Transitions in Motherhood
The theme for my October mama’s circle was “Transitions of Motherhood.” After being in circle with other mamas and hearing about the transitions everyone is going through and reflecting further on my own, I have some more thoughts to share.
Transitions in motherhood bring you into new territory. They can elicit joy, grief, curiosity, fear, anticipation, and contentment. They can cause you to turn inward to keep the feelings and experience to yourself, and they can also propel you outward to connect with others. Transitions in motherhood bring growth, new understanding, healing, and an opportunity to step more fully in your wholeness.
In The Return to the Great Mother by Isa Gucciardi, she talks about the seven initiations of life for female identifying people. They are: birth, puberty, menses, sexuality, childbirth, menopause, and death. She pairs each initiation with qualities of the Great Mother.
Birth: nurturance and protection
Puberty: creativity and generosity
Menses: adaptability and receptivity
Sexuality: mutuality and receptivity
Childbirth: creativity and generosity
Menopause: adaptability and the capacity to flow with change
Death: responsiveness and spaciousness
Transitions in Motherhood are like small initiatory moments. Moments like nursing baby to transitioning baby to solid foods, getting your period for the first time post pregnancy, baby sleeping in the same room as you and then baby sleeping in their own room, being home with baby full time to sending baby to daycare or preschool, going back to work, changes in your relationship with baby’s other parent, and so much more.
Initiations and transitions in motherhood are like gates you pass through. Each with new discoveries, blessings, challenges, healing, and growth. The transitions in motherhood offer the same qualities as the life initiations above. When you move slow and sit with them you will notice the qualities.
In initiations and transitions in motherhood, be tender with yourself. Hold yourself with care, make time and space for the release of emotions and big feelings.
Some yoga practices that offer support during unsettling transitions.
Sit or lay on the earth, hold your hands over your heart or womb, breathe even breaths, repeat “I am held unconditionally by the earth.”
Lay down on your yoga mat or a comfortable surface and tense and release your muscles starting with the left arm moving clockwise until you get to your head, then tense and release your whole body, end by resting for 5-10 minutes.
Sit or lay down and tune into the rhythm of your breath. Follow the breath in and out for 2 minutes. Then bring awareness to the top of your head and invite softness to the muscles there, move your awareness from the top of the head down through different parts of the body, inviting softness into each one, until you make your way down to the feet. Rest in the softness for 5-10 minutes.
