their conversation will harness the value in these profound life moments and the process of growth.
Jennifer Summerfeldt is the founder of ASK Therapy and author of Healing After Birth. She is a mother, a therapist, a writer and a mentor. Jennifer’s organization is a virtual counseling clinic dedicated to providing trauma, polyvagal and childbirth informed support to mothers navigating the entire perinatal continuum. Their goal is to contribute to the dialogue around maternal mental health, break stigmas and offer guidance to those who may be navigating similar journeys.
Christine expressed excitement to continue diving deeper with Jennifer into her unique perspective on healing and understanding the postpartum experience. She thanked listeners for joining and said she knows they will find the discussion insightful.
Learn More about Jennifer’s beautiful work in this world:
Writer|Therapist|Guide | Instagram, Facebook | Linktree
Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care?
Learn about our programs at www.sacredwindowstudies.com
Follow us on Instagram at @sacredwindowstudies
Facebook at @AyurvedaForPostpartum
Join our Facebook Group
Reach out! Schedule a time with Christine to find out if our programs are a good fit for you!
Here is the link to out free class
Welcome to the Sacred Window Podcast. I'm Christine Eck and I'm excited to be joined today by Jennifer Summerfeldt to discuss her unique approach to mapping out a mother's healing journey. Jennifer is the founder of Ask Therapy and author of Healing After Birth.
Jennifer's own birthing experiences ignited her passion for supporting mothers in their journey. She has trained as a holistic doula, midwife and counselor to provide trauma and childbirth informed support. Her goal is to contribute to the dialogue around maternal mental health and offer guidance to those navigating similar experiences.
We'll dive into Jennifer's therapy map approach, which aims to guide clients from a place of wounding to wisdom. She emphasizes understanding the mind, body, emotions and spirit as interconnected systems impacted by limiting beliefs.
I'm looking forward to our discussion on finding the way up and out of perinatal mood disorders. Thank you for joining us today, Jennifer.
Jennifer Summerfeldt is the founder of ASK Therapy and author of Healing After Birth. She is a mother, a therapist, a writer and a mentor. Jennifer’s organization is a virtual counseling clinic dedicated to providing trauma, polyvagal and childbirth informed support to mothers navigating the entire perinatal continuum. Their goal is to contribute to the dialogue around maternal mental health, break stigmas and offer guidance to those who may be navigating similar journeys.
Learn More about Jennifer’s beautiful work in this world:
https://linktr.ee/j.summerfeldt
Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care?
Learn about our programs at www.sacredwindowstudies.com
Follow us on Instagram at @sacredwindowstudies
Facebook at @AyurvedaForPostpartum
Join our Facebook Group
Reach out! Schedule a time with Christine to find out if our programs are a good fit for you!
Here is the link to out free class
The podcast currently has 47 episodes available.