As birth advocates and doulas in training, we've encountered the profound impact self-compassion can have on healing post-birth. In the emotional landscape that follows childbirth, many find themselves grappling with guilt and self-judgment, a narrative all too familiar to ourselves. It's a journey that we're excited to guide you through in the latest module of our course, sharing not just stories but actionable steps toward self-kindness and emotional resilience. We delve into the importance of self-compassion's role in recovery and the transformative power it holds in reclaiming your birth story.
This episode unravels the complex threads of self-blame and guilt that often entangle new parents, and we offer a beacon of hope for anyone feeling lost in the aftermath of birth. Our personal struggles with postpartum challenges imbues our conversation with authenticity and understanding, as we provide insights into overcoming intense self-judgment. We share how our course will guide you through mindfulness techniques and exercises designed to foster a nurturing inner dialogue. Our shared mission is not only to create a safe space for processing and growth but also to arm you with the tools for a journey of empowerment and healing.
And for those eager to continue the path of personal growth, we reveal how to access our anxiety breakthrough journal, 'Reclaim your Calm,' at no cost. Download your copy here!
Introducing the "Reclaiming Your Birth Story: Your Path to Healing and Empowerment" course, led by us, Liz and Natalie – passionate birth advocates and postpartum doulas. As professionals in the field, we bring not only our expertise but also the invaluable gift of firsthand understanding. Join us on a path to healing, recovery, and empowerment as you reclaim your birth story and emerge stronger than ever.
Thank you for being a part of the Golden Hour Birth Podcast community. Your support means the world to us. Stay golden!
As birth advocates and doulas in training, we've encountered the profound impact self-compassion can have on healing post-birth. In the emotional landscape that follows childbirth, many find themselves grappling with guilt and self-judgment, a narrative all too familiar to ourselves. It's a journey that we're excited to guide you through in the latest module of our course, sharing not just stories but actionable steps toward self-kindness and emotional resilience. We delve into the importance of self-compassion's role in recovery and the transformative power it holds in reclaiming your birth story.
This episode unravels the complex threads of self-blame and guilt that often entangle new parents, and we offer a beacon of hope for anyone feeling lost in the aftermath of birth. Our personal struggles with postpartum challenges imbues our conversation with authenticity and understanding, as we provide insights into overcoming intense self-judgment. We share how our course will guide you through mindfulness techniques and exercises designed to foster a nurturing inner dialogue. Our shared mission is not only to create a safe space for processing and growth but also to arm you with the tools for a journey of empowerment and healing.
And for those eager to continue the path of personal growth, we reveal how to access our anxiety breakthrough journal, 'Reclaim your Calm,' at no cost. Download your copy here!
Introducing the "Reclaiming Your Birth Story: Your Path to Healing and Empowerment" course, led by us, Liz and Natalie – passionate birth advocates and postpartum doulas. As professionals in the field, we bring not only our expertise but also the invaluable gift of firsthand understanding. Join us on a path to healing, recovery, and empowerment as you reclaim your birth story and emerge stronger than ever.
Thank you for being a part of the Golden Hour Birth Podcast community. Your support means the world to us. Stay golden!
Welcome to the GoldmauerBIRTH podcast, where we navigate the transformative journey of birth stories, aiming to empower and heal. I am your co-host, liz.
Speaker 2:
And I'm your co-host, natalie. We are passionate birth advocates and we're doulos in training. We're exploring the depths of birth experiences. We're offering insights and guidance and a pathway to reclaiming your narrative.
Speaker 1:
In today's episode we're going to be talking about module two of our course and giving you a little sneak peek, which is about self-compassion as a foundation for healing, and we'll explore self-blame, guilt and we'll talk about the techniques we use in our course for developing self-compassion. And stick around to the end of the episode to hear about our new free journal called Reclaim your Calm. It's an anxiety breakthrough journal, a four-week journal, so stick around and you'll learn how to get that for free. The GoldmauerBIRTH podcast a podcast about real birth stories and creating connections through our shared experiences.
Speaker 2:
Childbirth isn't just about the child. It's about the person who gave birth, their lives, their wisdom and their empowerment. We're Liz and.
Speaker 1:
Natalie, the GoldmauerBIRTH podcast, and we're here to laugh with you, cry with you and hold space for you.
Speaker 2:
Hello, hello, welcome back. Today we're giving you a sneak peek into module two of our upcoming course Re-Limiting your Birth Story.
Speaker 1:
Finding Peace and Healing In module one we talked about acknowledging the emotional impact of your birth experience and exploring its deeper significance. Module two builds on that foundation by focusing on a powerful catalyst for healing self-compassion.
Speaker 2:
After my second birth, I struggled with postpartum rage. It was great, Intense anger and midswing that left me feeling ashamed and out of control. It took me a long time to really understand that this wasn't my fault. My hormones and my birth experience had thrown me into a temporary mental health challenge. Learning self-compassion was key to overcoming the anger, guilt and self-judgment I carried With our training. As dualism, I'm journey and passionate about guiding others to embrace self-compassion as the gateway to true healing.
Speaker 1:
So we have topic one, which is self-compassion's role. So what exactly is self-compassion and why is it so vital for healing? Self-compassion means treating yourself with kindness, care, acceptance, especially when you're suffering or struggling with painful emotions. It's about being a supportive friend to yourself instead of your own worst critic, which that happens to be a lot. When you practice self-compassion, you create inner environment that fosters resilience, emotional awareness and growth.
Speaker 2:
I love that We'll share examples of how to cultivate self-compassion through exercises like speaking kind words to yourself or physically placing your hand over your heart and taking deep breaths, small gestures of tenderness that create safety to feel and process.
Speaker 1:
And then topic two, we'll go into self-blame and guilt. One major obstacle many face on the path to healing is the heavy burden of self-blame and guilt surrounding their birth. Perhaps you've berated yourself for decisions you've made or beaten yourself up over things that felt out of control.
Speaker 2:
So in this module we'll explore how these critical inner voices develop and their roles. Intensifying distress after birth trauma. You'll gain awareness around unhealthy self-blaming thoughts as you begin to release them After.
Speaker 1:
I had my first baby. I desperately wanted to breastfeed but struggled with low supply. No matter what I tried, I became consumed by guilt, anxiety and self-blame over something that was ultimately not even in my control. So, you know, birth experiences, you know, can go awry and they can leave us feeling like failures in so many ways, which manifests in overwhelming self-judgment. And our course unveils secrets to overcoming that, offering a path to self-compassion, recovery and empowerment. And these were things that we, from our own experiences, we've really honed in on what these certain things are.
Speaker 2:
So topic three goes into building self-compassion. So how do we develop self-compassion, especially when negative self-talk is so deeply ingrained in us, especially as women? We'll be introducing powerful mindfulness techniques to build an attitude of loving-kindness toward yourself.
Speaker 1:
From self-compassion meditations to journaling exercises, you'll learn ways to become aware of self-judging thoughts and replace them with compassionate self-talk. Our course also emphasizes seeking support from others, which we do a lot, and prioritizing self-care to create a nurturing environment for processing. By practicing these self-compassion tools regularly, you'll forge an unshakable foundation of resilience for your healing work ahead.
Speaker 2:
So, friends, there you have a taste of your. Module two equips yourself with self-compassion, the profound antidote to the shame, blame and inner criticism that can keep us stuck after birth trauma. When you treat yourself with kindness and understanding, you open the door to a powerful transformation. You'll be able to explore your birth story without harsh judgment and find the self-forgiveness needed to keep moving forward and finding your inner healing.
Speaker 1:
So this work isn't easy and we know that, and we'll be here for every step of the way, and our compassionate community will also be there to support you. So stay tuned for details on enrolling in the full course, which we originally said March, but it's definitely going to be May and it's life.
Speaker 2:
So, if this resonated with you at all, we'd love to hear your reflections and feedback, sending you so much compassion on your healing journeys.
Speaker 1:
Hey guys, real quick I want to tell you about a new journal that we just put out for free. I'm going to try and record this really quick While my kids are playing outside on this beautiful day it is Daylight, savings Day and we'll see how it goes at bedtime. So far everything's a little crazy, so we'll see. We just put out this new resource that we created called Reclaim your Calm. It's a four-week anxiety journal. So this journal is designed for anybody, mostly moms and parents in mind, but anyone's struggling with anxiety, and especially those impacted by a difficult birth experience or postpartum period, like my own.
Speaker 1:
My birth stories were pretty challenging, just filled with different types of complications, like my retained placenta and then postpartum feeding issues and things like that. You know, natalie, we've talked about our different breastfeeding issues and postpartum anxiety and just different things. So we just know that a lot of moms really feel alone in processing all of this. So we really truly want to help as many people as we can. So we kind of put our heads together and crafted this four-week journal program. So it's kind of a roadmap to understanding your unique relationship with anxiety, because it obviously doesn't manifest in the same way for everybody. Some people it's intrusive thoughts, some people it's worrying If your kid is not eating enough, sleeping enough. For some it's safe sleep, for others it's let's. I can only sleep when I'm co-sleeping and it's just you know. It's a lot for us to deal with and there's not many people we can talk to about it that are it's just you know kind of judgment-free. Oh, I can hear my kids coming.
Speaker 1:
So first, the journal starts by helping you identify common triggers, anxiety triggers, and then pair them with coping mechanisms like mindfulness exercises, cbt techniques and I'm going to pause for a second while my kids are running. I'm back, my kids are down for quiet time now goes through some different CBT techniques and then guides you through kind of navigating the emotional landscape, reframing negative thought patterns which is a big one for me and kind of reconnecting with your body's wisdom and tuition. So each week focuses on a different transformative theme through different prompts, affirmations and evident-based exercises. For example, in the Thought Patterns Week, you'll explore cognitive distortions and learn CBT strategies like cognitive restructuring to challenge unhelpful thinking. So the journal, it's more than just practices. It also helps get through our journeys of our birth experiences and postpartum anxiety.
Speaker 1:
So we really just want you to know that you're not alone in this experience, and that's really what's at the core of why we've created this journal. We know through the podcast that mothers and kind of all parents feel isolated and their anxiety and difficulty processing our birth experiences, and our mission is to provide you with compassionate space to explore your emotions, rewrite narratives and ultimately reclaim your birth story. So that's the bigger picture. This journal kind of definitely feeds into our upcoming course. So that's what this journal is really about just being one step towards reclaiming the entire kind of existence of your birth story and motherhood, on your own terms.
Speaker 1:
So this journal it's not really it is a standalone tool, but it also will be a free bonus that will be included in our course, because we believe that journaling and self-work is kind of foundational for processing birth. You'll find that when our course comes out, there's a lot of journaling within that as well. So you can grab the journal now the link will be in the show notes or you can wait to receive it as part of the bigger course later. But we can't wait for you to experience your breakthroughs that are waiting for you in this journal because the truth is, you can embrace your birth story while still acknowledging the difficulties. You can feel empowered while still being anxious at times. These two forces can coexist and that's what we hope this journal will help unveil for you A deeper understanding and compassionate reframing of yourself as a parent, and a chance to shed your limiting beliefs and to reclaim the calm and confidence you deserve. So, yeah, if you're struggling with anxiety, from wherever it stems from from birth, post-bardom, before that just know that you don't have to be alone, and this journal and us in this podcast, we are here to help you take that first step towards greater healing and self-acceptance. So you can download it now for free the link will be in the show notes and then stay tuned for details on enrolling and the full Reclaim your Birth Story course coming soon.
Speaker 1:
Thank you, see you next episode and we'll be back next week with another birth story. See you then. Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Golden Hour Birth Podcast. We hope you've enjoyed our discussion and found it insightful and beneficial. Remember, the Golden Hour Birth Podcast is made possible by the support of listeners like you.
Speaker 1:
If you appreciate the content we bring you each week, consider leaving us a review on your favorite podcast platform or sharing the show with your friends and family. Your support helps us reach more people and continue creating valuable episodes. If you have any questions, suggestions or topics you'd like us to cover in future episodes, we'd love to hear from you. You can reach us on our website, wwwgoldhourbirthpodcast, or connect with us on social media. We value your feedback and want to make sure that we're delivering the content you want to hear. Before we sign off, we'd like to express our gratitude to our incredible guests who joined us today. We are honored that they trust us enough to be so open and vulnerable. We're grateful for their time and willingness to share their stories with us.
Speaker 1:
If you're interested in taking the conversation further with us, join us on our Facebook group, the Golden Hour Birth Circle. We'll be back next week with another exciting episode, so be sure to tune in. Until then, stay golden and remember to take care of yourself. We'll catch you on the next episode of the Golden Hour Birth Podcast. Bye.