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What happens when your creations don’t come to fruition in the Spring? 

Although Spring is the time of creation, newness, birthing and rebirth. As we cross that bridge into Summer, I wanted to pause to honour what has not come to pass.

Because sometimes… Our creations are unable to make it to full bloom. Sometimes although we desire this fruition, for whatever reason now is NOT the time.

 This is the harsh and often painful side of the Spring momentum; when the creative energy goes ary. 

Whether it’s a miscarriage, a business failure or a plan that purely fell apart. It’s important to recognise that alongside the bloom of Spring, there can be loss. And when the unthinkable happens…. how do we hold ourselves through it?

We must mourn our losses big and small.

We live in a world that disregards loss, forgets the majesty of hope and the travesty of unfilled dreams. In our western world… Grief is held in low regard.

The wanted baby. 

The desired dream.

The passionate plan.

Gone wayward for whatever reason. It leaves a gap. A pain. A wish unfulfilled. And this grief needs to find expression.

With the clients that have come to me in the past few months within their personal loss also existed a need for validation.

Validation that this happened.

Validation it was real. And…

Validation that their pain exists and support is needed.

As an embodiment coach and healer, my role is to be a compassionate witness but also a support; to guide the women I work with back to their bodies and the powerful wisdom that resides there. 

To not only help them find healthy expression for their grief but to access what they truly need for themselves. 

Inside GRIEF a vital part of YOU still lives.

This is tender territory. Because… Inside the grief, something still lives.

It’s not the same shape or the same dream…. but a vital part of you, quietly waiting to be heard. To be met.

It asks for presence, not pushing.

It asks for a space to feel and recognise what did not come to pass.

It asks for validation and honouring as you slowly return to yourself.

If you’re navigating a season of loss or transition, whether sudden or long-held… Please know, you don’t have to hold it all alone.

My 1:1 coaching offers a grounded space for you to be witnessed, held, and supported as you meet the truth of where you are… and gently move toward what’s next.

You can learn more or book a free connection call here to explore if working together feels right.

If you desire to hold yourself through this transition, my free practice “Mother” can powerfully support you to do that. Access that here. 

“Mother” is the foundation of all of my work, supporting you to cultivate your wise and loving inner Mother.

Sending much love during this time of transition.

What happens when your creations don’t come to fruition in the Spring? 

Although Spring is the time of creation, newness, birthing and rebirth. As we cross that bridge into Summer, I wanted to pause to honour what has not come to pass.

Because sometimes… Our creations are unable to make it to full bloom. Sometimes although we desire this fruition, for whatever reason now is NOT the time.

 This is the harsh and often painful side of the Spring momentum; when the creative energy goes ary. 

Whether it’s a miscarriage, a business failure or a plan that purely fell apart. It’s important to recognise that alongside the bloom of Spring, there can be loss. And when the unthinkable happens…. how do we hold ourselves through it?

We must mourn our losses big and small.

We live in a world that disregards loss, forgets the majesty of hope and the travesty of unfilled dreams. In our western world… Grief is held in low regard.

The wanted baby. 

The desired dream.

The passionate plan.

Gone wayward for whatever reason. It leaves a gap. A pain. A wish unfulfilled. And this grief needs to find expression.

With the clients that have come to me in the past few months within their personal loss also existed a need for validation.

Validation that this happened.

Validation it was real. And…

Validation that their pain exists and support is needed.

As an embodiment coach and healer, my role is to be a compassionate witness but also a support; to guide the women I work with back to their bodies and the powerful wisdom that resides there. 

To not only help them find healthy expression for their grief but to access what they truly need for themselves. 

Inside GRIEF a vital part of YOU still lives.

This is tender territory. Because… Inside the grief, something still lives.

It’s not the same shape or the same dream…. but a vital part of you, quietly waiting to be heard. To be met.

It asks for presence, not pushing.

It asks for a space to feel and recognise what did not come to pass.

It asks for validation and honouring as you slowly return to yourself.

If you’re navigating a season of loss or transition, whether sudden or long-held… Please know, you don’t have to hold it all alone.

My 1:1 coaching offers a grounded space for you to be witnessed, held, and supported as you meet the truth of where you are… and gently move toward what’s next.

You can learn more or book a free connection call here to explore if working together feels right.

If you desire to hold yourself through this transition, my free practice “Mother” can powerfully support you to do that. Access that here. 

“Mother” is the foundation of all of my work, supporting you to cultivate your wise and loving inner Mother.

Sending much love during this time of transition.

FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST

We don’t realise how much we hold in our wombs & pelvic bowls until we are so weighed down with emotions, trauma & grief that we can’t ignore the heaviness we feel.

It can feel like you’re going round in circles & can’t see our path forward. Your menstrual cycles may be disrupted or perhaps you sense a heaviness or stagnation in your pelvic bowl.

Liberating these emotions, trauma & grief to restore balance to your bowl & your cycle is the deep journey of Somatic Womb Work. Learn more…

What to read next:

• The importance of Grief Rituals
• Lovingly meet the pain of regret
• Is this what I even want?
• Who are you in transition?

→ Back to the Blog…

🌿 Spring in Chinese Medicine: The Season of Wood

In the Five Element framework of Chinese Medicine, Spring is ruled by the Wood Element, governed by the Liver and Gallbladder.

When the energy of Wood becomes congested—often due to Winters heavier foods and slower pace—we can experience imbalances such as “Liver Excess” or “Excess Wood.”

Common Symptoms of Excess Wood:

• Irritability or anger
• Allergies and inflammation
• Headaches or eye tension
• Constipation
• Indecision or inner frustration

Do these feel familiar? These symptoms echo patterns many women recognize during PMS or perimenopause. That’s no coincidence. Let me explain why below.

🌸 The Feminine Connection: Wood & Women’s Health

The Wood Element is deeply connected to Feminine Embodiment and Women’s Health. The Liver stores and restores the blood, thereby playing an important role in menstrual health. When the Liver is stagnant, we feel emotionally and physically blocked. Imbalanced Wood is not the cause of all PMS symptoms but it is a great contributor. Supporting movement through this element and organ system is key—especially in Spring and in the premenstrual phases of our cycle. 

🔧 Metal Controls Wood: The Breathwork Bridge

In Chinese Medicine’s control cycle, Metal controls Wood (think of an axe and a tree. Metal cuts wood. Metal is connected to the Lungs, Large Intestine, and Skin— which is fascinating when we consider that many “Excess Wood” symptoms are connected to these exact areas.

This is where Breathwork becomes a potent tool.

🌀 How Breathwork Supports Spring Energetics

Here’s how working with the Metal element (breath) helps clear Wood imbalances (liver stagnation):

💗 Emotional Regulation

Breathwork has the power to move us from anger and irritability into Emotional Regulation by calming the body and mind. Regular practice also helps build resilience, so emotions feel less overwhelming and more manageable. Supporting our ability to respond to life rather than react.

🧘‍♀️ Inner Clarity

Breathwork creates an space of inner calm and quiet. Through conscious breath, we create space to connect with our inner knowing, finding clarity and confidence in our decisions.

💩 Bowel Flow

Yes, really. Deep breathwork stimulates the diaphragm, which gently massages the colon and encourages movement in the large intestine. A morning breath practice can ease constipation and reduce bloating—emotionally and physically.

🌼 Additional Spring Practices for Liver Support

To move stagnant energy and nourish your feminine body this season, try incorporating:

1. Gentle Detox or Fasting

3–5 days without coffee, alcohol, sugar, or processed foods. Enjoy fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbal infusions of rosemary, fennel, and dandelion.

2. Acupuncture & Herbal Support

Work with a skilled acupuncturist or herbalist to support liver and gallbladder function.

3. Somatic Womb Work

In Somatic Womb Work, I guide clients to clear stagnation using the 4 pillars of embodiment: Breath, Awareness, Movement, and Sound—powerful tools to direct energy and restore Women´s Health. Discover more here.

4. Breathwork Practices

Let’s dive into a beautiful breath that’s especially feminine in essence…

🐝 My Favourite Breath Practice for Feminine Wellbeing: Brahmari (Bee Breath)

Brahmari is a soft, grounding breath deeply connected to the feminine, the Earth, and the Metal element. It stimulates the ventral vagus nerve, supporting emotional release, clarity, and calm.

How to Practice Brahmari:

1. Sit comfortably. Close your eyes. Take a few gentle, preparatory breaths.
2. Inhale deeply through your nose.
3. Purse your lips and hum your exhale out slowly (like a buzzing bee).
4. Repeat. Keep it soft and resonant. Let your breath roll like a wave.
5. As you hum, direct your awareness to the center of your forehead (third eye).

You may even say the word “Hum” to yourself with intention which interestingly, in some traditions, the mantra HUM is believed to purify the mind—a gentle invitation to release guilt, shame, or harsh inner dialogue. This feels so “Livery” to me.

🌙 Final Reflections

Spring is a time of emergence. A time to shake off what no longer serves, and gently come back into movement. Through Breathwork, Womb Wellness, and seasonal awareness, we nourish our emotional and physical bodies from the inside out.

If this resonates, and you’d like deeper 1:1 support, I invite you to book a free 15-minute connection call with me here to explore how I can help you.

With breath and seasonal blessings,

🌿 Spring in Chinese Medicine: The Season of Wood

In the Five Element framework of Chinese Medicine, Spring is ruled by the Wood Element, governed by the Liver and Gallbladder.

When the energy of Wood becomes congested—often due to Winters heavier foods and slower pace—we can experience imbalances such as “Liver Excess” or “Excess Wood.”

Common Symptoms of Excess Wood:

• Irritability or anger
• Allergies and inflammation
• Headaches or eye tension
• Constipation
• Indecision or inner frustration

Feel familiar? These symptoms echo patterns many women recognize during PMS or perimenopause. That’s no coincidence. Let me explain why below.

🌸 The Feminine Connection: Wood & Women’s Health

The Wood Element is deeply connected to Feminine Embodiment and Women’s Health. The Liver stores and restores the blood, thereby playing an important role in menstrual health. When the Liver is stagnant, we feel emotionally and physically blocked. Imbalanced Wood is not the cause of all PMS symptoms but it is a great contributor. Supporting movement through this element and organ system is key—especially in the premenstrual phases of our menstrual, hormonal cycle. 

🔧 Metal Controls Wood: The Breathwork Bridge

In Chinese Medicine’s control cycle, Metal controls Wood (think of an axe and a tree—Metal cuts wood). Metal is connected to the Lungs, Large Intestine, and Skin— which is fascinating when we consider that many “Excess Wood” symptoms are connected to these exact areas.

This is where Breathwork becomes a potent tool.

🌀 How Breathwork Supports Spring Energetics

Here’s how working with the Metal element (breath) helps clear Wood imbalances (liver stagnation):

💗 Emotional Regulation

Breathwork has the power to move us from anger and irritability into Emotional Regulation by calming the body and mind. Regular practice also helps build resilience, so emotions feel less overwhelming and more manageable. Supporting our ability to respond to life rather than react.

🧘‍♀️ Inner Clarity

Breathwork creates an space of inner calm and quiet. Through conscious breath, we create space to connect with our inner knowing, finding clarity and confidence in our decisions.

💩 Bowel Flow

Yes, really. Deep breathwork stimulates the diaphragm, which gently massages the colon and encourages movement in the large intestine. A morning breath practice can ease constipation and reduce bloating—emotionally and physically.

🌼 Additional Spring Practices for Liver Support

To move stagnant energy and nourish your feminine body this season, try incorporating:

1. Gentle Detox or Fasting

3–5 days without coffee, alcohol, sugar, or processed foods. Enjoy fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbal infusions of rosemary, fennel, and dandelion.

2. Acupuncture & Herbal Support

Work with a skilled acupuncturist or herbalist to support liver and gallbladder function.

3. Somatic Womb Work

In Somatic Womb Work, I guide clients to clear stagnation using the 4 pillars of embodiment: Breath, Awareness, Movement, and Sound—powerful tools to direct energy and restore Women´s Health. Discover more here.

4. Breathwork Practices

Let’s dive into a beautiful breath that’s especially feminine in essence…

🐝 My Favourite Breath Practice for Feminine Wellbeing: Brahmari (Bee Breath)

Brahmari is a soft, grounding breath deeply connected to the feminine, the Earth, and the Metal element. It stimulates the ventral vagus nerve, supporting emotional release, clarity, and calm.

How to Practice Brahmari:

1. Sit comfortably. Close your eyes. Take a few gentle, preparatory breaths.
2. Inhale deeply through your nose.
3. Purse your lips and hum your exhale out slowly (like a buzzing bee).
4. Repeat. Keep it soft and resonant. Let your breath roll like a wave.
5. As you hum, direct your awareness to the center of your forehead (third eye).

You may even say the word “Hum” to yourself with intention which interestingly, in some traditions, the mantra HUM is believed to purify the mind—a gentle invitation to release guilt, shame, or harsh inner dialogue. This feels so “Livery” to me.

🌙 Final Reflections

Spring is a time of emergence. A time to shake off what no longer serves, and gently come back into movement. Through Breathwork, Womb Wellness, and seasonal awareness, we nourish our emotional and physical bodies from the inside out.

If this resonates, and you’d like deeper 1:1 support, I invite you to book a free 15-minute connection call with me here to explore how I can help you.

With breath and seasonal blessings,

FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST

We don’t realise how much we hold in our wombs & pelvic bowls until we are so weighed down with emotions, trauma & grief that we can’t ignore the heaviness we feel.

It can feel like you’re going round in circles & can’t see our path forward. Your menstrual cycles may be disrupted or perhaps you sense a heaviness or stagnation in your pelvic bowl.

Liberating these emotions, trauma & grief to restore balance to your bowl & your cycle is the deep journey of Somatic Womb Work. Learn more…

What to read next:

• The importance of Grief Rituals
• Lovingly meet the pain of regret
• Is this what I even want?
• Who are you in transition?

→ Back to the Blog…

We are in Winter.

It’s ok to sleep longer than usual.

It’s ok to NOT want to rush.

It’s ok to not want to be social.

To NOT write that blog or newsletter.

To let slide your list of “to-do’s”.

It’s ok to not answer those emails.

To close the door and…

Take time just for YOU.

It’s ok. 

We are in Winter. 

It’s time to hibernate and…

It’s ok to allow that to be ok.

Are you an “Ever-Ready” battery? 

We live in a world that asks to always be outward facing. To be like “Ever-Ready” batteries, always switched on, fired up and ready to go. And when we struggle to keep up or maintain the pace, a sense of shame or guilt descends, we berate ourselves and question what is wrong with us. 

But the truth is… We women are NOT designed to work that way. 

We are cyclical beings, designed to operate within our cyclical design and when we don’t… that’s when things go ary.

Learning to “live cyclically” is about saying NO to the patriarchal pace that celebrates endless productivity and to instead say YES to yourself. 

Learning to live in a way that honours your natural rhythms, needs and desires in the outer seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter; And the inner seasons of our menstrual, hormonal and fertility cycles.

We are not taught to live within our cyclical design.

Right now, here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are in the outer season of Winter. The most Yin time of the year. Connected to the feminine qualities of drawing inward, of hibernation, of deep rest and restoration. A time that naturally draws us into a healing cocoon.

Our modern world DOESN’T teach us to honour the cycle of these seasons; nor does it teach us to live within our cyclical design. 

Learning to “Live Cyclically” is about learning to live in a way that honours your natural rhythms, needs and desires in the outer seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter; And the inner seasons of your menstrual, hormonal and fertility cycles.

It’s about learning to say NO to the patriarchal pace that celebrates endless productivity and achievement and to instead learning to say YES to yourself. 

Letting go of the sense of shame or of feeling “weak” because you can’t “keep up”. A shame that only exists because of the patriarchal pace. 

There is NO SHAME in taking time to rest.

The Patriarchal pace celebrates achievement.

What if your greatest achievement today was to take a nap? 

How does that feel in your body? 

What emotions does it provoke?

This is an interesting exploration if you are open to it.

We prepare for each season in the season before it.

In the holistic teachings of East Asian Medicine we learn that “we prepare for each season in the season before it” and when we honour our “Winter” seasons (both outer and inner) we prepare ourselves for the coming of “Spring”.

When I first started to learn about the menstrual cycle (at almost 40… Go figure) I had been experiencing yet another burnout and was searching for answers. When my teacher at the time said “women try to stay in a perpetual spring/ summer that inevitably leads to burnout“, my ears pricked up and I knew this was something I needed to listen to.

I understood so completely that she meant we try to maintain this “ever-ready” energy without resting in the “Winter” before it. But the truth was I had no clue what it was to honour “Winter” in any cycle let alone the menstrual, hormonal cycle. I celebrated my ability to push through and get the job done no matter what the cost. The result of that however, was debilitating anxiety, depletion and burnout. 

Resting in Winter prepares us for Spring.

5 element theory teaches us that “Winter” (again outer and inner) is the season connected to the Water element. The organs of the Water element are the kidneys and the urinary bladder. The kidneys are connected to our energy production and our longevity (our ability to live long and well).

When we honour our need to sleep more, to NOT be as social as we might usually be, to spend time alone, to take a nourishing bath and honour our natural desire to draw in… We nourish our Water element. And in doing so we nourish our kidneys, restoring and replenishing our energy and vitality and preparing ourselves for the productivity of “Spring”. Which let’s be honest is much needed; We are no good to anyone burnt-out and depleted.

Not resting affects our creativity.

Asian medicine also teaches us that “Water is the wellspring from which creativity flows”.

When we take time to rest, we cultivate the space for our creative juices to flow and if we rest enough then come Spring (again… outer and inner) we will have the energy we need to formulate plans to take those new creative ideas forward and bring them to tangible form.

Not resting in Winter impacts our Menstrual Cycle.

On the physical level, stress (resulting from lack of sufficient rest and also remedied through rest) affects the menstrual, hormonal cycle on multiple levels. One of our sex hormones, Progesterone is used to balance the stress hormones when needed — Aka when we are stressed.

Progesterone also keeps its sister sex hormone Oestrogen in check. These two support and balance each other. When Progesterone is used to support our stress hormones, Oestrogen goes into excess which can cause irregular periods, increased PMS, breast tenderness, fatigue, weight gain, headaches, hair loss, depression plus much more.

In 5 element theory, many of these symptoms link to deficient Wood. We say when an element is deficient, we look to the Mother in the creation cycle, to nourish its child. The Mother of the Wood element is Water and so this cycle story continues….

All great reasons to REST more! 

Practice GUILT FREE Hibernation.

So take time this Winter my love, to practice “GUILT FREE Hibernation”. 

Spend that extra hour in bed. 

Take that afternoon nap. 

Run that bath. 

Or whatever your body calls for you to do.

The creations wanting to be birthed through you will be forever thankful as will your amazing body, your health, your menstrual, hormonal wellness, your family, your friends, your community, your clients and really… Every aspect of your life.

When we say YES to ourselves, we say YES to something so much bigger than ourselves… This is a reclamation of our true nature, our cyclical design and our connection to the great Mother! 

It’s time my love. 

Happy Wintering! 

Love,

We are in Winter.

It’s ok to sleep longer than usual.

It’s ok to NOT want to rush.

It’s ok to not want to be social.

To NOT write that blog or newsletter.

To let slide your list of “to-do’s”.

It’s ok to not answer those emails.

To close the door and…

Take time just for YOU.

It’s ok. 

We are in Winter. 

It’s time to hibernate and…

It’s ok to allow that to be ok.

Are you an “Ever-Ready” battery?

We live in a world that asks to always be outward facing. To be like “Ever-Ready” batteries, always switched on, fired up and ready to go. And when we struggle to keep up or maintain the pace, a sense of shame or guilt descends, we berate ourselves and question what is wrong with us. 

But the truth is… We women are NOT designed to work that way.  

We are cyclical beings, designed to operate within our cyclical design and when we don’t… that’s when things go ary.

We are not taught to live within our cyclical design.

Right now, here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are in the outer season of Winter. The most Yin time of the year. Connected to the feminine qualities of drawing inward, of hibernation, of deep rest and restoration. A time that naturally draws us into a healing cocoon.

Our modern world DOESN’T teach us to honour the cycle of these seasons; nor does it teach us to live within our cyclical design. 

Learning to “Live Cyclically” is about learning to live in a way that honours your natural rhythms, needs and desires in the outer seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter; And the inner seasons of your menstrual, hormonal and fertility cycles.

It’s about learning to say NO to the patriarchal pace that celebrates endless productivity and achievement and to instead learning to say YES to yourself. 

Letting go of the sense of shame or of feeling “weak” because you can’t “keep up”. A shame that only exists because of the patriarchal pace. 

There is NO SHAME in taking time to rest.

The Patriarchal pace celebrates achievement.

What if your greatest achievement today was to take a nap?

How does that feel in your body? 

What emotions does it provoke?

This is an interesting exploration if you are open to it.

We prepare for each season in the season before it.

In the holistic teachings of East Asian Medicine we learn that “we prepare for each season in the season before it” and when we honour our “Winter” seasons (both outer and inner) we prepare ourselves for the coming of “Spring”.

When I first started to learn about the menstrual cycle (at almost 40… Go figure) I had been experiencing yet another burnout and was searching for answers. When my teacher at the time said “women try to stay in a perpetual spring/ summer that inevitably leads to burnout“, my ears pricked up and I knew this was something I needed to listen to.

I understood so completely that she meant we try to maintain this “ever-ready” energy without resting in the “Winter” before it. But the truth was I had no clue what it was to honour “Winter” in any cycle let alone the menstrual, hormonal cycle. I celebrated my ability to push through and get the job done no matter what the cost. The result of that however, was debilitating anxiety, depletion and burnout. 

Resting in Winter prepares us for Spring.

5 element theory teaches us that “Winter” (again outer and inner) is the season connected to the Water element. The organs of the Water element are the kidneys and the urinary bladder. The kidneys are connected to our energy production and our longevity (our ability to live long and well).

When we honour our need to sleep more, to NOT be as social as we might usually be, to spend time alone, to take a nourishing bath and honour our natural desire to draw in… We nourish our Water element. And in doing so we nourish our kidneys, restoring and replenishing our energy and vitality and preparing ourselves for the productivity of “Spring”. Which let’s be honest is much needed; We are no good to anyone burnt-out and depleted.

Not resting affects our creativity.

Asian medicine also teaches us that…

“Water is the wellspring from which creativity flows”.

When we take time to rest, we cultivate the space for our creative juices to flow and if we rest enough then come Spring (again… outer and inner) we will have the energy we need to formulate plans to take those new creative ideas forward and bring them to tangible form.

Not resting in Winter impacts our Menstrual Cycle.

On the physical level, stress (resulting from lack of sufficient rest and also remedied through rest) affects the menstrual, hormonal cycle on multiple levels. One of our sex hormones, Progesterone is used to balance the stress hormones when needed — Aka when we are stressed.

Progesterone also keeps its sister sex hormone Oestrogen in check. These two support and balance each other. When Progesterone is used to support our stress hormones, Oestrogen goes into excess which can cause irregular periods, increased PMS, breast tenderness, fatigue, weight gain, headaches, hair loss, depression plus much more.

In 5 element theory, many of these symptoms link to deficient Wood. We say when an element is deficient, we look to the Mother in the creation cycle, to nourish its child. The Mother of the Wood element is Water and so this cycle story continues….

All great reasons to REST more! 

Practice GUILT FREE Hibernation.

So take time this Winter my love, to practice “GUILT FREE Hibernation”. 

Spend that extra hour in bed. 

Take that afternoon nap. 

Run that bath. 

Or whatever your body calls for you to do.

The creations wanting to be birthed through you will be forever thankful as will your amazing body, your health, your menstrual, hormonal wellness, your family, your friends, your community, your clients and really… Every aspect of your life.

When we say YES to ourselves, we say YES to something so much bigger than ourselves… This is a reclamation of our true nature, our cyclical design and our connection to the great Mother! 

It’s time my love. 

Happy Wintering! 

Love,

FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST

We don’t realise how much we hold in our wombs & pelvic bowls until we are so weighed down with emotions, trauma & grief that we can’t ignore the heaviness we feel.

It can feel like you’re going round in circles & can’t see our path forward. Your menstrual cycles may be disrupted or perhaps you sense a heaviness or stagnation in your pelvic bowl.

Liberating these emotions, trauma & grief to restore balance to your bowl & your cycle is the deep journey of Somatic Womb Work. Learn more…

What to read next:

• The importance of Grief Rituals
• Lovingly meet the pain of regret
• Is this what I even want?
• Who are you in transition?

→ Back to the Blog…

Learning to WINTER well.

In East Asian medicine they teach that “how well we thrive (or for most of us how well we survive) through the cycle of the seasons is dependent on how well we Winter”. 

I love this idea of “Wintering” as a verb and as something that we initiate for our “thrival” through life and all of its seasons.

What does “WINTERING” mean?

Wintering very simply means “Resting”. Like really resting. Not scrolling on your phone. Not reading or listening to podcasts or books. Not filling every available space with another to do.

Wintering is an art form, a feminine art form. The art of deep rest.

Our feminine earth and the animals and plants that inhabit her, show us so beautifully every year what “Wintering” really means. Through hibernation, they draw their energy inwards, conserving it so that come spring they will have the energy they need to support new growth and the sustained energy needed (without coffee or chocolate) to last right through until the leaves turn golden brown and cease to fall the following autumn. 

We are not taught to WINTER.

“Wintering” well (or at all) is not something we are taught in our mainstream educational systems, as let’s be honest, it’s not something that is taught in our modern world. Our modern, hyper-masculine world celebrates productivity, action, output and getting the to-do list done, no matter what the cost and often rejects or makes fun of the more feminine qualities of rest, restoration and rejuvenation. 

In truth, there is nothing wrong with these masculine qualities, it’s healthy to have goals and be productive; but too much of anything is not good, as all things in life require balance for true “thrival”. 

From my own experience, I spent 15+ years working in some very masculine business environments (corporate accounting, futures trading, insurance) and experienced multiple burnouts before I ever truly broached the topic of “REST”. It was in fact, the topic of burnout that brought me to this Feminine Embodiment in the first place and started this journey into the topic of “Learning to Winter” as an art form.

The Benefits of “Wintering” Well.

“Wintering” aka “Deep Rest” is NOT something that comes naturally to me. I have to make a conscious effort to switch off my mind. 

But…. Having experienced the immense benefits of learning to “Winter” well, such as:

• Balancing the nervous system
• Cognitive health and memory
• Emotional wellbeing
• Physiological and energetic wellness
• Support for the immune system
• Plus much more….

I am becoming ever more deeply passionate about this topic. Especially for us women who are in our peri-menopausal years — 35 – 49, known as the “Metal” years in Asian Medicine and 5 Element Theory. The years in which our fertility cycle and hormonal cycles are changing and as a result our energy levels are naturally decreasing. 

The 3 Winters specific to Women.

But “WINTERING” is NOT just about the season of winter that we are all familiar with. For women, there are 3 specific “winters” that we need to concern ourselves with: 

1- Our Inner Winter – Aka the days just before and during your period or if you are on a lunar cycle, New Moon although this can change depending on life circumstances.

2- Our Fertility Winter –  The years of late perimenopause and menopause.

3- Our Seasonal Winter – December, January, February in the Northern Hemisphere, June, July, August in the Southern Hemisphere.

As mentioned above, the Earth is our greatest teacher, she and the kingdoms that inhabit her show us so eloquently what it means to truly winter well. 

The 6 Essential Steps of learning to WINTER well.

This week I have been pondering the essential steps of Learning to “WINTER” well and what I have gathered from my journey over the past 4 years. What I have learned is that “Wintering Well” is not just about having the tools to winter well, of which there are many but it’s also about KNOWING WHEN, knowing WHAT you need and knowing HOW to meet those needs.

Here are “the 6 Essential Steps to Wintering Well” that I have gathered so far:

If you have more you wish to add respond to this email and let me know and we can broaden this list out together. 

1. Cycle Awareness

Have you been taught to push through when you have your period rather than taking the necessary time your body needs to restore? Perhaps when you were in your 20’s you breezed through the days you were on your period with endless energybut now in your 30’s and 40’s it’s much harder and you beat yourself up for not keeping up? 

Cycle awareness means different things to different people but I believe it is about truly getting to know yourself. Cycle Awareness orients us to where we are both in the seasons of the Earth and the ever changing landscape of our inner seasons.

As a woman, you move in a cyclical rhythm just like our feminine earth. If you pay close attention you will notice that you are affected by the seasonal cycle of the earth. You are also constantly changing through your monthly hormonal and fertility cycles which move in 7 year cycles (this is a fascinating topic which I will share more on soon).

To “Winter Well”, I believe that we must first of all know where we are in our cycles and work with our natural rhythms so that we can time our “wintering” accordingly. If you have never tracked your cycle and are interested to start be sure to access my cyclical living starter kit here.

Some reflection questions: Do you track your menstrual/ hormonal cycle? Do you know when your inner winter falls? Do you know where you are in your fertility cycle? How do you feel in autumn and winter each year? What does your body call you to do during these inner and outer seasons?

2. Knowing Your true Needs

Do you find yourself taking that 3rd cup of coffee when you are feeling tired or reaching for that bar of chocolate to fuel the afternoon slump? Or do you find yourself scrolling mindlessly on Instagram or marathon watching the newest series on Netflix? Or agreeing to meet a friend when you are exhausted?

I am guilty of all of these things so no judgement here if you are too, but what I have come to learn is that half the battle with knowing how to “Winter Well” is knowing what we need. Many of us have been conditioned to believe “we can sleep when we’re dead” and that we must do whatever it takes to push on.

Numbing out was the default for most of my life but as I slowly heal from this knowing the benefits I reap from truly resting, I’m gradually letting go and finding the pockets of time I need to restore rather than create false energy.

Some reflection questions: What are you feeling at the moment you start reaching for the afternoon coffee or the evening’s wine or the hour scrolling on social media? How do you feel after? What did you really need at that moment? Can you be mindful of this the next time it happens? 

3. Creating Loving Boundaries

Have you ever said yes when you wanted to say know? Have you had a colleague or a friend call you after hours or on the weekend invading your personal time? Have you ever eaten a full bar of chocolate and regretted it afterward?

Prentice Hempell put this so beautifully when he said  “Boundaries are the distance at which I can love both you and me simultaneously”. What I have found is that boundaries are not barriers to keep something out but a supportive foundation to allow us to regenerate from within. I have also found that boundaries are not always there to support you against other people but also a loving protector against yourself and your own unhelpful programming.

Creating Loving Boundaries is an essential part of “Wintering Well”. Why? Because when you are needing to say NO to the world and YES to yourself, boundaries created through knowing your needs are not just helpful but really powerful. They support you to create that foundation you need to regenerate from within so that you can be of greater service to yourself and to those people you love in your life. I’m sure you are far too familiar with the saying “you can’t fill from an empty cup, you should fill only from your saucer…”. If not then breathe that in.

Some reflection questions: What do you feel in your body when these situations occur? Anger, frustration, self loathing? What were you truly available for in that situation? What were you not available for? If you could roll back the clock,  how would you have preferred to respond in that situation? What boundaries can you lovingly create to get the rest you need in your inner and outer winters?

4. Clear Communication

How many times have you verbally reacted to a situation because you were not clear on how you felt, what you needed and/ or were unable to speak your truth? How many relationships were affected by such reactions?

Being able to express our needs and boundaries to friends and family is essential for “Wintering Well”. Why? Because for the most part, we are not taught to communicate our desires clearly and lovingly to our partners, families and peers which of course, can lead to all sorts of problems.

Many of these problems I feel, actually stems from point 3 above, not ‘knowing our true needs’ but when we can determine what it is we truly need to “winter well”, we can determine the words we need to communicate that to others to ensure we can meet those needs.

This is why I believe learning to communicate clearly is an essential step to learning to “winter well”. A great resource to read further on this topic is ‘Non-Violent Communication’ by Marshall Rosenberg. I love the steps they teach in this method, they are very easy and very useful. Be sure to read if you want help in this area.

Some reflection questions: What do you need to “Winter Well”? Who do you need to express this to to ensure your needs are met? How might you clearly and lovingly express that to that person or yourself? 

5. Setting “Wintering” Time Aside

We are all so busy with endless to-do lists for our personal lives, our work lives and for many of us our dependents (partners, children, pets, parents…). Finding rest time amongst all of that can feel like an impossible task but it is an essential when it comes to “Wintering Well”. Let’s be clear resting when you are dead is not an option!!

Referring back to point 1, Cycle Awareness becomes a powerful tool when it comes to setting time aside. When you track your cycle you can plan ahead, reschedule some meetings or not take clients for a few days. Plan some nourishing and supportive things for yourself like a massage or a restorative yoga class.

Believe me though, I absolutely know there are times that we cannot rearrange things or takes days off from work. I try to allocate myself 30 minutes in the day (usually the first 30 minutes after I get home) to practise “the art of doing nothing”, this involves a timer, a cup of tea and nothing else for 30 minutes. I try to just be present with myself, my tea and not much else.

I have found that setting time aside to dedicate to my “wintering” practices is an essential and quite often the most important thing on the to-do list.

Some reflection questions: Can you plan ahead to your inner and outer winter? Just before or during your period can you alot 30 minutes or more for yourself per day? How might that time look? What might you do to rest? 

6. Your “Wintering” Tools

Many teachers would put this first but let’s be honest, you can have all the tools in the world but if you haven’t set the stage to use those tools will they actually get used?

There are so many amazing tools out there to support deep, nurturing, restorative rest. I am sure that you have an entire tool box already but just in case you might like some inspo, I will add my favourites here to support you.

I do believe though that to “Winter Well” you must find what really works for you and what I rely on might not be supportive for you so by all means allow your creative feminine soul to sprinkle in her “wintering well” magic.

My favourite tools are –

Sleep, Yoga Nidra, Restorative Yoga, Baths, Cacao, Singing Mantra, Journalling, playing my Ukelele, the art of doing nothing, massage, mindfulness, Cold water dips, walks on the beach or in nature, hot water bottles in bed and stone medicine.

I’m sure there are many more and I purposefully haven’t included Retreats or Spa days as I want to emphasise how easy it is to “Winter Well” at home. If you want to restore your body, mind and spirit, sleep better, have better cognition, memory and health overall, it doesnt need to cost the earth, you can start simply from the comfort of your own home. 

Some reflection questions: What do you love to do that is nourishing for your body and mind? What supports you to feel rested and rejuvenated? What fuels you? 

Wintering Well into Deep Restoration

The aim and the benefit of all of these 6 essential steps of “Wintering Well” are to support you into a space of deep restoration.

As we age as woman, the need for restoration becomes more and more important, what we needed in terms of rest in our teens and 20’s is very different to what we need in our 30’s, 40’s and beyond. Burnout is not fun nor is arriving at the doors of perimenopause or menopause with all the symptoms that you might experience when you have not “Wintered Well”, the topic of another blog for sure. So give yourself this gift now of Learning to Winter well.

I hope these steps are supportive for you, let me know if you have any questions. Get in touch at support@niamhasple.com or if you want to book a 1-1 session you can do that here.

Much love and Happy Wintering,

Learning to WINTER well.

In East Asian medicine they teach that “how well we thrive (or for most of us how well we survive) through the cycle of the seasons is dependent on how well we Winter”. 

I love this idea of “Wintering” as a verb and as something that we initiate for our “thrival” through life and all of its seasons.

What does “WINTERING” mean?

Wintering very simply means “Resting”. Like really resting. Not scrolling on your phone. Not reading or listening to podcasts or books. Not filling every available space with another to do.

Wintering really is an art form, a feminine art form. The art of deep rest.

Our feminine earth and the animals and plants that inhabit her, show us so beautifully every year what “Wintering” really means.

Through hibernation, they draw their energy inwards, conserving it so that come spring they will have the energy they need to support new growth and the sustained energy needed (without coffee or chocolate) to last right through until the leaves turn golden brown and cease to fall the following autumn

We are not taught to WINTER.

“Wintering” well (or at all) is not something we are taught in our mainstream educational systems, as let’s be honest, it’s not something that is taught in our modern world.

Our modern, hyper-masculine world celebrates productivity, action, output and getting the to-do list done, no matter what the cost and often rejects or makes fun of the more feminine qualities of rest, restoration and rejuvenation. 

In truth, there is nothing wrong with these masculine qualities, it’s healthy to have goals and be productive; but too much of anything is not good, as all things in life require balance for true “thrival”. 

From my own experience, I spent 15+ years working in some very masculine business environments (corporate accounting, futures trading, insurance) and experienced multiple burnouts before I ever truly broached the topic of “REST”.

Burnout was in fact, the topic that brought me to ‘Feminine Embodiment in the first place and started this journey into the topic of “Learning to Winter” as an art form.

The Benefits of “Wintering” Well.

“Wintering” aka “Deep Rest” is NOT something that comes naturally to me. I have to make a conscious effort to switch off my mind. 

But…. Having experienced the immense benefits of learning to “Winter” well, such as:

• Balancing the nervous system
• Cognitive health and memory
• Emotional wellbeing
• Physiological and energetic wellness
• Support for the immune system
• Plus much more….

I am becoming ever more deeply passionate about this topic. Especially for us women who are in our peri-menopausal years — 35 – 49, known as the “Metal” years in Asian Medicine and 5 Element Theory.  These are the years in which our fertility cycle and hormonal cycles are changing and as a result our energy levels are naturally decreasing. 

The 3 Winters specific to Women.

But “WINTERING” is NOT just about the season of winter that we are all familiar with. For women, there are 3 specific “winters” that we need to concern ourselves with: 

1- Our Inner Winter – Aka the days just before and during your period or if you are on a lunar cycle, New Moon although this can change depending on life circumstances.

2- Our Fertility Winter –  The years of late perimenopause and menopause.

3- Our Seasonal Winter – December, January, February in the Northern Hemisphere, June, July, August in the Southern Hemisphere.

As mentioned above, the Earth is our greatest teacher, she and the kingdoms that inhabit her show us so eloquently what it means to truly winter well. 

The 6 Essential Steps of learning to WINTER well.

This week I have been pondering the essential steps of Learning to “WINTER” well and what I have gathered from my journey over the past 4 years. What I have learned is that “Wintering Well” is not just about having the tools to winter well, of which there are many but it’s also about KNOWING WHEN, knowing WHAT you need and knowing HOW to meet those needs.

Here are “the 6 Essential Steps to Wintering Well” that I have gathered so far:

If you have more you wish to add then send me an email and let me know and we can broaden this list out together. 

1. Cycle Awareness

Have you been taught to push through when you have your period rather than taking the necessary time your body needs to restore? Perhaps when you were in your 20’s you breezed through the days you were on your period with endless energy but now in your 30’s and 40’s it’s much harder and you beat yourself up for not keeping up? 

Cycle awareness means different things to different people but I believe it is about truly getting to know yourself. Cycle Awareness orients us to where we are both in the seasons of the Earth and the ever changing landscape of our inner seasons.

As a woman, you move in a cyclical rhythm just like our feminine earth. If you pay close attention you may notice that you are affected by the seasonal cycle of the earth. You are also constantly changing through your monthly hormonal and fertility cycles which move in 7 year cycles (this is a fascinating topic which I will share more on soon).

To “Winter Well”, I believe that we must first of all know where we are in our cycles and work with our natural rhythms so that we can time our “wintering” accordingly.

If you have never tracked your cycle before and are interested to start be sure to access my cyclical living starter kit here.

Some reflection questions: Do you track your menstrual/ hormonal cycle? Do you know when your inner winter falls? Do you know where you are in your fertility cycle? How do you feel in autumn and winter each year? What does your body call you to do during these inner and outer seasons?

2. Knowing Your true Needs

Do you find yourself taking that 3rd cup of coffee when you are feeling tired or reaching for that bar of chocolate to fuel the afternoon slump? Do you find yourself scrolling mindlessly on Instagram or marathon watching the newest series on Netflix? Or agreeing to meet a friend when you are exhausted?

I am guilty of all of these things so no judgement here if you are too, but what I have come to learn is that half the battle with knowing how to “Winter Well” is knowing what we need. Many of us have been conditioned to believe “we can sleep when we’re dead” and that we must do whatever it takes to push on.

Numbing out was the default for most of my life but as I slowly heal from this I have come to learn that what I really need or needed the whole time was actual REST. And knowing the benefits I reap from truly resting, I’m gradually letting go of my default and finding the pockets of time I need to restore rather than create false energy.

Some reflection questions: What are you feeling at the moment you start reaching for the afternoon coffee or the evening’s wine or the hour scrolling on social media? How do you feel after? What did you really need at that moment? Can you be mindful of this the next time it happens? 

3. Creating Loving Boundaries

Have you ever said yes when you wanted to say know? Have you had a colleague or a friend call you after hours or on the weekend invading your personal time? Have you ever eaten a full bar of chocolate and regretted it afterward?

Prentice Hempell put this so beautifully when he said  “Boundaries are the distance at which I can love both you and me simultaneously”.

What I have found is that boundaries are not barriers to keep something out but a supportive foundation to allow us to regenerate from within.

I have also found that boundaries are not always there to support you against other people but also a loving protector against yourself and your own unhelpful programming.

Creating Loving Boundaries is an essential part of “Wintering Well”. Why? Because when you are needing to say NO to the world and YES to yourself, boundaries created through knowing your needs are not just helpful but really powerful. They support you to create that foundation you need to regenerate from within so that you can be of greater service to yourself and to those people you love in your life.

I’m sure you are far too familiar with the saying “you can’t fill from an empty cup, you should fill only from your saucer…”. If not then breathe that in.

Some reflection questions: What do you feel in your body when your boundaries are crossed? Anger, frustration, self loathing? What were you truly available for in that situation? What were you not available for? If you could roll back the clock,  how would you have preferred to respond in that situation? What boundaries can you lovingly create to get the rest you need in your inner and outer winters?

4. Clear Communication

How many times have you verbally reacted to a situation because you were not clear on how you felt, what you needed and/ or were unable to speak your truth? How many relationships were affected by such reactions?

Being able to express our needs and boundaries to friends and family is essential for “Wintering Well”. Why? Because for the most part, we are not taught to communicate our desires clearly and lovingly to our partners, families and peers which of course, can lead to all sorts of problems.

Many of these problems I feel, actually stem from point 3 above, not ‘knowing our true needs’ but when we can determine what it is we truly need to “winter well”, we can determine the words we need to communicate that to others to ensure we can meet those needs.

This is why I believe learning to communicate clearly is an essential step to learning to “winter well”. A great resource to read further on this topic is ‘Non-Violent Communication’ by Marshall Rosenberg. I love the steps they teach in this method, they are very easy and very useful. Be sure to read if you want help in this area.

Some reflection questions: What do you need to “Winter Well”? Who do you need to express this to to ensure your needs are met? How might you clearly and lovingly express that to that person or yourself? 

5. Setting “Wintering” Time Aside

We are all so busy with endless to-do lists for our personal lives, our work lives and for many of us our dependents (partners, children, pets, parents…). Finding rest time amongst all of that can feel like an impossible task but it is an essential when it comes to “Wintering Well”. Let’s be clear resting when you are dead is NOT an option!!

Referring back to point 1, Cycle Awareness becomes a powerful tool when it comes to setting time aside. When you track your cycle you can plan ahead, reschedule some meetings or not take clients for a few days. Plan some nourishing and supportive things for yourself like a massage or a restorative yoga class.

Believe me though, I absolutely know there are times that we cannot rearrange things or takes days off from work. I try to allocate myself 30 minutes in the day (usually the first 30 minutes after I get home) to practise “the art of doing nothing”, this involves a timer, a cup of tea and nothing else for 30 minutes. I try to just be present with myself, my tea and not much else.

I have found that setting time aside to dedicate to “wintering” practices is an essential and quite often the most important thing on the to-do list.

Some reflection questions: Can you plan ahead to your inner and outer winter? Just before or during your period can you alot 30 minutes or more for yourself per day? How might that time look? What might you do to rest?

6. Your “Wintering” Tools

Many teachers would put this first but let’s be honest, you can have all the tools in the world but if you haven’t set the stage to use those tools will they actually get used?

There are so many amazing tools out there to support deep, nurturing, restorative rest. I am sure that you have an entire tool box already but just in case you might like some inspo, I will add my favourites here to support you.

I do believe though that to “Winter Well” you must find what really works for you and what I rely on might not be supportive for you so by all means allow your creative feminine soul to sprinkle in her “wintering well” magic.

My favourite tools are –

Sleep, Yoga Nidra, Yin Yoga, Restorative Yoga, Baths, Cacao, Singing Mantra, Journalling, playing my Ukelele, the art of doing nothing, massage, mindfulness, Cold water dips, walks on the beach or in nature, hot water bottles in bed and stone medicine.

I’m sure there are many more and I purposefully haven’t included Retreats or Spa days as I want to emphasise how easy it is to “Winter Well” at home. If you want to restore your body, mind and spirit, sleep better, have better cognition, memory and health overall, it doesnt need to cost the earth, you can start simply from the comfort of your own home. 

Some reflection questions: What do you love to do that is nourishing for your body and mind? What supports you to feel rested and rejuvenated? What fuels you? 

Wintering Well into Deep Restoration.

The aim and the benefit of all of these 6 essential steps of “Wintering Well” are to support you into a space of deep restoration.

As we age as woman, the need for restoration becomes more and more important, what we needed in terms of rest in our teens and 20’s is very different to what we need in our 30’s, 40’s and beyond.

Burnout is not fun nor is arriving at the doors of perimenopause or menopause with all the symptoms that you might experience when you have not “Wintered Well” (the topic of yet another blog for sure). So give yourself this gift now of Learning to Winter well.

I hope these steps are supportive for you, let me know if you have any questions. Get in touch at support@niamhasple.com or if you want to book a 1-1 session you can do that here.

Much love and Happy Wintering,

FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST

What to read next:

• The importance of Grief Rituals
• Lovingly meet the pain of regret
• Is this what I even want?
• Who are you in transition?

→ Back to the Blog…

Autumn, the season of letting go.

Autumn is upon us here in the Northern Hemisphere, even here in the South of Spain. The mornings are finally greeting us with cooler temperatures, the golden hues are starting to appear across the hills and almost imperceptibly the leaves are starting to fall, as the trees begin their annual ritual of letting go. 

Connected to the Metal element in 5 element theory, Autumn powerfully calls us to take stock and notice what we are ready to let go of, to cut back or perhaps look at where we can refine or simplify life as we approach the end of the year. 

Think of how a metal sword cuts back or cuts away whatever it comes in contact with. Metal season speaks to us to do the same. 

In Asian medicine, our colon is the yang organ associated with the metal element. It is responsible for the “drainage of the dregs”. It helps us to let go of regrets and move through grief and loss. It supports us in the challenging task of letting go of people, places or things that no longer serve us and need to go. Releasing the experiences that have left us spiritually constipated, feeling polluted, blocked up and dirty on the inside.

The Metal Element in your life.

If you are in your mid 30’s to late 40’s (your Metal years) you may be already feeling this desire to let go of people, places or things or cut away aspects of life that are no longer serving you but perhaps it feels even more amplified now as we drop into Metal season. 

At 43, this is very much where I am right now… The past many years have called me to do a lot of cutting away, a lot of deciphering what I truly want and don’t want; and a lot of grieving the people, places and things that I’ve had to let go of. And a call to focus on what is really important to me at this stage of my life. 

Grief rituals have been a big support over the past few years as I move through this cycle of my life. If you would like to discover more about GRIEF RITUALS, jump over to this blog I wrote during the year, called “The Importance Of Grief Rituals“, see here.

The call of the Metal Element.

I could sense the energy of autumn approaching this year as after the intensity of August with its soaring temperatures I could feel a lot of squeezing in my body. When we passed Equinox however, a softening came and as I began to feel into what this Metal season is calling for me to do.

Sensitivity (aka our capacity to tune into subtle awareness) is a core skill of Feminine Embodiment. With this sense of awareness I have been honing for many years now I started to tune into what I was feeling in my body and to pay attention to what was happening in my world around me. I noticed the things people were saying to me, the questions I received and also the heaviness and confusion I was feeling within myself. Something was out of flow and was ready to go and this weekend it became clear what that was… !!

More is not always better.

As I’ve deepened my learning and understanding of this embodiment work, I’ve slowly added more and more layers. With every new course and new teacher came a new texture, a new depth and a new way to hold space and my work started to form branches that although felt exciting to learn, lately the complexity has started to feel heavy and has been stifling how I speak about what I do and even how I teach my classes. I’ve been overcomplicating things.

“More is not always better…” were the words that I kept hearing and with the arrival of Metal Season it became clear that I now need to let go of the complexity and see where I can simplify things and simply come back to the basics, the core essence, the true nature of what it is that I do and how I support the women I work with.

Like any tree, it’s wonderful to have many branches, flowers and leaves but if you are not solid in your roots and your foundations then you will not withstand the prevailing winds come Winter. Autumn is the time to cut back the branches and focus on nourishing the roots and trunk. And that’s what Metal season (aka Autumn) is all about, letting go of what’s not needed, cutting back the excess to create more overall strength and to support your continued growth and evolution.

Letting go and simplifying.

I already feel more lightness with this and I even went back to a question I often get asked… “What is Feminine Embodiment coaching?” I’ve been breaking this down into its simplest form if you’d like to know more. I’m currently writing a blog on this which will be coming soon.

* What are you now ready to let go of or

simplify this Metal season?

* What have you been noticing that might be

showing you what is now ready to go? 

Explore these questions through the wisdom of your feminine, feeling body with this guided exploration:

This will be powerful for you also if you are ready to:

• Come out of the busyness of your head & down into the wisdom & guidance of your feeling, feminine body.

• Connect with your inner wisdom & intuition.

• Cultivate “Sensitivity” as a key skill of Feminine Embodiment.

• Explore the question “what am I now ready to let go of” this Metal season.

I hope you enjoy my love, let me know how it was for you and what came up and if you want to go deeper in this exploration, feel free to get in touch with me at support@niamhasple.com or book a call here.

Wishing you a beautiful start to Metal Season! 

Much love,

 Autumn, the season of letting go.

Autumn is upon us in the Northern Hemisphere…. Even here in the South of Spain. The mornings are finally greeting us with cooler temperatures, the golden hues are starting to appear across the hills and almost imperceptibly the leaves are starting to fall, as the trees begin their annual ritual of letting go. 

Connected to the Metal element in Asian medicines 5 Element Theory, Autumn powerfully calls us to take stock and notice what we are ready to let go of, to cut back or perhaps look at where we can refine or simplify life as we approach the end of the year. 

Think of how a metal sword cuts back or cuts away whatever it comes in contact with. Metal season speaks to us to do the same. 

The Metal Element in your life.

If you are in your mid 30’s to late 40’s (your Metal years) you may be already feeling this desire to let go of people, places or things or cut away aspects of life that are no longer serving you but perhaps it feels even more amplified now as we drop into Metal season. 

At 43, this is very much where I am right now… The past many years have called me to do a lot of cutting away, a lot of deciphering what I truly want and don’t want; and a lot of grieving the people, places and things that I’ve had to let go of. And a call to focus on what is really important to me at this stage of my life. 

Grief rituals have been a big support over the past few years as I move through this cycle of my life. If you would like to discover more about GRIEF RITUALS, jump over to this blog I wrote during the year, called “The Importance Of Grief Rituals“, see here.

The call of the Metal Element.

I could sense the energy of Autumn approaching this year as after the intensity of August with its soaring temperatures I could feel a lot of squeezing in my body. When we passed Equinox however, a softening came and as I began to feel into what this Metal season is calling for me to do.

Sensitivity (aka our capacity to tune into subtle awareness) is a core skill of Feminine Embodiment. With this sense of awareness I have been honing for many years now I started to tune into what I was feeling in my body and to pay attention to what was happening in my world around me. I noticed the things people were saying to me, the questions I received and also the heaviness and confusion I was feeling within myself. Something was out of flow and was ready to go. 

This weekend it became clear what that was…. !!! 

More is not always better.

 As I’ve deepened my learning and understanding of this embodiment work (which I adore), I’ve slowly added more and more layers. With every new course and new teacher came a new texture, a new depth and a new way to hold space and my work started to form branches that although felt exciting to learn, lately the complexity has started to feel heavy and has been stifling how I speak about what I do and even how I teach my classes.

“More is not always better…” were the words that I kept hearing and with the arrival of Metal Season it became clear that I now need to let go of the complexity and see where I can simplify things and simply come back to the basics, the core essence, the true nature of what it is that I do and how I support the women I work with.

Like any tree, it’s wonderful to have many branches, flowers and leaves but if you are not solid in your roots, your foundations you will not withstand the prevailing winds come Winter.

Autumn is the time to cut back your branches & focus on nourishing your roots & trunk. And that’s what Metal season is all about, letting go of what’s not needed, cutting back the excess to create more overall strength and to support your continued growth & evolution.

Letting go and simplifying.

I already feel more lightness with this and I even went back to a question I often get asked… “What is Feminine Embodiment coaching?” I’ve been breaking this down into its simplest form if you’d like to know more. I’m currently writing a blog on this which will be coming soon.

*What are you now ready to let go of or to simplify this Metal season?

*What have you been noticing in your world around you that might be showing you what you are ready to release?

Explore these questions through the wisdom of your feminine, feeling body with this guided exploration:

Tap the image below to play.

This will be powerful for you if you are ready to:

• Come out of the busyness of your head & down into the wisdom & guidance of your feeling, feminine body.

• Connect with your inner wisdom & intuition.

• Cultivate “Sensitivity” as a key skill of Feminine Embodiment.

• Explore the question “what am I now ready to let go of” this Metal season.

I hope you enjoy my love, let me know how it was for you and what came up and if you want to go deeper in this exploration, feel free to get in touch with me at support@niamhasple.com or book a call with me here.

Wishing you a beautiful start to Metal Season! 

Much love,

FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST

What to read next:

• The importance of Grief Rituals
• Lovingly meet the pain of regret
• Is this what I even want?
• Who are you in transition?

→ Back to the Blog…

Life is an ever moving flow of change.

Life is an ever moving flow of change. As much as we might want it, nothing EVER stays the same. Whether life has thrown us a curveball forcing us to make a change (failure, loss, betrayal, breakup, perimenopause…) or we have consciously chosen to move into something new (new career, new country, new relationship or child…) transitions can invariably shake us to the core. Testing our ability to cope and calling many parts of us into question.

But whether or not this change you have made has been a conscious or an unconscious one, the questions to consider are…

Who are you in the face of this transition?

How do you hold yourself through this change?

What painful patterns or blocks hold you back or keep you stuck?

And…

Who do you desire to be as you step into this next stage of your life?

The transition is equally as important as the destination.

When I teach yoga I often see my students rushing to the next posture, losing their breath… their balance… their center. 

They are so focused on getting to their “peak” pose, they completely lose themselves in the transition, flailing, panting and wobbling.

I have always found the practice of yoga to be such a great metaphor for life and a powerful place to practice meeting the transitions and challenges of life with poise and grace. 

It’s easy to react and judge yourself as you wobble or fall while moving through a transition, both in yoga and in life.

In my classes, I remind my students that the “transition is equally as important as the pose”, to slow down, to breathe and if you wobble, not to worry because life is full of wobbles. “It’s how we respond to the wobbles that counts”.

Life is full of wobbles.

The truth is, life IS full of wobbles. And the wobbles of life and particularly as we step into a new season of life (through grief, loss, breakup, betrayal, new job, new career, responsibility, relationship etc…) are almost always trigger our wounded “Maiden” patterns, and by that I mean the patterns and reactions we have learned throughout our live’s through the events of our life experience. Many call this our inner child wounding or trauma but I refer to them as our wounded Maiden traits as they continue to show up throughout our lives. See some of these patterns listed below.

Wounded “Maiden” Patterns:

• Not feeling good enough
• Or feeling too much
• Doubting yourself
• Comparing yourself to others
• Giving up 
• Avoidance or running away
• Seeking external validation 
• Being bitchy, blamey, reactive
• Fighting against others
• Trying to control
• People pleasing 
• Low boundaries 
• Feeling shame or guilt
• Dishonoring yourself and your needs
• Feeling confused or lost
• Feeling stressed or overwhelmed 
• Etc…

The list is endless and personal to every woman. Perhaps there are a few more you can add to the list that represent your patterns when you feel yourself stumbling as you move through a breakup or a change of career or new life role? 

Some great questions to consider as you navigate this transition are:

• Who are you being in this transition? 

• Are you in reaction or response?

• How do you hold yourself through this change?

• What painful patterns or blocks hold you back or keep you stuck?

Learning to hold yourself through life’s challenges from a place of strength is what we do in my free practice called Mother, access this below.

Transitions are powerful opportunities.

The truth is transitions are powerful opportunities for us to become the woman we know we came here to be. 

They are opportunities to liberate yourself from the pain and frustration of your wounded Maiden reactions and to instead cross the rite of passage to embody your inner archetypal Mother and Queen.

The qualities of archetypal Mother and Queen are:

• Rooted
• Wise
• Grounded
• Compassionate 
• Loving
• Supportive
• Strong
• Sovereign 
• Boundaried
• Confident
• Pleasure filled
• Wild
• Magnetic 
• Etc

Again you may have more qualities that you relate to your inner archetypal Mother and Queen, maybe take a moment to ponder the qualities you wish to embody?

And some powerful questions to ask yourself as you navigate this transition:

• Who do you desire to be as you step into this next season of your life?

• How do you desire to show up?

• How do you desire to move, speak, hold yourself etc?

• What new version of you is wanting to step into deeper expression?

These are some of the powerful questions we explore in Feminine Embodiment Coaching. We don’t, however, explore these questions from the head, we drop down into the wisdom of your feminine feeling body to access your deeper intuition and knowing. Curious to explore? Book a session below.

Rather than losing your footing, can you hold yourself in feminine grace? 

One thing that you can be absolutely sure of is that wobbles will happen in life and life’s transitions. But rather than losing your footing, can you instead learn to hold yourself in grace?

Rather wobbling in wounded Maiden, can you instead stand grounded in the qualities of your inner archetypal Mother or Queen?

This is the work I love to support my clients with… 

• Supporting women to navigate these unending transitions of both life and in business with poise and grace.

• Supporting you to release the painful patterns and reactions of your wounded maiden. &…

• Supporting women, like you, to move into this next season of life from a place of strength and connection to your deepest wisdom and intuition.

• Embodying the woman you know you came here to be.

Women like…

Angela B.

I feel like spirit brought Niamh to me at the perfect time. In a time when I doubted myself, questioned myself, and second guessed my every move. She held the frame of loving-acceptance to the point where I began to hold that frame for myself. Through the container that Niamh and I built together, I became a woman. This was hands down, the best investment of my life.

Natalie F.

Niamh is incredible, her efficiency and caring nature makes you feel supported from the first call. I love how easy it is to talk with her and how deep the work is. She has really supported me to make sense of my emotions and get in touch with the younger parts of me.

Amy F.

Niamh asked powerful questions to help me to get my own answers and knowing. Her calming, warm, and compassionate way allowed me to safely dive deep to release blocks and worn out patterns of doing and being.

Letting go of the wobble to embody your inner Queen.

As you move through this time of breakup, loss, career change or whatever transition it is that you are navigating, it is not so much about letting go of the wobbles but actually learning to consciously dance with them. Learning to hold yourself and your wounded “Maiden” so that you can stand powerfully in your inner archetypal Mother and Queen. 

Not judging yourself. Not beating yourself up. Not in avoidance or wanting to quit or run away but instead moving with the wisdom of your feeling feminine body and innate intuition. Standing in your strength and power. Rooted, grounded, wise, embodied.

If you have been desiring to be held and supported through the transition you are currently moving through then get in touch here or book a session below.

“The ONLY constant in life is change” 

“The ONLY constant in life is change” This is such a well known phrase but the question is… Who are you in the face of that change?

Are you wobbling in wounded “Maiden2 or standing strong in your inner archetypal Mother or Queen?

And if you are in a “Maiden” reaction that’s ok you now have the opportunity to make a choice. 

Can you slow down?

Can you breathe deeply? 

Can you take your next step with feminine grace?

You’ve got this my darling but always here if you need support.

Much love,

Life is an ever moving flow of change.

Life is an ever moving flow of change. As much as we might want it, nothing EVER stays the same. Whether life has thrown us a curveball forcing us to make a change (failure, loss, betrayal, breakup, perimenopause…) or we have consciously chosen to move into something new (new career, new country, new relationship or child…) transitions can invariably shake us to the core. Testing our ability to cope and calling many parts of us into question.

But whether or not this change you have made has been a conscious or an unconscious one, the questions to consider are…

Who are you in the face of this transition?

How do you hold yourself through this change?

What painful patterns or blocks hold you back or keep you stuck?

And…

Who do you desire to be as you step into this next stage of your life?

The transition is equally as important as the destination.

When I teach yoga I often see my students rushing to the next posture, losing their breath… their balance… their center. 

They are so focused on getting to their “peak” pose, they completely lose themselves in the transition, flailing, panting and wobbling.

I have always found the practice of yoga to be such a great metaphor for life and a powerful place to practice meeting the transitions and challenges of life with poise and grace. 

It’s easy to react and judge yourself as you wobble or fall while moving through a transition, both in yoga and in life.

In my classes, I remind my students that the “transition is equally as important as the pose”, to slow down, to breathe and if you wobble, not to worry because life is full of wobbles. “It’s how we respond to the wobbles that counts”.

Life is full of wobbles.

The truth is, life IS full of wobbles. And the wobbles of life and particularly as we step into a new season of life (through grief, loss, breakup, betrayal, new job, new career, responsibility, relationship etc…) are almost always trigger our wounded “Maiden” patterns, and by that I mean the patterns and reactions we have learned throughout our live’s through the events of our life experience. Many call this our inner child wounding or trauma but I refer to them as our wounded Maiden traits as they continue to show up throughout our lives. See some of these patterns listed below.

Wounded “Maiden” Patterns:

• Not feeling good enough
• Or feeling too much
• Doubting yourself
• Comparing yourself to others
• Giving up 
• Avoidance or running away
• Seeking external validation 
• Being bitchy, blamey, reactive
• Fighting against others
• Trying to control
• People pleasing 
• Low boundaries 
• Feeling shame or guilt
• Dishonoring yourself and your needs
• Feeling confused or lost
• Feeling stressed or overwhelmed 
• Etc…

The list is endless and personal to every woman. Perhaps there are a few more you can add to the list that represent your patterns when you feel yourself stumbling as you move through a breakup or a change of career or new life role? 

Some great questions to consider as you navigate this transition are:

• Who are you being in this transition? 

• Are you in reaction or response?

• How do you hold yourself through this change?

• What painful patterns or blocks hold you back or keep you stuck?

Learning to hold yourself through life’s challenges from a place of strength is what we do in my free practice called Mother, access this below.

Transitions are powerful opportunities.

The truth is transitions are powerful opportunities for us to become the woman we know we came here to be. 

They are opportunities to liberate yourself from the pain and frustration of your wounded Maiden reactions and to instead cross the rite of passage to embody your inner archetypal Mother and Queen.

The qualities of archetypal Mother and Queen are:

• Rooted
• Wise
• Grounded
• Compassionate 
• Loving
• Supportive
• Strong
• Sovereign 
• Boundaried
• Confident
• Pleasure filled
• Wild
• Magnetic 
• Etc

Again you may have more qualities that you relate to your inner archetypal Mother and Queen, maybe take a moment to ponder the qualities you wish to embody?

And some powerful questions to ask yourself as you navigate this transition:

• Who do you desire to be as you step into this next season of your life?

• How do you desire to show up?

• How do you desire to move, speak, hold yourself etc?

• What new version of you is wanting to step into deeper expression?

These are some of the powerful questions we explore in Feminine Embodiment Coaching. We don’t, however, explore these questions from the head, we drop down into the wisdom of your feminine feeling body to access your deeper intuition and knowing. 

Rather than losing your footing, can you hold yourself in feminine grace? 

One thing that you can be absolutely sure of is that wobbles will happen in life and life’s transitions. But rather than losing your footing, can you instead learn to hold yourself in grace?

Rather wobbling in wounded Maiden, can you instead stand grounded in the qualities of your inner archetypal Mother or Queen?

This is the work I love to support my clients with… 

• Supporting women to navigate these unending transitions of both life and in business with poise and grace.

• Supporting you to release the painful patterns and reactions of your wounded maiden. &…

• Supporting women, like you, to move into this next season of life from a place of strength and connection to your deepest wisdom and intuition.

• Embodying the woman you know you came here to be.

Women like…

Angela B.

I feel like spirit brought Niamh to me at the perfect time. In a time when I doubted myself, questioned myself, and second guessed my every move. She held the frame of loving-acceptance to the point where I began to hold that frame for myself. Through the container that Niamh and I built together, I became a woman. This was hands down, the best investment of my life.

Natalie F.

Niamh is incredible, her efficiency and caring nature makes you feel supported from the first call. I love how easy it is to talk with her and how deep the work is. She has really supported me to make sense of my emotions and get in touch with the younger parts of me.

Amy F.

Niamh asked powerful questions to help me to get my own answers and knowing. Her calming, warm, and compassionate way allowed me to safely dive deep to release blocks and worn out patterns of doing and being.

Letting go of the wobble to embody your inner Queen.

As you move through this time of breakup, loss, career change or whatever transition it is that you are navigating, it is not so much about letting go of the wobbles but actually learning to consciously dance with them. Learning to hold yourself and your wounded “Maiden” so that you can stand powerfully in your inner archetypal Mother and Queen. 

Not judging yourself. Not beating yourself up. Not in avoidance or wanting to quit or run away but instead moving with the wisdom of your feeling feminine body and innate intuition. Standing in your strength and power. Rooted, grounded, wise, embodied.

If you have been desiring to be held and supported through the transition you are currently moving through then get in touch here or book a session below.

“The ONLY constant in life is change” 

“The ONLY constant in life is change” This is such a well known phrase but the question is… Who are you in the face of that change?

Are you wobbling in wounded “Maiden” or standing strong in your inner archetypal Mother or Queen?

And if you are in a “Maiden” reaction that’s ok you now have the opportunity to make a choice. 

Can you slow down?

Can you breathe deeply? 

Can you take your next step with feminine grace?

You’ve got this my darling but always here if you need support.

Much love,

FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST

What to read next:

• Lovingly meet the pain of regret
• Is this what I even want?
• Who are you in transition?

→ Back to the Blog…

Who better to initiate you in to this work than the GREAT MOTHER herself….?

I had already started my journey into this rite of passage work several months before I came here; the journey to my maturity, the initiatory journey from wounded Maiden to archetypal Mother.

I had begun to realise though that this journey that cannot be done in isolation, it can and really only should be done in community. And as much as I wanted to stay hidden in my cosy home, working alone, online, I now know the Great Mother had other plans for me.

7 months ago, I gave up my cosy online life to come work in this incredible retreat centre, a place that had been dear to my heart for almost 10 years, the enchantress…. Suryalila.

Although it had been a dream of mine to work here, the decision was far from an easy one. I knew my acceptance of this job was part of my initiation from “Maiden to Mother”. My body showed so much resistance to my coming (full on shakes and nauseousness). It was so freaking hard to say yes, yet simultaneously I knew it would be one of the most important yes’s of my life. And once I did things moved fast.

The journey over these past 7 months has tested me and my “Maiden” countless times and continues to do so. Every day I feel I am deep in this work, learning to move in the world in Archetypal Mother and sometimes Queen.

Learning to move from this rooted, grounded, wise version of myself.

Learning to move from this rooted, grounded, wise version of myself. The woman I know I truly am and have always been before the patriarchal conditioning of our world taught me to be someone else. 

Learning to know myself even more fully as a cyclical woman, having compassion as I nurture myself through the transitions of my ever changing seasons. 

Learning to surrender and trust the magic that breathes life into us all.

And learning to lead myself so that I am in turn lead others. 

This is what it means to be in Archetypal Mother. These are the qualities she possesses and I endeavour to as I move through this work. 

Ready to embody your Archetypal Mother? Access my powerful MOTHER practice here.

It became clear that this whole time, it was SHE who had really been teaching me.

Nestled here in the heart of the Great Mother in the Sierra de Grazalema in Andalucía, I feel so deeply how the Great Mother is my teacher and as I moved through the fields this evening, I could feel roots moving from my feet, rooting me down into her. 

For months I felt that Suryalila is my teacher but this evening it became clear that this whole time, it is SHE (the Great Mother) who has really been teaching me. As in truth, she and Suryalila are so intertwined, they are one. Her presence is everywhere here and the magic of this place is undeniable. 

As I continue to unpack this journey, I know there are a lot more rounds of learning to move through. I don’t know if it will ever be done but I’m truly grateful to be her initiate and that she chose here to be my school.

Much love,

Who better to initiate you in to this work than the GREAT MOTHER herself….?

I had already started my journey into this rite of passage work several months before I came here; the journey to my maturity, the initiatory journey from wounded Maiden to archetypal Mother.

I had begun to realise though that this journey that cannot be done in isolation, it can and really only should be done in community. And as much as I wanted to stay hidden in my cosy home, working alone, online, I now know the Great Mother had other plans for me.

7 months ago, I gave up my cosy online life to come work in this incredible retreat centre, a place that had been dear to my heart for almost 10 years, the enchantress…. Suryalila.

Although it had been a dream of mine to work here, the decision was far from an easy one. I knew my acceptance of this job was part of my initiation from “Maiden to Mother”. My body showed so much resistance to my coming (full on shakes and nauseousness). It was so freaking hard to say yes, yet simultaneously I knew it would be one of the most important yes’s of my life. And once I did things moved fast.

The journey over these past 7 months has tested me and my “Maiden” countless times and continues to do so. Every day I feel I am deep in this work, learning to move in the world in Archetypal Mother and sometimes Queen.

Learning to move from this rooted, grounded, wise version of myself.

Learning to move from this rooted, grounded, wise version of myself. The woman I know I truly am and have always been before the patriarchal conditioning of our world taught me to be someone else. 

Learning to know myself even more fully as a cyclical woman, having compassion as I nurture myself through the transitions of my ever changing seasons. 

Learning to surrender and trust the magic that breathes life into us all.

And learning to lead myself so that I am in turn lead others. 

This is what it means to be in Archetypal Mother. These are the qualities she possesses and I endeavour to as I move through this work. 

Ready to embody your Archetypal Mother? Access my powerful MOTHER practice here.

It became clear that this whole time, it was SHE who had really been teaching me.

Nestled here in the heart of the Great Mother in the Sierra de Grazalema in Andalucía, I feel so deeply how the Great Mother is my teacher and as I moved through the fields this evening, I could feel roots moving from my feet, rooting me down into her. 

For months I felt that Suryalila is my teacher but this evening it became clear that this whole time, it is SHE (the Great Mother) who has really been teaching me. As in truth, she and Suryalila are so intertwined, they are one. Her presence is everywhere here and the magic of this place is undeniable. 

As I continue to unpack this journey, I know there are a lot more rounds of learning to move through. I don’t know if it will ever be done but I’m truly grateful to be her initiate and that she chose here to be my school.

Much love,

FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST

What to read next:

• Lovingly meet the pain of regret
• Is this what I even want?
• Who are you in transition?

→ Back to the Blog…

We are taught to NOT feel or honour our grief.

We live in a world that teaches us to shut down and ignore the sadness that lives inside of us. To numb ourselves with food and alcohol so that we don’t feel what is truly going on. I come from a family of “numb-ers” so I know this only too well. 

As a Feminine Embodiment Coach, Somatic Womb Worker, Cyclical Living and Yoga teacher, I have spent many years getting in touch with my body; And recently, more and more I’ve been feeling the importance of grief rituals and the power of employing these practices in our daily lives. 

We hold our grief in our body.

Have you ever heard your yoga teacher say “we hold our issues in our tissues“? This is something I’ve heard many times and have frequently said myself because honestly over the years through working somatically with the trauma in my own body and with clients, I have come to understand that this statement couldn’t be more true. 

We hold our memories, our sadness, our grievances, our grief… all within the cellular structures of our bodies. It’s like our bodies are an old VHS recorder constantly in record mode and our tissues are the place of storage. We literally store “our issues in our tissues” and through somatic work we can tap into those recordings.

In his book “Waking The Tiger”, Peter Levine goes into great depth around this topic with reference to the animal kingdom, which is a great read if you want to learn more.

Ready to work with the GRIEF held in your body?

Join us for our upcoming Grief Ceremony:

Why grief rituals and practices are so important.

Grief rituals are an essential part of many indigenous cultures. Many parts of Africa practice grief rituals on a regular basis but it is not something we see or are even aware of the west. It wasn’t something I was introduced to a couple of years ago when one of my teachers, Tami Lynn Kent, the author of ‘Wild Feminine’ and founder of Holistic Pelvic Care™️, spoke about it in her books and later in the courses that I took with her. 

From Tami, I learned how to work with the grief we hold in our womb space and how to release it. This is a deeply powerful and essential practice for us women because we hold so much of our grief in our pelvic bowls. Our uterine energy by its very nature draws energy in and holds it there until we consciously release it.

When not released, our held grief can create all kinds of pain, stagnation, sadness, heaviness and other problems in the body further emphasising the need for and the importance of grief rituals and grief releasing practices.

Yesterday evening while on a live call for the “Maiden To Mother” teacher training program I am currently participating in, I was reminded again about how our connective tissue and our cellular memory within that connective tissue also stores this grief and these layers of unacknowledged sadness… again “our issues in our tissues’. 

Somatic work is the missing piece in our healing journey.

On the call, one of our Maiden To Mother teacher trainers invited us into a grief ritual. It was an embodiment practice, inviting us to breathe and move our bodies with the intention of feeling the grief we are holding in our bodies. 

Being with the felt senses of the body is the very essence of what somatic work is. Using breath and movement to tap into the unconscious issues that are alive and present within our tissues. This is quite often the missing piece to traditional “talk therapy” which keeps us in our heads and in the “story” rather than tapping into the felt senses of the body and accessing our powerful body wisdom. The body doesn’t lie, you see which is what makes it more powerful than traditional talk therapy.

Through my work as a somatic, trauma informed embodiment coach and womb healer and my own personal practices, I have found that the gateway to the body does indeed start with the mind. The difference is however, we don’t stay there!

We use the story or thought related to the story to tap into the emotion behind it. Once we have the emotion, we can access our somatic, felt senses related to that thought (or story or person or event) within the body. This is the key. This is the entrance way into the body (the soma) which is powerfully effective for healing.

Accessing the grief in the body.

Even though we were not guided there by the teacher leading this grief ritual, I knew from experience that to effectively start this grief releasing practice, I needed a thought to awaken the felt sense of the grief within my body.

This was easy as I had lost a beloved pet 7 months before and the pain of his loss was still very present within me. Picturing my boy, I felt the sting of grief and sadness arise in my body. I started to feel sore and tight all around my neck and shoulders. I began to hug myself as though hugging a child and to massage this tension I was feeling while tears started rolling from my eyes. 

I reached my arms behind my back and began massaging the knots that presented themselves around my shoulders and neck. As I did this, different thoughts started to roll over my mind, all things I felt sad about and that I wanted to let go or stop doing. Feeling disliked by others. Not having yet achieved what I wanted with my business. Judgements about my body. Not being able to just stop and rest fully, always being busy. “Wow…”I thought… “Every knot in my back tells a story”. 

Side note: As I reflect on this now, I see so clearly that these were all wounded “Maiden” thoughts, unconscious deeper layers to this Maiden to Mother work. Thoughts that were present beneath the surface of my skin waiting to be felt, heard, met.

This grief ritual practice is similar in many ways to my own practice – MOTHER – which you can access for free below.

“Body, please show me more”

Grabbing my journal and my pen. I asked “Body, please show me more” I continued to hug and massage and began moving my body “What else is here? What sadness are you holding?” I asked.

Tears still streaming down my face, the sadness bubbled up one by one. 

• Sadness to not have free time.
• Sadness for being so busy all the time with work, training, coaching.
• Sad for the seriousness of the day.
• Sad for not spending more time with my husband, family, friends.
• Sad for being an absent friend. 
• Sad for every knot of tension in my body.
• Sad that I’m numbing something and I’m not sure what.
• Sad that I am trying to prove something and I don’t know what.
• Proving that I am worthy to do this work.
• Sad to be a patriarchal perfectionist who doesnt feel good enough to do this work.
• Sad for being sad.
• Sad that I don’t have a stable life. 
• Sad for my sister who passed without fully living hers.
• Sad for my mother and what she went through.
• Sad for my baby boy who is gone.
• Sad for my baby girl all alone.

So much sadness that had been bubbling beneath the surface without me even realising it. So much sadness wanting to be felt and heard and released. 

Our sadness and our grief are so intertwined. We hold it in our bodies. Unconsciously. And the heaviness weighs us down unconsciously. These issues in our tissues are there unconsciously.

I hadn’t acknowledged any of these sadnesses until now. I hadn’t given voice or word or thought to their presence but acknowledging them felt good. Massaging out the knots felt good. Crying out the pain felt good. I felt tender after but I knew many things within me had moved. 

No sugary snacks or alcohol necessary.

I slept like a baby after that session. I didn’t need to eat any sugary snacks or drink any alcohol. No numbing or dumbing anything that I wasn’t aware of or giving consciousness to. 

I felt how much had moved in me through the light of consciousness and somatic movement. I had allowed it out and in doing so I had released myself of some of the heaviness and weight of my pain. It felt freeing and powerful and further cemented (for me personally) the importance of taking time for these grief rituals and practices.

We have been so programmed to hold it all in, to numb and dumb ourselves rather than fully feeling the depths of our pain and acknowledging the sadness we hold. Yet it is within the feeling of it that we can bring the light of conscious awareness and access true liberation.

If you are ready to release some of the heavy load of the grief and sadness you are holding and you would love to be supported by a somatic, trauma informed coach and healer, this is the work I am doing with clients in my workshops and my 1-1 Somatic Womb Work session, to discover more see the link below.

Ready to work with the GRIEF held in your body?

Join us for our upcoming Grief Ceremony:

Prefer more personal 1-1 care? Then…

To your deepest release,

Much love,

We are NOT taught to feel or honour our grief.

We live in a world that teaches us to shut down and ignore the sadness that lives inside of us. To numb ourselves with food and alcohol so that we don’t feel what is truly going on. I come from a family of “numb-ers” so I know this only too well. 

As a Feminine Embodiment Coach, Somatic Womb Healer, Cyclical Living and Yoga teacher, I have spent many years getting in touch with my body; And recently, more and more I’ve been feeling the importance of grief rituals and the power of employing these practices in our daily lives. 

We hold our GRIEF in our body.

Have you ever heard your yoga teacher say “we hold our issues in our tissues“? This is something I’ve heard many times and have frequently said myself and through working somatically with the trauma in my own body and with my clients bodies, I have come to understand that this statement couldn’t be more true. 

We hold our memories, our sadness, our grievances, our grief… all within the cellular structures of our bodies. It’s like our bodies are an old VHS recorder constantly in record mode and our tissues are the place of storage. We literally store “our issues in our tissues” and through somatic work we can tap into those recordings.

In his book “Waking The Tiger”, Peter Levine goes into great depth around this topic with reference to the animal kingdom, which is a great read if you want to learn more.

Ready to work with the GRIEF held in your body? Join us Sunday Nov 23rd:

This is why GRIEF rituals & practices are so important.

Grief rituals are an essential part of many indigenous cultures. Many parts of Africa practice grief rituals on a regular basis but it is not something we see or are even aware of the west.

I was first introduced to Grief Rituals a couple of years ago when one of my teachers, Tami Lynn Kent, founder of Holistic Pelvic Care™️ and the author of ‘Wild Feminine’, spoke about it in her books and later in the courses that I took with her.

From Tami, I learned how to work with the grief we hold in our womb space and how to release it, something I also support my clients with in Somatic Womb Work. Releasing held grief is a deeply powerful and essential practice for us women because we hold so much of our grief in our pelvic bowls.

Our uterine energy by its very nature draws energy in and holds it there until we consciously release it. When not released, our held grief can create all kinds of pain, stagnation, sadness, heaviness and other problems in the body further emphasising the need for and the importance of grief rituals and grief releasing practices.

Yesterday while on a call for the Rites of Passage teacher training program I am moving through, I was reminded again about how our connective tissue and our cellular memory within that connective tissue stores this grief and these layers of unacknowledged sadness… again “our issues in our tissues’. 

Somatic work is the missing piece in your healing journey.

On the call, we were invited into a grief ritual. It was an embodiment practice, inviting us to breathe and move our bodies with the intention of feeling the grief we are holding in our bodies, very similarly to how I support my clients to release their held grief.

Being with the felt senses of the body is the very essence of what somatic work is. Using breath and movement to tap into the unconscious issues that are alive and present within our tissues.

This is quite often the missing piece to traditional “talk therapy” which keeps us in our heads and in the “story” rather than tapping into the felt senses of the body and accessing our powerful body wisdom.

The body doesn’t lie which is what makes it more powerful than traditional talk therapy.

Through my work as a Somatic womb healer and my own personal practices, I have found that the gateway to the body does indeed start with the mind. The difference is however, we don’t stay there!

We use the story or thought related to the story to tap into the emotion behind it.

Once we have the emotion, we can access our somatic, felt senses related to that thought (or story or person or event) within the body. This is the key.

This is the entrance way into the body (the soma) which is powerfully effective for healing.

Accessing the grief in the body.

Dropping into the grief ritual for myself I knew that I needed a “thought” to awaken the felt sense of the grief within my body. I had lost a beloved dog 7 months before and the pain of his loss was still very present within me so I was able to bring this to mind as the key to getting into my body.

Picturing my boy, I felt the sting of grief and sadness arise in my body. I started to feel sore and tight all around my neck and shoulders. Beginning to work with the body (as we do in somatic, embodiment work) I began to hug myself as though hugging a child and to massage this tension I was feeling while tears started rolling from my eyes. 

I reached my arms behind my back and began massaging the knots that presented themselves around my shoulders and neck.

As I did this, different thoughts started to roll over my mind, all things I felt sad about and that I wanted to let go or stop doing. Feeling disliked by others. Set backs in my business with my business. Judgements about my body. Not being able to just stop and rest fully, always being busy. “Wow…”I thought… “Every knot in my back tells a story”. 

Side note: As I reflect on this now, I see so clearly that these were all wounded “Maiden” thoughts, unconscious deeper layers to this “Maiden to Mother” rites of passage work. Thoughts that were present beneath the surface of my skin waiting to be felt, heard, met.

This grief ritual practice is similar in many ways to my own practice – MOTHER – which you can access for free below.

“Body, please show me more”

Grabbing my journal and my pen. I asked “Body, please show me more”

I continued to hug and massage and began moving my body “What else is here? What sadness are you holding?” I asked. Tears still streaming down my face, the sadness bubbled up one by one. 

• Sadness to not have free time.
• Sadness for being so busy all the time with work, training, coaching.
• Sad for the seriousness of the day.
• Sad for not spending more time with my husband, family, friends.
• Sad for being an absent friend. 
• Sad for every knot of tension in my body.
• Sad that I’m numbing something and I’m not sure what.
• Sad that I am trying to prove something and I don’t know what.
• Proving that I am worthy to do this work.
• Sad to be a patriarchal perfectionist who doesnt feel good enough to do this work.
• Sad for being sad.
• Sad that I don’t have a stable life. 
• Sad for my sister who passed without fully living hers.
• Sad for my mother and what she went through.
• Sad for my baby boy who is gone.
• Sad for my baby girl all alone.

So much sadness that had been bubbling beneath the surface without me even realising it. So much sadness wanting to be felt and heard and released. 

Our sadness and our grief are so intertwined. We hold it in our bodies. Unconsciously. And the heaviness weighs us down unconsciously. These issues in our tissues are there unconsciously.

I hadn’t acknowledged any of these sadnesses until now. I hadn’t given voice or word or thought to their presence but acknowledging them felt good. Massaging out the knots felt good. Crying out the pain felt good. I felt tender after but I knew many things within me had moved. 

No sugary snacks or alcohol necessary.

I slept like a baby after that session. I didn’t need to eat any sugary snacks or drink any alcohol. No numbing or dumbing anything that I wasn’t aware of or giving consciousness to. 

I felt how much had moved in me through the light of consciousness and somatic movement. I had allowed it out and in doing so I had released myself of some of the heaviness and weight of my pain. It felt freeing and powerful, further cementing the importance of taking the time to practice releasing our held grief through ritual or 1-1 support.

We have been so programmed to hold it all in, to numb and dumb ourselves rather than fully feeling the depths of our pain and acknowledging the sadness we hold.

Yet it is within the feeling of it that we can bring the light of conscious awareness and access true liberation.

If you are ready to release some of the heavy load Join Sunday 23rd November 2025:

Prefer 1-1 Care? Then…

Much love,

FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST

What to read next:

• Lovingly meet the pain of regret
• Is this what I even want?
• Who are you in transition?

→ Back to the Blog…

Transitions are an inevitable part of life.

Transitions are an inevitable, unavoidable and often challenging part of life and learning to navigate them easefully is one of life’s greatest accomplishments. Though it may not often seem like it, we humans and especially us women, are constantly moving through transitions. These transitions are often unacknowledged and rarely honoured and although they can be physically and emotionally intense for us, they can also be powerful turning points worthy of our acknowledgement and support.

The effect of transitions on the human body.

One of the classic transitions we move through is the change of seasons. Right now, here in the northern hemisphere, we just passed through an equinox which marks the transition from winter into spring. A huge transition in our annual calendar as mother earth and all who inhabit her shift from the most yin-ward time of year, Winter, the time of the year connected with rest and restoration to the more outward, yang season of Spring that heralds new life, new birth and the re-emerging into the world of many a plant, animal and human. 

Although often unacknowledged, this seasonal transition can have a powerful effect on the human body. The shifting energies can cause fatigue, irritability, lowered immune system causing susceptibility to colds and flus etc. You may have noticed this yourself? Our bodies which are deeply impacted by our earth, feel the turbulence of the transitions, and depending on your fondness towards one season or another there can follow an inevitable grief as we let go of what has passed and shift into the next phase of the cycle. 

Acknowleging our grief during these transitions.

Grief is another transitionatory process that is rarely acknowledged or honoured among our “civilised” cultures. Unacknowledged grief lives on in our female bodies and can add weight to our energetic capacity and cloud our clarity, our joy and our creativity. In addition, we as women not only hold our own grief but we also hold the grief of our male partners, family and community. This is how our uterine energy works and why so often, one of the first things I do with the women I work with is to clear their pelvic bowl of the grief that is weighing them down, you can find out more about this work here. 

We women experience constant transitions in their hormonal cycle.

As well as experiencing the change in the outer seasons of our planet, we women also experience constant transitions in our inner seasons with our ever changing hormonal and fertility cycles. Many refer to this as the menstrual cycle but as a woman who doesn’t bleed yet still feels these monthly cycles so fully, I prefer to call this our “hormonal cycle”. 

Have you have noticed these seasonal changes with your hormonal cycle? As your hormones shift gear they can feel just like the outer seasons of our planet, Winter (days 1-6), Spring (days 7-13) Summer (Days 14-20) Autumn (Days 21-28+) and if course the transitions between these seasons, called the crossover days. Learn more about this access my Cyclical Living Starter Kit here.

Transitions cause emotional turbulence.

The energy of these changing inner seasons can feel as destabilising and turbulent as the shift in the outer seasons. These “crossover days”, as I call them, can cause emotional turbulence in the form of your inner critic or your critical inner maiden and physical turbulence such as lower energy levels, a desire to eat more, sleep more and general apathy, especially when you are premenstrual.

Emotional turbulence calls for self compassion, something we women often struggle with. If you need support to find self compassion during an attack of your inner critic then access my favourite practice Mother here.

I’ve personally noticed a deep susceptibility during my changing seasons and have discovered that I need to be more mindful on these days. Just knowing this about myself offers me tremendous support in challenging times. 

The transition into perimenopause.

I am also personally experiencing another of life’s great transitions, the shifting of my fertility cycle as I move toward the autumn of perimenopause. Perimenopause or “The quickening” as Alexandra Pope and Sjanie Wurlitzer call it in their menstruality teachings, is a big transition for women that we are for the most part not taught about or emotionally or physically prepared for. Something I endeavour to change with my work. 

The journey into perimenopause can for many women bring to the forefront another hugely unacknowledged transition that all women should be held and supported through and to  which is our rites of passage journey into maturity, the archetypal journey from Maiden to Mother and Queen. It was shocking to wake up at 40 and realise that I was still a child trapped in a woman’s body struggling to cope with life but this was the doorway for me into this work and toward healing this important transition for both myself and the women I work with.

The wisdom of Traditional Chinese Medicine during transitions.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, they say that when moving through times of transition we need to work with the earth element. There are 5 elements in TCM, earth, water, wood, fire and metal, each connected to a season except earth which is connected to the transitions between seasons, the equinoxes and the solstices. 

When I discovered this I was already a few years into this journey to understand these transitions we move through in life and how vulnerable we are at these times. I absolutely love that this ancient medical system gives these moments of change their own element, fully recognising the powerful importance of these transitions.

Steadying ourselves during transtions.

By their very nature, transitions can be turbulent and unsettling. The chinese say that during these times, we need to lean into the support of the earth element to ground and steady us during often very unsteadying times. This can be done in many ways by tonifying the stomach and spleen meridians. 

I find this fascinating as the stomach and spleen are directly related to digestion and how many people either reach for or reject food when they move through transition, maybe you have experienced this too? Comfort eating or a loss of appetite are common responses to stress and there is sometimes nothing more stressful than the turbulence of transition. Plus when consumed with intention food can be a very grounding force for turbulent times and amazing medicine. 

Using practice to support these transitions

In my yoga classes, I often speak about how we can lean into the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine as we move through life cycles and transitions and I mould the practices to tap into the support of the elements for the seasons we are in. Whether in a passive yin class that tonifies the earth element or in a dynamic vinyasa class that focuses on rooting down and finding balance, through movement and held postures we learn to support and steady ourselves through transition. Powerful tools to lean into changing times. 

As a coach, healer and teacher supporting Soulful women through life and business transitions I draw on all of the tools and knowledge I have gathered through my journey to support you to find ease and grace in these life changes. 

To work with me get in touch via the button below and lets chat about how I can support you.

Transitions are an inevitable part of life.

Transitions are an inevitable, unavoidable and often challenging part of life and learning to navigate them easefully is one of life’s greatest accomplishments. Though it may not often seem like it, we humans and especially us women, are constantly moving through transitions. These transitions are often unacknowledged and rarely honoured and although they can be physically and emotionally intense for us, they can also be powerful turning points worthy of our acknowledgement and support.

The effect of transitions on the human body.

One of the classic transitions we move through is the change of seasons. Right now, here in the northern hemisphere, we just passed through an equinox which marks the transition from winter into spring. A huge transition in our annual calendar as mother earth and all who inhabit her shift from the most yin-ward time of year, Winter, the time of the year connected with rest and restoration to the more outward, yang season of Spring that heralds new life, new birth and the re-emerging into the world of many a plant, animal and human. 

Although often unacknowledged, this seasonal transition can have a powerful effect on the human body. The shifting energies can cause fatigue, irritability, lowered immune system causing susceptibility to colds and flus etc. You may have noticed this yourself? Our bodies which are deeply impacted by our earth, feel the turbulence of the transitions, and depending on your fondness towards one season or another there can follow an inevitable grief as we let go of what has passed and shift into the next phase of the cycle. 

Acknowleging our grief during these transitions.

Grief is another transitionatory process that is rarely acknowledged or honoured among our “civilised” cultures. Unacknowledged grief lives on in our female bodies and can add weight to our energetic capacity and cloud our clarity, our joy and our creativity. In addition, we as women not only hold our own grief but we also hold the grief of our male partners, family and community. This is how our uterine energy works and why so often, one of the first things I do with the women I work with is to clear their pelvic bowl of the grief that is weighing them down, you can find out more about this work here. 

Women experience constant transitions in their hormonal cycle.

As well as experiencing the change in the outer seasons of our planet, we women also experience constant transitions in our inner seasons with our ever changing hormonal and fertility cycles. Many refer to this as the menstrual cycle but as a woman who doesn’t bleed yet still feels these monthly cycles so fully, I prefer to call this our “hormonal cycle”. 

Have you have noticed these seasonal changes with your hormonal cycle? As your hormones shift gear they can feel just like the outer seasons of our planet, Winter (days 1-6), Spring (days 7-13) Summer (Days 14-20) Autumn (Days 21-28+) and if course the transitions between these seasons, called the crossover days. Learn more about this access my Cyclical Woman Masterclass and Cyclical Living Starter Kit here.

Transitions cause emotional turbulence.

The energy of these changing inner seasons can feel as destabilising and turbulent as the shift in the outer seasons. These “crossover days”, as I call them, can cause emotional turbulence in the form of your inner critic or your critical inner maiden and physical turbulence such as lower energy levels, a desire to eat more, sleep more and general apathy, especially when you are premenstrual.

Emotional turbulence calls for self compassion, something we women often struggle with. If you need support to find self compassion during an attack of your inner critic then access my favourite practice Mother here.

I’ve personally noticed a deep susceptibility during my changing seasons and have discovered that I need to be more mindful on these days. Just knowing this about myself offers me tremendous support in challenging times. 

The transition into perimenopause.

I am also personally experiencing another of life’s great transitions, the shifting of my fertility cycle as I move toward the autumn of perimenopause. Perimenopause or “The quickening” as Alexandra Pope and Sjanie Wurlitzer call it in their menstruality teachings, is a big transition for women that we are for the most part not taught about or emotionally or physically prepared for. Something I endeavour to change with my work. 

The journey into perimenopause can for many women bring to the forefront another hugely unacknowledged transition that all women should be held and supported through and to  which is our rites of passage journey into maturity, the archetypal journey from Maiden to Mother and Queen. It was shocking to wake up at 40 and realise that I was still a child trapped in a woman’s body struggling to cope with life but this was the doorway for me into this work and toward healing this important transition for both myself and the women I work with.

The wisdom of Traditional Chinese Medicine during transitions.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, they say that when moving through times of transition we need to work with the earth element. There are 5 elements in TCM, earth, water, wood, fire and metal, each connected to a season except earth which is connected to the transitions between seasons, the equinoxes and the solstices. 

When I discovered this I was already a few years into this journey to understand these transitions we move through in life and how vulnerable we are at these times. I absolutely love that this ancient medical system gives these moments of change their own element, fully recognising the powerful importance of these transitions.

Steadying ourselves during transtions.

By their very nature, transitions can be turbulent and unsettling. The chinese say that during these times, we need to lean into the support of the earth element to ground and steady us during often very unsteadying times. This can be done in many ways by tonifying the stomach and spleen meridians. 

I find this fascinating as the stomach and spleen are directly related to digestion and how many people either reach for or reject food when they move through transition, maybe you have experienced this too? Comfort eating or a loss of appetite are common responses to stress and there is sometimes nothing more stressful than the turbulence of transition. Plus when consumed with intention food can be a very grounding force for turbulent times and amazing medicine. 

Using practice to support these transitions

In my yoga classes, I often speak about how we can lean into the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine as we move through life cycles and transitions and I mould the practices to tap into the support of the elements for the seasons we are in. Whether in a passive yin class that tonifies the earth element or in a dynamic vinyasa class that focuses on rooting down and finding balance, through movement and held postures we learn to support and steady ourselves through transition. Powerful tools to lean into changing times. 

As a coach, healer and teacher supporting Soulful women through life and business transitions I draw on all of the tools and knowledge I have gathered through my journey to support you to find ease and grace in these life changes. 

To work with me get in touch via the button below and lets chat about how I can support you.

FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST

What to read next:

• Lovingly meet the pain of regret
• Is this what I even want?
• Who are you in transition?

 Why do we seek external validation?

We were taught to be “good little girls”, to stay quiet and to do as we were told. It was our caregivers and peers who determined how “good” we were and as such our goodness (and our worth) was externally validated by others. 

When that validation was not received as children, we would feel bad or wrong or not good enough. It was only through the words of praise that we would know we were doing well in the world, in life, in school, in sports or other extra curricular activities.

The problem is that now still, as grown adults (grown women) we still find ourselves looking to others to tell us how “good” we are. We still seeking approval outside of ourselves when the truth is, the only validation of our “goodness” should come directly from us — Sourced entirely from within. 

Healing your wounded maiden.

In wounded “Maiden” we seek validation externally but in “Mother” (mature feminine) we learn to validate ourselves.

This is a big part of the journey of feminine embodiment — Healing your wounded maiden — So that she no longer looks outside of herself for the measure of her worth and her goodness. That she instead stands strong in her archetypal “Mother” (Mature Feminine) able to hold her wounded Maiden and validate herself fully from within. 

This has been a big part of my journey. Growing up the youngest of 3 girls, words of praise were for me synonymous with receiving love. I sought words of praise from my parents, teachers and peers as a measure of how well I was doing and how liked or loved I was by those around me.

Through my healing journey I have been confronted with these patterns time and again as life presented me with situations where I could witness how I was still desperately seeking validation from others. Seeking external validation on social media, through my clients, my yoga students, my coaches, my colleagues, my peers and of course still from my family. I found myself at 40 still desperately seeking my worth outside of myself and feeling so deeply the pain of when that was not received.

This is a wounded “Maiden” trait that so many of us women carry. 

The journey of healing. 

My personal healing journey (and the journey of healing for any woman ready to release the need for external validation) has been about recognising the moments when I’m deep in “Maiden” and choosing to instead bring my inner “Mother” online (my rooted, grounded, wise, mature feminine self) to calm and soothe the nervous system of my wounded Maiden and to access the truth and my inner wisdom that I am inherently worthy and good just as I am.