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Episode #7 What’s really important…with Rachelle from How to Live Slow

Some of you have heard me talk about this before, when you become a mother you can feel a shift in and a reprioritising of what's important to you. And this can be sometimes referred to as a matrescence spiritual awakening - as you transform from a woman into a mother you start to see some things in your life differently.

For some this could look like caring more for the environment and the impact we make daily or doing a wardrobe cleanse and rethinking the way you buy and consume your clothing, and for others it can be living more slowly and with greater intention.

This next podcast explores just this with the beautiful Rachelle from How to Live Slow. 

As a minimalist before having children,  and then as a mother of two Rachelle began to crack open spiritually even further through motherhood, she started to realise there is so much more you can do - slow living is minimalism for LIFE not just for ‘stuff’.

In this episode we break down further how to intentionally live slow and Rachelle walks us through The Slow Life Program where we learn about the four pillars to slow living - Do Less, Need Less, Live More, Be More. 

I can’t wait for you to have a listen, enjoy.
Warmest love, Laura x

EPISODE #1 Deeply Nourishing with Jenna from Meals4Mummas

This very first podcast episode I chat to Jenna from Meals4Mummas. Jenna is one part of this team of two, and Jemma is the other amazing mama. In this episode we get to hear about Jenna’s journey into motherhood and why both herself and Jemma started Meals4Mummas. Today modern mothers go into pregnancy already depleted and it isn’t surprising that through pregnancy and those early postpartum months deeply nourishing our body’s isn’t a priority. We ‘get by’.

With a strong interest in making it easier and helping new mamas to deeply nourish their body’s in those postpartum weeks (and beyond), Jenna and Jemma are here to support the mama’s recovery from the inside out. 

I hope you enjoy this episode, live in just a few days.

Warmest love, Laura x

EPISODE #2 Who holds the mother? With Bec and Freya from Your Village

So often we hear ‘we’ve lost the village’; the nurturing by our wise ‘been there before’ elders, the connection to other mamas and even more simply the unconditional support of someone who just wants to hold the mama - to look after her, nourish her and take a load off for her.

So  I’m so excited to bring you this second episode where I am joined by two divine mamas Bec and Freya from Your Village.

Through Bec’s experience of becoming a mother and with Freya, one of her besties, there every step of the way to be her village, they both not only recognised the unmet need but deeply felt it was unreasonable that the village didn't even exist and this is when the beautiful business Your Village was born.

Since producing this episode Freya has now had the profound experience of journeying into motherhood herself and we look forward to a second recording to hear about her experience of becoming a mother with the village holding her just as herself and Bec had visioned.

Warmest love, Laura X

Episode #3 Normalising Feeding Support with Kate from Milky Business

I’ve been following Kate from Milky Business for some time now, and as soon as I read this statement on her website I knew we were on the same page in the same book...“I love working with babies. While this is true, I’m really in it for the mothers. I am passionate about supporting women to have the best experience possible as they transform into a mother, whether it be for the first or fifth time. I want every woman to have the knowledge and skills she needs to have a journey that she is proud of and can reflect on positively...”

This third episode of The Mother First podcast not only highlights the services that are available to mamas when it comes to feeding but it emphasises the importance of having the confidence to put you first, to mother yourself first and to consider having a lactation expert in your back pocket when preparing for the birth of your baby.

Why?

Because too often we’re left to figure it out on our own, or not through our own fault we assume knowing how to do it will all come naturally (breastfeeding or bottle feeding) and I wonder why we don't have a lactation consultant ready and waiting in the wings to guide and nurture us as we navigate such a foreign new skill?

I hope you find this podcast useful!

Warmest love, Laura x

Episode #4 Honouring ourselves and our bodies with Kimmy from Empowered Motherhood Program

We can’t ignore that physical changes are a major part of our transformation into motherhood, that it plays a big role in our matrescence.

We can’t ignore how our bodies shift and change, but also how we see our bodies, how we identify who we are through our bodies and of course how our society and culture talks about both pregnant and postpartum bodies.

So you can imagine I loved this chat with Kimmy from the Empowered Motherhood Program (EMP). Kimmy is one part of this amazing duo and Lyz the other at the time of recording  was about to have her third baby and well you guessed it, she was unavailable!

Kimmy is a pregnancy and postnatal exercise specialist, yoga teacher and a proud Mum to three little girls and was a former professional athlete and corporate lawyer.

Lyz is one of Australia's leading women's health physiotherapists with a Masters in Womens' Health and Continence  and is passionate about preventive healthcare.

After Kimmy’s third child these two amazing women joined forces to help women have the best access to not only physical care for pre and postpartum but to open up the dialogue and provide the best education on those shhh ‘don’t talk about’ topics such as incontinence, prolapse, recovering from episiotomies and abdominal separation to name a few.

What I loved about this chat was that it wasn’t all about the actual physical challenges, but we dived deeper into a woman’s self worth and how our sense of self alters as we physically transform from a maiden to a mother. And how the pregnant  body is admired, but the post body is seen as something that needs to ‘bounce back’ or to be fixed.

But honouring postpartum bodies like we do pregnant bodies is where we want to be and I so strongly share Kimmy and Lys’ vision.

I hope you enjoy this podcast.

Warmest love, Laura x

Episode #5 Mind over matter, but how? with Trina from Mindset Mama

‘I noticed a huge shift in my identity and I was trying to work out who I was now as a mum...’

Trina, from Mindset Mama (who now since recording you can find at @trina_m_pettersen) and I have been linked in through our businesses for almost two years now and I am a big fan of her approach to life and business - and what a chat this was. 

Raw, honest and exposing.

‘Who am I now that I am a mum…

What is my purpose…

What am I truly here for...?’

In this latest podcast, Trina has a beautiful way of describing becoming a mother and the transformation a woman goes through.

She is such a firm believer and advocate that giving birth is a huge undervalued transformational moment of your life and that it's meant to empower you into motherhood so you can cope with the challenges but knows this is not the case for every woman.

After returning to work as a mother, Trina felt something was different.

And so through asking those big questions, who am I now,  and following her intuition - listening to her intuition - Trina started practising mindset tools and techniques.

And now she shares what has helped her with other mothers and since recording this podcast Trina is helping mums with businesses create more financial and time freedom as well as finding their voice, confidence and empowerment through teaching mindset skills.

I loved this chat because it is such an important part of becoming a mother is when we strengthen our minds and when we train ourselves to think and believe in ourselves we can truly welcome in joy, purpose and love  - especially during those different days.

I hope you enjoy this podcast.

Warmest love, Laura x

Episode #6 Postnatal Depression; Recovery and Hope with Josie from Smiling After PND

There is so much stigma, shame, guilt and ‘I’m not good enough',  around Postnatal Depression (PND) and when I work with mamas-to-be a lot of fear too.

So I wanted to bring you this raw and authentic podcast with the lovely Josie from Smiling After PND to help normalise asking for help, to help YOU the mamas-to-be to further understand the clues and signs of PND and of course to simply have a conversation about a topic that is often taboo and an afterthought, put it the ‘I’ll deal with it if it happens’ basket.

And since I am so passionate about helping women prepare better for motherhood, these hard conversations need to be shared as often as possible to make it easier for women to journey into motherhood with their eyes open, being aware and feeling confident to get support and help as needed.

Josie truly says it the best...

“I am proud to be talking about my journey through anxiety and postnatal depression.  It was an incredibly challenging time having experienced it with both of my children, but, after having gone through it, I am now a better, healthier and happier person and for that, I am grateful.  I hope that by sharing my story it will give hope to parents facing the same challenges that, even in the darkest days, recovery is possible.” Josie, Smiling After PND

I hope you enjoy this episode and of course if you feel like you need to talk to someone about how you’re feeling or if this brings anything up for you please contact the PANDA support hotline on 1300 726 306.

Warmest love, Laura x