The Cyclical Doula Podcast: Fertility Awareness, Charting Cycles, and Reproductive Health Education

In this conversation, Dr. Penni discusses her work in integrative medicine, her personal journey with chronic illness, and the importance of understanding menopause and hormone balance. She emphasizes the need for a holistic approach to health and the misconceptions surrounding menopause symptoms and hormone deficiencies. The conversation covers a proactive approach to perimenopause, empowerment in women's health, challenges of menopause and society's perception, support for endometriosis and inflammatory conditions, spiritual and energy healing practices, and understanding and tracking menstrual cycles. The discussion emphasizes the importance of early intervention, empowerment, and holistic support for women's health and well-being.

Takeaways

• Integrative Medicine and Chronic Illness
• Menopause and Hormone Balance Proactive approach to perimenopause
• Empowerment in women's health

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Dr. Penni and Integrative Medicine
• 05:50 Understanding Menopause and Hormone Balance
• 14:13 Proactive Approach to Perimenopause
• 19:59 Empowerment in Women's Health
• 25:38 Understanding and Tracking Menstrual Cycles

Find Dr. Penni at:

Www.lowcountry-wellness.com
Www.peacecenterforhealing.com
Www.templeofrose.com

Emmamma Resources + Links:

• Book a Free Clarity Call with Emma
• Join Matriarch

🎙️ Get Involved with the Podcast:

• Ask a Question for the Podcast: Submit here
• Leave a Review + Get a Gift: Claim your gift here

📌 Stay Connected:

• Website: https://emmamma.com
• Instagram: @cyclicaldoula
• Email: [email protected]
• Text me at: (854) 220-0218

The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Cyclical Doula Podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Emma Goff or Emmamma LLC. This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice.

The conversation with Athena, a family nurse practitioner and functional medicine provider, delves into the intersection of functional medicine and women's health. It explores the understanding of the female body, the evolution of exercise routines, the collaborative approach to wellness at Stat Wellness, common symptoms and hormonal health in women, practical approaches to hormonal health, and the monitoring of hormonal levels and mental health. The conversation delves into the impact of hormonal balance on health, emphasizing the role of stress, adrenal health, and root cause medicine. It explores factors affecting conception and fertility, lifestyle and environmental influences, and the empowerment of patients through informed decision-making.

Takeaways

• Functional Medicine and Women's Health
• Hormonal Symptoms and Mental Health Hormonal balance and its impact on health
• Root cause approach to medicine

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Athena and Stat Wellness
• 06:19 Collaborative Approach to Wellness at Stat Wellness
• 13:55 Practical Approaches to Hormonal Health
• 19:11 The Impact of Stress and Adrenal Health
• 25:17 Lifestyle and Environmental Factors
• 32:07 Empowerment and Informed Decision-Making

You can find Athena at https://www.athenanewell.com and book a call at https://www.statwellness.com/book-north-charleston/

Instagram @athenanewellfnp

Emmamma Resources + Links:

• Book a Free Clarity Call with Emma
• Join Matriarch

🎙️ Get Involved with the Podcast:

• Ask a Question for the Podcast: Submit here
• Leave a Review + Get a Gift: Claim your gift here

📌 Stay Connected:

• Website: https://emmamma.com
• Instagram: @cyclicaldoula
• Email: [email protected]
• Text Emma at: (854) 220-0218

The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Cyclical Doula Podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Emma Goff or Emmamma LLC. This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice.

In this episode of The Cyclical Doula Podcast, Emma sits down with Kim Foss, founder of Magnetic Wellness, to explore a healing modality called biomagnetism. This therapy uses therapeutic magnets placed in pairs on the body to help restore internal balance, regulate the nervous system, and support the body’s natural healing processes.

Kim shares how discovering biomagnetism during her own postpartum health challenges shifted the way she thinks about healing, especially during a season when many traditional options felt limited while breastfeeding.

In this conversation, Emma and Kim discuss:

• what biomagnetism is and how it works
• the connection between stress, pH balance, and illness in the body
• why nervous system regulation plays such a central role in healing
• how biomagnetism may support hormone health, gut health, and emotional regulation
• the importance of slowing down and simplifying when you feel overwhelmed by “doing all the things”
• supporting the body during preconception, postpartum, and other hormonal transitions
• what it can look like to collaborate with your body instead of fighting it

One of the most powerful themes of this episode is the reminder that our bodies are not broken. Sometimes they simply need support, safety, and space to return to balance.

If you’ve ever felt exhausted by trying to fix your body, this conversation offers a gentler perspective.

Kim Foss is the founder of Magnetic Wellness, a biomagnetism practice serving women and families in the Summerville and Charleston area. Her work focuses on supporting the body’s self-healing capabilities by restoring internal balance through therapeutic magnets.

She is especially passionate about supporting women and mothers through stress, hormone concerns, gut health challenges, and nervous system dysregulation.

• Instagram: @magneticwellnessmama
• Facebook: Magnetic Wellness
• Website: www.magneticwellnessmama.com

• Book a Free Clarity Call with Emma
• Ask a Question for the Podcast:Submit here
• Leave a Review + Get a Gift:Claim your gift here
• Website: https://emmamma.com
• Instagram: @cyclicaldoula

The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Cyclical Doula Podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Emma Goff or Emmamma LLC. This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice.

In this episode, Emma sits down with Karen Klein, founder of Talk About Your Period, to unpack why period stigma still shapes everything from school hallways to workplace policies. Karen shares how activism + storytelling became her lane, how raising kids (especially sons) can shift the next generation, and why simply being louder about periods is a real form of change. We also get into the big vision: menstrual leave, and what “period dignity” should actually mean in everyday life.

What You’ll Hear About

• Why period stigma thrives in silence — and how storytelling breaks it
• Practical ways to raise period-literate kids without making it “a weird thing”
• The “used pad wrapper test” (yes, in a public restroom) as confidence practice
• Why period stigma connects to inequity, access, and medical dismissal
• What menstrual leave could look like (and why leveling the playing field matters)
• Simple advocacy: keeping products visible, asking out loud, and modeling normal
  

Resources & Links

• Karen’s period advocacy page: Talk About Your Period and on Instagram: @talkaboutyourperiod
• Karen personal social: @karenklein.writes

Emmamma Resources + Links:

• Book a Free Clarity Call with Emma
• Join Matriarch

🎙️ Get Involved with the Podcast:

• Ask a Question for the Podcast: Submit here
• Leave a Review + Get a Gift: Claim your gift here

📌 Stay Connected:

• Website: https://emmamma.com
• Instagram: @cyclicaldoula
• Email: [email protected]
• Text me at: (854) 220-0218

The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Cyclical Doula Podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Emma Goff or Emmamma LLC. This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice.

In this episode of The Cyclical Doula Podcast, I’m joined by Alyssa Chavez — functional nutritionist, life coach, and former professional ballet dancer — for a grounded conversation about endometriosis, infertility, miscarriage, and what it can look like to rebuild trust with your body after years of pain.

Alyssa shares her personal story: coming off birth control, escalating symptoms, being dismissed, receiving an endometriosis diagnosis in 2019, IVF, miscarriage, and the turning point that led her into functional nutrition. We talk about the “whole person” approach: supporting hormones and digestion and inflammation and nervous system health — without turning food into another form of punishment.

If you’ve ever felt like your body isn’t a safe place, or you’ve been told “this is just normal,” this one is for you.

What we cover

• Alyssa’s endometriosis + infertility story (and what she wishes she’d known sooner)
• Why endo diagnosis is often delayed — and why “common” doesn’t mean “normal”
• The gut–hormone connection (including estrogen elimination and constipation/bloating)
• Inflammation patterns Alyssa sees most with endometriosis clients
• How to support your body through nutrition without spiraling into restriction/perfectionism
• Where to start when you’re overwhelmed: pick one needle-mover
• TTC pressure and the “stress less” trap — and what a more helpful reframe can be
• When (and why) male factor health matters too
• Alyssa’s message of hope: what’s possible even after years of feeling dismissed

Connect with Alyssa

• Instagram: @aligned.to.rise
• Website: AlignedToRise.com
• Podcast: Aligned to Rise

Emmamma Resources + Links:

• Book a Free Inquiry Call with Emma
• Join Matriarch

🎙️ Get Involved with the Podcast:

• Ask a Question for the Podcast: Submit here
• Leave a Review + Get a Gift: Claim your gift here

📌 Stay Connected:

• Website: https://emmamma.com
• Instagram: @cyclicaldoula
• Email: [email protected]
• Text me at: (854) 220-0218

The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Cyclical Doula Podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Emma Goff or Emmamma LLC. This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice.

Parenting can feel like living in survival mode… and if you’re not careful, “I’m surviving” starts to sound like who you are, not just what you’re in.

In this episode, I’m joined by Mitra Cummins (parent coach + entrepreneur, mom of two, 4 months postpartum at the time of recording) from My Introspective Solution. Mitra shares how she supports overwhelmed parents—especially postpartum families and neurodiverse households—in building more regulation, clearer communication, and steadier family rhythms.

We talk about:

• Why survival mode can become an identity (and how to shift it back into a season)
• A simple gratitude ritual that works even with toddlers (“what made your heart happy today?”)
• The difference between being an emotion vs feeling an emotion (and why it matters for kids)
• “Scaffolding” skills: how to meet your child where they are and build the next step
• Why parenting is a feedback loop (and you’re allowed to adjust, always)
• Co-regulation, modeling repair, and letting other caregivers learn their own way with your child
• How overwhelm can show up mentally, emotionally, physically, and energetically—and what to do with that

Free resource: Get Mitra’s free “5 Essentials for Managing Parental Stress” guide here: https://myintrospectivesolution.com/resources/manageparentalstress

Connect with Mitra

• Website: https://myintrospectivesolution.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myintrospectivesolution

Emmamma Resources + Links:

• Book a Free Inquiry Call with Emma
• Join Matriarch

🎙️ Get Involved with the Podcast:

• Ask a Question for the Podcast: Submit here
• Leave a Review + Get a Gift: Claim your gift here

📌 Stay Connected:

• Website: https://emmamma.com
• Instagram: @cyclicaldoula
• Email: [email protected]
• Text me at: (854) 220-0218

The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Cyclical Doula Podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Emma Goff or Emmamma LLC. This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice.

What if pregnancy, birth, and postpartum weren’t something to “get through” — but an experience you could move through with confidence, intuition, and support?
In this episode of The Cyclical Doula Podcast, I’m joined by Shauna Hall, a spiritual energetics herbalist, postpartum doula, hypnotherapy practitioner, and host of the Align Your Glow and Soul podcast. Shauna shares how her own pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience reshaped the way she supports women — and why education, energetic awareness, and true postpartum planning matter far more than we’re often taught.
We talk about:
Why intuition is a practice — not something you’re either born with or not
How energy, stress, and mindset influence pregnancy and birth experiences
The overlooked importance of postpartum preparation (and why the nursery can wait)
What postpartum support really looks like in the first four months
Using hypnotherapy, rituals, and routines to support emotional regulation
Reframing fear-based narratives around birth and informed consent
Simple ways to begin reconnecting with your body and inner wisdom
Why knowledge is power — even if you don’t have access to a doula or midwife
This conversation is a reminder that you don’t need to outsource your intuition — and that feeling supported, informed, and empowered can radically change how you experience motherhood.

Connect with Shauna

Website: https://msha.ke/sparklevibrations
Instagram: @mystic.herbal.doula
Podcast: Align Your Glow and Soul
https://open.spotify.com/show/6FeQKLgiEMk6dR70cPIBFh
Work With Shauna
Herbal Class – Calm:
https://calendly.com/alignyourglowandsoul/womb-wellness-herbal-wisdom-for-women
Book a Consult Call:
https://calendly.com/alignyourglowandsoul/consult-call
Free Gift for Cyclical Doula Podcast Listeners
Shauna is offering a FREE Reiki or EFT session exclusively for listeners:
https://calendly.com/alignyourglowandsoul/free-eft-hypnotherapy-reiki

Emmamma Resources + Links:

• Book a Free Inquiry Call with Emma
• Join Matriarch
• Ask a Question for the Podcast: Submit here
• Leave a Review + Get a Gift: Claim your gift here
• Website: https://emmamma.com
• Instagram: @cyclicaldoula

The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Cyclical Doula Podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Emma Goff or Emmamma LLC. This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice.

Motherhood doesn’t come with a user manual… and for so many moms, the hardest part isn’t loving their kids—it’s feeling resourced enough to stay grounded when everything is loud, sticky, overstimulating, and deeply triggering.

In this episode, I’m joined by Sami Garrett, founder of Good Enough Matrescence, a global collective where moms come to expand joy, peace, and presence—and redefine what modern motherhood support can actually look like.

Sami shares how her second postpartum season—marked by overwhelm, isolation, and postpartum rage—became the turning point that led her into deeper nervous system work, subconscious healing, and a new way of understanding emotional “triggers.” Together, we talk about what it means to mother yourself first, why your reactions aren’t proof you’re failing, and how community can hold you through every “chapter” of motherhood (without turning your healing into another to-do list).

This conversation is tender, practical, and surprisingly freeing—especially if you’ve ever thought, “What is wrong with me?” in the middle of a totally normal parenting moment.

In this episode, we talk about:
What “matrescence” is and why it matters
Postpartum rage: why it happens and what it’s often pointing to
Nervous system regulation as the foundation for how we think, feel, and respond
A powerful reframe: “This should be happening” (and why it helps)
How to shift from shame and fixing… into presence and repair
Why moms need community, not another “perfect parenting” plan
Creating a “library” of support you can dip into, season by season

Your nervous system speaks through emotion to guide you back to safety and you are not broken for having a human response.

Connect with Sami:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/goodenoughmatrescence
Website: https://goodenoughmatrescence.com
Explore the GEM Collective: www.goodenoughmatrescence.com/gem-membership

Today’s episode is a conversation with Sarah Glenn, founder of Lactation Station & More and Mothering the Mother. Sarah is a mother of seven, grandmother of eleven, and has spent over three decades supporting families through pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and the often-overlooked realities of postpartum.

We talk about what many parents feel but don’t always have language for: how hormones shift postpartum, how breastfeeding can impact cycles and fertility, why supply changes throughout the day, and what mental health support can look like when you’re in the thick of it.

Sarah also shares what she’s seeing after 35 years in perinatal care — including why community matters more than ever, and how simple questions (like “Do you have an appetite?”) can be surprisingly important clues in early postpartum mental health.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why postpartum can feel like “warm, fuzzy chaos” — and why that’s normal
• Breastfeeding hormones (prolactin + estrogen) and what that means for fertility
• Why some cycles return at 8 weeks while others don’t return for months (even with similar breastfeeding patterns)
• How baby sleep changes and nursing patterns can shift bleeding/spotting and ovulation attempts
• Milk supply fluctuations throughout the day (and why “I’m empty” isn’t actually how milk works)
• Early postpartum mental health signs to watch for — including appetite, connection, and feeling “disconnected”
• The fear many parents carry about being honest (rage, intrusive thoughts, overwhelm)
• D-MER (dysphoric milk ejection reflex): what it can feel like and why it’s not your fault
• Why finding one reputable resource (and stepping away from the internet spiral) can change everything
• Sarah’s community offerings: Mom Circle, Newborn School, and Mothering the Mother support

Sarah’s reminder: your body isn’t failing you — it’s communicating. And support doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong.

Connect with Sarah Glenn:

• Website: lactationstationandmore.com
• Find Lactation Station & More on Facebook + Instagram
  (You can also reach out by call/text/email through her site.)

The Trolley Room
Thanks to The Trolley Room for their space to record. This flexible, multi-purpose rental spaces perfect for professionals, creatives, and community events. https://thetrolleyroom.com and follow them on Facebook

Emmamma Resources + Links:

• Book a Free Inquiry Call with Emma
• Ask a Question for the Podcast: Submit here
• Leave a Review + Get a Gift: Claim your gift here
• Website: https://emmamma.com
• Instagram: @cyclicaldoula

In this conversation, Emma sits down with Certified Nutrition Practitioner and Metabolic Balance® Coach Rachel Einbinder, founder of Rachel Holistic Wellness and creator of The Bloat Fix Method™.

Together they unpack one of the most overlooked truths in women’s health:
Your gut is your second hormone gland.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
✨ Why your gut is your second hormone gland
✨ How digestion impacts estrogen clearance, PMS, and perimenopause
✨ The connection between gut health and mood, energy, and fatigue
✨ Why so many “hormonal symptoms” actually start in the gut
✨ Simple steps busy moms can take to support digestion (no overwhelm required)
✨ How slowing down and rebuilding trust with your body transforms healing
✨ Rachel’s 7-step framework inside The Bloat Fix Method™


Work with Rachel
Join the upcoming Jan 21 webinar: https://rachelholisticwellness.com/how-to-finally-beat-bloating-as-a-busy-mom/
Join The Bloat Fix Method™: https://rachelholisticwellness.com/packages/the-bloat-fix-method/
Website: https://rachelholisticwellness.com
Instagram: @rachel.holisticwellness

The Trolley Room
Flexible, multi-purpose rental spaces perfect for professionals, creatives, and community events.

Emmamma Resources + Links:

• Book a Free Inquiry Call with Emma
• Join Matriarch

• Ask a Question for the Podcast: Submit here
• Leave a Review + Get a Gift: Claim your gift here

📌 Stay Connected:

• Website: https://emmamma.com
• Instagram: @cyclicaldoula
• Text me at: (854) 220-0218