Talkin about Midlife

Today I talk to my friend and colleague Kendra cover who is a women's intimacy coach about stepping into womanhood. What does it look like and how would we know what it feels like inside of us.

In this podcast Kendra and I discuss:

- The rites of passage that women go through and how poorly supported they are,

- How women feel their value comes from the roles that they take up in their lives. That we are conditioned to be a good daughter, good friend, good mother, good wife, good sister; all the time giving so much of ourselves away to others. That within these roles there comes so much discomfort that we feel that is surprising to us,

- how few archtyepal roles are available to women in terms of how they show up and tis narrowing down of how we ‘are’ diminishes so much of who we are and what others see,

- How learning to hold all of our emotions and listening to the signal they provide is both a source of great power and pleasure to us,

- There is so little encouragement culturally in our society to encourage and honour people to really get to know themselves at a very deep level,

- When you connect with your sexual energy which is your life force energy, you can never turn it off and it is such an incredible source of vitality to us in life.

You can find Kendra on her website www.kendracover.com on instagram @kendracover and her Facebook group is called “Into the wild of womanhood”.

Our sensuality provides us with so much pleasure and is a pathway to our sexuality. When we start to experience an enjoy the pleasure of our five senses, we build pathway in side of us that greater capacity to feel pleasure in all aspects of our lives. It brings us into the present moment, in the present moment is where life happens.

In this podcast you will learn:

- How our ‘good girl’ conditioning has us disconnecting from our sensuality,

- How the sensations in our body are the voice of our sub-conscious,

- How our sensuality connects us with our emotions,

-How our sensuality and pleasure gives us ‘fuel in our tank’ for tougher times,

- Out sensuality is a pathway out of our rational and logical brain to experiences the goodness in our body in tough times,

-Our body has a natural orientation to pleasure and this contributes greatly to our healing and harmony in our body,

-Connecting to our sensuality brings us into the core of our being; how it allows us to be ourselves at the most primal level. That when we can access this part of ourselves we don’t have to try so hard at life.

You can find Carol at her website www.carolanne.com.au or at instagram @carolannealive

I’ve watched many of my friends navigate new relationships in their midlife in the past ten years. In this time of our life, relationships often fracture as we go through this complex transition. Growing in the same trajectory is challenging.

Today I talk to Ana Kosta, who is an holistic Sexuality Love and Relationship coach who focuses on Supporting Women in Conscious Dating. Ana talks openly about her own life experience that lead her to this pathway and how she empowers her clients to find that clarity in their own life. You can find Ana at her website www.anakostacoach.com on instagram @anakosta.coach and on Facebook at Ana Kosta Coaching

Today Dr Nicole Pawley and I discuss the Three Golden Opportunities. According to traditional Chinese Medicine, there are three times in a woman’s life where she can risk her health or enhance it and set herself up for vitality in later life. The Three Golden Opportunities are Menarche, Post Partum and Menopause. Three Significant transitions that are gateways in women’s lives. In these transitions we have opportunity to risk our health or set ourselves up for living with vitality later in our life.

This is all dependant on how we learn to nourish and restore our Jing. Jing, also known as essence and life force energy is a finite resource of energy we have within us. iIs is important to learn how to restore this and this is not something we are taught in the western world.

In our practice of pleasure, both sensual and sexual, we can replenish and nourish our Jing.

Our Western Culture that is very Yang, constant and always on is very depleting of Jing.

When you are depleted of Jing these transitions can be very challenging.

You can find Nicole on instagram at @drnicpawley

I am a big supporter of cyclical living for women and this is a reason I wanted to do a podcast on it. Jaime Lauren is a menstrual cycle and fertility awareness coach. In this podcast you will learn what our inner seasons are, how to design your life around your cycle. I feel this is very important for all women to know regardless of their age or stage of life given the epidemic of hormone related issues we face. Understanding your cycle is, I believe, a big lever when it comes to self-love, self-acceptance and women stepping into their wild power. You can find Jamie at www.jaimelauren.coach at her FB group Cyclical Living for women or on instagram @menstrualmagic_

Sensual movement is a non linear form of dance that is particularly good for our pelvic floor and core. It is different than other forms of movement like Yoga and Pilates, as it works beyond the horizontal and vertical planes of the body. It builds great bodymind connections between our brain and all the different parts of our body, particularly our pelvis. Dianne has a whole host of free content on her website if you want to explore Sensual Movement, look her up at www.shakticore.com and go to the Goddess Vault. I teach sensual movement to clients I coach one on one and in my group online program ReConnect.

In this podcast I am joined by Nisha Gill. Nisha is a Somatic Experiencing (trauma resolution) Practitioner who works at the intersection of trauma, birth, female sexuality & embodiment. She draws also from her background in integrative bodywork and counselling.

Nisha has a special focus on birth, sexual, medical and developmental traumas through the lens of the nervous system. She combines her holistic tools for a highly tailored approach to body re-connection in the wake of trauma, illness, grief & loss, birth, menopause and other challenging transitions.

Nisha and I talk about Trauma, the definitions of it, what Somatic Experiencing is. We focus in on birth trauma and how it can show up post partum but also later points in our lives. How we might know what a trauma response is and how it impacts on our health, wellbeing and relationships.

You can find Nisha on her website www.feminineinstincts.com.au, her Facebook pages, Birth Trauma Awareness and Feminine Instincts and her Instagram account @feminineinstincts.

Have you heard of Mastrescence? I hadn’t heard of it until a couple of years ago. It is the journey of becoming a mother. It seems absurd that this word is not more well known; we’ve known about adolescence forever. In this episode I talk to Belinda Haan from the motherhood gathering. Belinda runs the online gathering to support mothers in their journey entering matrescence.

In this podcast we talk about the challenges and joys of navigating matrescence. The reality is that many years after our children have arrive we are still in the process of becoming a mother. It is a never-ending learning process and our identify within that context constantly grows and evolves.

You can find her at www.themotherhoodgathering.com on instagram at @themotherhoodgathering.

Today I talk with Sasha Cueto, Sexuality Empowerment coach about the changing rhythms of our sexuality through motherhood and midlife and menopause. We had a good yarn over:

- How our relationship with our yoni changes after giving birth,

- The grieving that happens through rites of passage,

- The Jade Egg as a tool to support you through life rites of passage,

- How to reconnect with your eroticism post baby and during peri/menopause,

- Replenishing life force energy,

- The of an empowered womans sexuality

- Reclaiming your Sexuality

In this episode Ellen Clarke and I talk about the different life transitions we face, motherhood, midlife, menopause, death, divorce and think about better ways we can work together a community to support each other through these rites of passage.