The Mindful Moon Podcast

As a Birth Doula, so much of what I see in the world makes me think of how it relates to birth and its significance in our lives. Supporting my Mom through her cancer diagnosis all the way through to her death was no different. Birth and Death are similar on so many levels. There are parallels in it all. My whole perspective changed on death when I realized this and also when I saw what a peaceful, empowered, educated, fully supported death could look like. Birth & death are two of the most transformative experiences we will have in this life. To be able to have the honor to guide others through these sacred transitions is one of the greatest honors of my life. In this episode, I share a little on my experience with both birth & death and how it is influencing the way I will do my work from now on. Honestly, this episode is fire! It's my favorite that I've recorded so far. The day this episode is released is also my Mom's 60th birthday. This will be our first birthday without her here on Earth. So many mixed feelings. Gratitude for the time we shared and grief for the loss of so many current and future life moments. In her honor, we have decided to set up a donation link to The Salgi Esophagael Cancer Research Foundation. They are doing such important work in the world. If you feel called to and are able to, we would appreciate your support so much. To learn more about esophagael cancer awareness and research, I encourage you to go to their website. Awareness and early detection can save lives. Happy Birthday, Mom. You are so very loved and will always be missed. To learn more about esophagael cancer go here: https://salgi.org/mission/ To donate in honor of our beautiful Mom directly to the Salgi Esophagael Cancer Research Foundation, you can go here: https://www.facebook.com/donate/857933591997521/1563937784050546/?comment_id=457407356498491

My mom left behind so much wisdom for us. One of the most profound lessons I'm learning and trying really hard to practice is to HAVE MORE FUN! Basically my entire life I have been so tightly wound and anxious that often times I forget to let go and have fun. My mom on the other hand was always the "fun mom", life of the party, live life to the absolute fullest kind of mom. Even after she was diagnosed with cancer. Even on her darkest days, she brought the light and reminded us to laugh. I miss that so much about her. In her honor and in order to really LIVE my life I'm learning to make space for fun. Most days that means I am also carrying grief right alongside it. The duality that shows up over and over again in my life. I can hold pain, overwhelm, anxiety, sadness, fear and grief AND I can make space for joy, adventure, laughter, fun, excitement, and play at the same time. I hope you have FUN listening to this episode ;) I would love it if you shared how you integrate fun into your life. DM me over on IG @mindfulmoonbirth. I love you, friend. Thank you for being here!

I bet you've heard me use the phrase "Sacred Space Holder" a bunch by now. But, what do I mean? In this episode, I share what it means to me to be a Sacred Space Holder. The basic definition for holding space is to be present for someone without judgement. You know I tend to go a little deeper with things. Since losing my mom, my idea of how sacred so many things in life (and death) are has grown so much. As a Doula, I have had the privilege of holding space as new life enters the world and with my mom as she left it. I have walked with her through the most intense journey fighting an aggressive form of cancer as a space holder for her. And, I hold space for my kids each and every day. I believe as parents we are holding sacred space. To let these new little humans explore what it means to be themselves and navigate this world. This life is short and sacred. All of it. The big transitions in life, birth, death, illness, parenthood, divorce, addiction, relationships, healing, etc. As Doulas, healers, parents, teachers, partners, caregivers, friends, we are Sacred Space Holders and it all matters. I'm excited to share my thoughts on this and hope it serves you on your journey. Thank you so much for being here. I love you. You can also find me over on IG @mindfulmoonbirth

Today's episode is a really special one. My best friend, soulmate and literally the coolest person I know, Chelsea of @soul.aglow.medicine.show is joining me and things get w e i r d. As usual for us, we go really deep. We talk spiritual awakening, soul retrieval, spirit guides, a beautiful moment we shared with my mom as she was transitioning, soul work, and LOTS more. I'm honored to introduce her to you and let her share about her important, life changing, healing work. This episode is a LONG one, but so worth it! I recommend talking it with you for a long walk in nature, a bath with the door locked and lights out, while making dinner, picking the kids up for school or break it up over a few days! Get a peek into our weird world and also learn how Chelsea & I will be working together in the near future and how we're planning on taking you along for the ride! I hope you love this episode as much as we loved making it :) Chelsea will guest teaching in the upcoming Sacred Space Holders Virtual Retreat. Registration closes 10/7! Learn more here: Sacred Space Holders Virtual Retreat Learn more about Chelsea here: Meet Chelsea Visit her website here: Chelsea's Website

Before I had my son, I wouldn't have described myself as a religious or spiritual person at all. I stayed pretty far away from all of that. After having him and hitting a rock bottom where I felt completely hopeless, alone, and lost, I one day found Gabby Bernstein and my understanding of faith and spirituality changed. My spirituality grew over the years and my practices became more consistent. Having a faith that really resonated with me made all the difference when we found ourselves facing the scariest times of our lives last year when my Mom was diagnosed with cancer. One of the greatest lessons I learned after losing my mom was how important it was to lean on my faith. When things look scary or life is extra hard or you or someone you know is facing an overwhelming health diagnosis, we tend to lose a little bit (or a lot) of our faith. Whether a particular religion resonates with you or you are a spiritual being at all, surrendering to your faith in that spirituality is everything. When we do we begin to realize how deeply supported, guided and held we really are. When we are open to our faith, we are open to receiving. That's where the miracles happen. It is in that space we begin to notice the signs that no matter what happens, we have a spiritual support team on our side. I still have had so many times when I've become distant from my faith. That's when I feel most alone. I believe we each have a spirit team- guides to show us the way and hold us. Our guides are always there wanting to help. We have to initiate. In my experience they will not step in without permission. Having faith to lean on doesn't mean that everything will always go our way or bad things will never happen. It means that no matter what life brings we are being supported. After my mom passed away I feel like my safety and grounding was lost. She was my safe space. I choose to lean on my faith and my spirit guides. I feel a deeper connection to my guides. I know that my mom is part of my spiritual team now and it's beautiful. I hope this episode serves you. I love you. You can also find me over on IG @mindfulmoonbirth

Our entire world was rocked when we heard the words, "It's cancer". For my Mom, life as she knew it was completely flipped upside down. Not only was she facing the unknown, she also had so many of life's simple pleasures taken from her because of her particular journey. As a family our relationships and roles changed. Things in our lives were shifted so that we could show up for the times that mattered most. Everything we knew was now different. In ONE moment our entire lives changed. That happened when we lost her too. She took her last breath and now until forever my world will never be the same. Life is so short and unpredictable. Having lived it firsthand, my perspective is different now. I'm here to really LIVE. To enjoy all the things I used to take for granted and appreciate and be present with it all. The good, the difficult and all that's in between. I hope this episode supports you and helps remind you of how very precious your life is. TRIGGER WARNING- To give perspective and a back story to points made in this episode I share some of the story of my Mom's diagnosis and other challenges she faced because of it. If you're not in a place to hear that, I respect and honor that and will meet you in another episode. I love you, friend You can also find me on Instagram @mindfulmoonbirth

Whether you're a caregiver, parent, doula, friend, healer, business owner, relationship haver or really a human having interactions with other humans, I believe it's so important for you to be mindful of the energy you're bringing into the space. In this episode I bring a few examples of how I personally ground myself before caring for and interacting with my people. I hope this episode brings you some insight and inspires you to care for you so that you may best care for those around you too. Thank you for being here! You can connect more with me @mindfulmoonbirth on IG!

Welcome Back The Empowered Plus Size Mama Podcast! This week we start a 3 week series on how to have your most Empowered Plus Size Birth. Part 1 discusses the importance of Creating an Intentional Birth Plan. Birth plans sometimes have a bad reputation, but I couldn't love them more. Creating preferences for your birth is more about learning your options and finding the confidence to use your voice. Having a birth plan also allows for open communication with your birth team and instills the power of informed decision making. We are never given all our options up front and given the right to choose what fits our needs best. Birth is not a one size fits all experience, so when we create a birth plan intentionally we weigh our options and find what makes most sense for us as individuals. Birth plans are especially important for those of us in larger bodies. Too often we're backed in to a corner and have decisions made FOR us simply based on the size of our body. I see so many pregnant people deemed "high risk" based solely on BMI. Evidence shows that our BMI alone does NOT indicate our health and 100% does not automatically make us high risk. When we begin to learn these things and realize there are better ways to birth our babies and that we are so worthy of being active participants in our stories, we begin to claim our power back. Birth and parenthood should be unique experiences where we are provided with patient centered care. We deserve to be held, heard, seen and fully supported regardless of the size of body we are in. I hope this episode opens your mind to the power of creating your birth preferences with intention. Birth plans are for every BODY. I am available through FREE 30 minute Pregnancy Chats to learn more about what virtual pregnancy, birth and parenthood support looks like. Birth Planning sessions are also available. Follow this link, and I will get with you ASAP to schedule our time to connect! Can't wait! :) Announcement: The Empowered Birth Planning Sessions are now available! This session is a private 90 minute call where I will guide you through making your own customized and intentional birth plan. This session also includes a BONUS 2 weeks of messenger support with me to answer all of your pregnancy, birth and 4th trimester planning questions + other freebies. There are a limited number of spots each month! To apply for your spot, follow the link below. Once you've applied, I'll reach out to schedule a free 30 minute Zoom pregnancy chat to learn how I can best support you and to see if a birth planning session is a good fit for you. I can't wait to connect with you :) See you next week!

Back with another of my birth stories. If you caught Episode 1, I shared the birth of my daughter on that episode. This week my youngest (my son) turns 5 so I'm sharing his birth story. I truly believe that we need to hear more positive birth stories, especially positive plus size birth stories! I am forever grateful that I had the option to give birth in a freestanding birth center with my son. After my first birth in a hospital, I learned so much about pregnancy and birth and the fact that we have OPTIONS and I became a huge birth nerd, which eventually led me to the work I do today as a Doula. After so many red flags with my previous providers, I switched to the birth center half way through this pregnancy and never looked back. I was welcomed with open arms at the birth center and received personalized and supportive care. They looked past my weight and focused on the overall health of myself and my baby and treated me with the respect we all deserve. Much like my daughter's birth, my son's birth changed me and transformed me and made me someone new. It's hard to believe he is now days away from turning 5. Our birth stories matter and they stay with us. If you find yourself unhappy with the way the birth(s) of your baby turned out, I just want to say that it's not your fault. So many birthing people are failed by a flawed system and a broken view of what birth really can be. I share my story and other positive birth stories to give you hope and NEVER to shame anyone who experienced something different. I will never stop sharing birth stories with my community. Every single person that gives birth deserves to feel held, heard, seen and fully supported no matter what. Thanks for being here! See you next week :) If you are pregnant and looking for virtual support from pregnancy to birth and beyond, I'm here for you! I offer FREE 30 minute Pregnancy Chats to learn more about you and find out if we'd be a good fit together. If you are looking for accessible support to have your most empowered pregnancy & birth so you can experience peace & confidence in parenthood, you've come to the right place. Reach out for your free chat by following this link: www.mindfulmamabirthwell.com/contact1

In Episode 3 of The Empowered Plus Size Mama Podcast, I reflect on how this past year has changed my life, as a parent and in my work as a Doula. As we process and look back, there is so much grief and disappointment and pain and loss AND there is gratitude and hope. Our world got flipped upside down in what felt like an instant. We have adapted and shown our resiliency and have become so much more creative and resourceful. When the world stopped for a moment a year ago, I felt anxiety and also peace. I was grateful for a moment to catch my breath and to be with my babies. I was loving my work as in person birth doula, but was also feeling buried. I missed my family. When I could no longer go to in person births, I knew this was a chance to rewrite the way we're able to support birthing and newly postpartum families. The need for support didn't go and way and babies didn't stop being born when the world shut down. I think the need become more necessary than ever. Thanks to my online community, the doula mastermind I joined and my business coach, Nichole Joy, I was able to quickly adapt and bring my support online to not only keep doin the work I love, but support the families that needed it more than ever AND still be home with my family. Virtual Doula work is powerful and necessary and is one way of us changing the game and making an even bigger impact in the ways we do birth. I continue to offer Virtual Birth support and will for a long time to come. I share more on the episode on what working with a virtual doula actually looks like. I think you'll be surprised by how similar it still is to in person support. It's a great, usually more cost effective and more convenient way to still get the support every birthing person and their partner deserves. I am available through FREE 30 minute Pregnancy Chats to learn more about what virtual pregnancy, birth and parenthood support looks like. Follow this link, and I will get with you ASAP to schedule our time to connect! Can't wait! :) Announcement: The Empowered Birth Planning Sessions are now available! This session is a private 90 minute call where I will guide you through making your own customized and intentional birth plan. This session also includes a BONUS 2 weeks of messenger support with me to answer all of your pregnancy, birth and 4th trimester planning questions + other freebies. There are a limited number of spots each month! To apply for your spot, follow the link below. Once you've applied, I'll reach out to schedule a free 30 minute Zoom pregnancy chat to learn how I can best support you and to see if a birth planning session is a good fit for you. I can't wait to connect with you :) Apply here: https://www.mindfulmamabirthwell.com/empowered-birth-plan-session See you next week!

Affirmations are a tool that I use not only with my clients for pregnancy, birth and the 4th trimester, but in my own motherhood. I think they're actually really underrated. There's actual evidence to support the power of affirmations and their ability to help us rewrite negative stories and beliefs that we've been holding onto in our subconscious. Our minds store these beliefs and then are always searching to prove them right, even when they're not. I share more on how affirmations work and how to start creating your own + share a short guided meditation and some of my own pregnancy affirmations with you. I hope this is helpful to you and that if you haven't already, you begin to use affirmations as a tool to have your most empowered life! See you next week! I mentioned that I have FREE printable downloads of my Pregnancy & Birth Affirmations + 2 BONUS guided meditations available for you. You can access those HERE! I hope you enjoy them! Announcement: The Empowered Birth Planning Sessions are now available! This session is a private 90 minute call where I will guide you through making your own customized and intentional birth plan. This session also includes a BONUS 2 weeks of messenger support with me to answer all of your pregnancy, birth and 4th trimester planning questions + other freebies. There are a limited number of spots each month! To apply for your spot, follow the link below. Once you've applied, I'll reach out to schedule a free 30 minute Zoom pregnancy chat to learn how I can best support you and to see if a birth planning session is a good fit for you. I can't wait to connect with you :) Apply here: https://www.mindfulmamabirthwell.com/empowered-birth-plan-session

Welcome to Episode 1 of The Empowered Plus Size Mama Podcast. This episode is my birth story of my first baby. After 5 years of infertility we found ourselves finally pregnant with our sweet baby we had always hoped for. Her birth changed me. Like so many people I know, I had heard all of the negative birth stories and thought birth was something to be feared. There was always the small part of me that held on to hope that I could have a peaceful (maybe unmedicated) birth. I learned quickly that I couldn't share that with others though, because it was mostly met with negativity. Up until this point in my life, I was convinced that my body was broken. It felt like infertility confirmed that for awhile. So, when I was finally pregnant, I thought maybe my body was more capable then I had believed for so many years. I was right. Her birth was healing and redeeming. I saw myself in a completely new light and that's what I want for all birthing people. Since that night 7 years ago, I have wanted to shout it from the rooftops that our bodies are so much more capable than we're led to believe. I wanted the world to know that even larger bodies know how to grow, birth and feed babies. I was fully supported and had never felt so confident in my life. I think it's so important that we hear more positive birth stories, especially plus size ones. I hope my story reminds you of all that you're capable of. I hope it empowers you and allows you to dream of a peaceful, confident and fully supported birth, no matter where or how you will be bringing your baby earthside. This birth was the starting point for the work I do now to support pregnant, birthing and postpartum people was they transition through one of the most vulnerable times if their lives. You can learn more about my support by joining me in my IG community @mindfulmamabirthwell or by scheduling a FREE pregnancy chat at www.mindfulmamabirthwell.com. Thank you so much for being here!