The Motherhood Mentor

What if the answer isn't thinking harder? So many women are trying to think their way through emotions, anxiety, overwhelm, conflict, and stress. But what if your body already knows something your mind can't access? In this guided somatic episode, I walk you through a simple body scanning practice designed to help you reconnect with yourself, regulate your nervous system, and come back t...

What if your people-pleasing isn't actually a personality trait? In this powerful conversation, I sit down with somatic therapist and educator Luis Mojica to explore the nervous system roots of fawning, people-pleasing, and codependency in motherhood. We unpack why so many mothers lose connection with themselves after having children, how our kids' emotions can become our emergency, and...

Today's episode is a guided somatic meditation for feeling into and cleaning up boundaries. Please do not listen while driving and be sure you are in a space where it would be safe to be in a meditative state.  Your energy can feel “leaky” long before your mind finds the words for it. We’re slowing everything down with a guided grounding meditation designed to help you notice what’s happening...

The First Boundary Is the Pause Coming back to your body, regulating your nervous system, and learning to respond instead of react. In this episode of the Motherhood Mentor Podcast, we slow boundaries down and bring them back into the body. Because before boundaries become a conversation, a script, or a decision about contact, they often begin with something much smaller: a pause.  We talk about w...

IS your nervous system the reason boundaries feel so hard? Both with your parents and your kids or partner?  Freeze, fawn, people pleasing, emotional labor, and the family roles women never stop carrying. If setting boundaries with your parents feels similar to a toddler meltdown, there’s probably a reason and it’s not because you’re weak, dramatic, or incapable. In this episode of the Motherhood...

  People pleasing, emotionally immature parents, nervous system triggers, and learning to protect your peace without disappearing or cutting others off.  There’s a space many women live in that we need to talk about.  You’re not fully in the relationship anymore… but you can’t fully walk away either. The current relationship isn't working, but a full cut off also doesn't work for you. Yo...

You can love your parents, appreciate what they sacrificed, and still feel deeply impacted by the relationship. In this episode of the Motherhood Mentor Podcast, we talk about the messy middle between full contact and no contact with parents, especially for high-functioning women navigating motherhood, boundaries, guilt, and complicated family dynamics. The internet often makes family boundaries s...

Most advice about boundaries says: “If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a hell no.”  But most of real life doesn't look or feel like that.  In this episode, we talk about why boundaries aren’t actually black and white—and why so many women (especially moms) feel like they’re failing when they try to force clear yes-or-no decisions in complex relationships and decision making.  The truth is… most of...

For many moms, that quiet “I’m fine” isn’t actually fine. It’s a nervous system pattern of holding it all together under bracing and control.  When you’re the one holding everything together - the schedules, the emotions, the invisible labor -your body often learns to stay braced. Literally and figuratively holding your breath.  In this episode, we sit down with Tabatha Debruyn to talk about 9D Br...

You don’t usually see a high-functioning woman fall apart in a dramatic way.  It happens quietly. Subtly. Responsibly.  To the point where everything still looks fine… but inside, something feels off. If you’re still getting everything done but feel numb, foggy, disconnected, or low-key resentful, this isn’t you being ungrateful.  It’s what burnout looks like when your nervous system has been runn...

You’re the strong one. The capable one. The one everyone relies on. You hold the emotional tone of your home, keep things moving, and rarely drop the ball. But underneath it all? You feel braced, tired, and more alone than you want to admit. In this episode, we unpack what “high-functioning” actually looks like for moms—and why being the one who holds everything together often means you’re the lea...

Less screen time, more life.  Join Rebecca and Nina (Balkanina)If you’re arguing about devices more than you want to admit and you feel like tech is shaping your family more than you are, this episode is for you. This conversation is a practical guide for parents and adults who want a calmer, healthier relationship with screens. We talk about why screen limits alone often don’t work, how screen ov...

Welcome to this mini episode where we name the “good discomfort” of growth and why trying to fix it too soon blocks expansion. We share how embodiment, not mindset alone, helps hold paradox—being content and still wanting more—while you move between identities. • naming the spiral of upward growth • why old tools stop working during expansion • the urge to fix versus the need to feel • mindset as...

Do you have a strong-willed, big-feeling, highly sensitive child who feels like “too much”? Parenting the “Spicy” Child: Strong-Willed Kids, Big Feelings, and Connection-Based Discipline Parenting a strong-willed, big-feeling child can feel like living next to a volcano-beautiful, powerful, and unpredictable. We explore what Mary calls the spicy child : kids with high intensity, low adaptability,...

Let's explore how to stay hungry for growth without missing the life you already built. We share practical ways to feel content now while nurturing ambition for your body, marriage, work, and motherhood. • naming the gap obsession and its cost • choosing hungry not starving as a core mindset • celebrating wins you already own and wanting what you already have  • body peace through strength, f...

Forget the sprint. We’re starting the year steady, grounded, and honest about capacity. Instead of chasing a dazzling future self, we look at what’s here now- what worked, what didn’t, and how to build change that outlasts a January dopamine hit. In this episode I share why integrity beats motivation, how to regulate your nervous system in real life, and what it means to show up in the messy middl...

What if survival mode saved your life, and then quietly held you back once you were safe? That's the tension we unpack with coach, veteran, and mother of five Chonda Costin, whose journey from domestic violence recovery to military service to purpose-driven coaching reveals the hidden cost of operating in crisis long after the crisis ends. The story is raw and generous: leaving an abusive mar...

Our bodies have unconscious patterns of responding to perceived threats that happen without conscious control, ranging from simple to complex defensive reactions. • Fight response involves mobilizing energy against a threat with aggressive outbursts, criticism, or controlling behaviors • Flight response means moving away from threats through anxiety, overthinking, or intellectual distancing • Free...

What if the thing sabotaging your communication isn't your words, but your body's stuck survival strategy just trying to keep you safe? We go deep with Enneagram coach Michelle McDonald to explore the instinct layer of enneagram-self-preservation, social, and one-to-one—and how these fast, automatic behavior patterns quietly steer your relationships, leadership, and daily choices. This i...

We guide a short morning practice to center attention, reclaim energy, and choose how to move through the day with grace and clarity. Gratitude, body awareness, and gentle course-correction help build presence without pressure. • orienting to day, time, and season • sensory check-in with the world outside • body scan from head to feet • deep breathing to build calm energy • naming agency, choice,...

We guide a grounded practice to meet your emotions, feel where you end and others begin, and build flexible boundaries that protect your energy while keeping connection possible. Through imagery, breath, and simple prompts, you restore right distance, agency, and choice. • orienting to room, time, age, and body • mapping emotion by location, speed, and color • sensing others’ presence and the spac...

Burnout doesn't have to be the cost of ambition. In this conversation with repeat guest and facilitator Camille Leek, we explore somatic healing and cyclical living for entrepreneurs balancing work and motherhood. Learn how to restore sustainable productivity by aligning with natural cycles- birth, growth, decay, and death-so your nervous system can support big work without collapse. Instead...

We guide a short morning practice to ground your body, soften your breath, and let the earth hold what’s too heavy so you can meet the day with steadiness. The session blends breathwork, body scan, orientation to time and place, and a gentle reminder to carry presence forward. • grounding through feet and seat • slow nose inhales, mouth exhales • releasing past weight and future fear • visualizing...

We guide a slow body scan that builds safety, sensation, and self-trust by orienting to the room, mapping the body from head to toes, and using breath and imagery to settle the nervous system. We close by reorienting eyes open, reclaiming energy, and choosing a pace that fits what comes next. • orienting to safety through sight and context • thanking the planning mind and writing tasks down • scan...

Success once meant strategy, systems, and performance. Now, it means truth, alignment, and peace. This episode with Kristine Munro , founder of Illume Collective , explores what happens when your definition of success evolves-and your old identity can’t keep up. We talk about the loneliness of pivot seasons, the power of honest community, and the nervous-system-level recalibration required to lead...