A Nourished Postpartum

The postpartum period spans five years. Throughout this time, we experience massive shifts. We strip all the layers of comfort off our skin, feeling exposed and powerfully vulnerable. It’s a transition space. Here, we hear a call to find stillness while being unsettled, and we launch ourselves on a journey of transformation that is only possible if we surrender to uncertainty.

We enter an unending state of becoming, we ebb and we flow. We find ourselves at the intersection of stories, moving away from the narratives we've told ourselves about who we are, and stepping into new ones that begin to shape who we are becoming. Being in that threshold is where we begin to believe in new beginnings, even if we don’t know what these might consist of.

We can call it Matrescence: the becoming of a mother. Just like in adolescence, our bodies change significantly. Our hormones seek a new way of being through a spiral of drops and surges, our identity shifts, and the way we see ourselves - the way others see us - changes forever.

The early postpartum is very much like wintering, and the more we connect to this season, through appropriate nutrition, movement and habits, the smoother our experience of transformation.

When we look at the behaviour of the natural world during winter, animals and plants, we can recognise what our bodies truly need. It’s a period of seeking stillness, rest, restoration and integration.

Nourish your body with warming foods that will support healing. Think of winter foods like root vegetables, squashes, brassicas. Herbs such as fennel, dandelion, hibiscus and nettle. Spices such as turmeric and cinnamon.

Prioritise moving slowly and rest. Allow the body to feel heavy. Invite the body into realignment and stability. Encourage healing from the inside out.

Practice breath awareness. Seek deep connection with yourself. Be in the discomfort, fully present. Feel your recovering body.

Invite darkness. In the postpartum, this darkness comes into our lives as a big fog of the unknown. Listen to this silence and look at the emptiness. Find the spaces in between. Follow this transition right through, and come out the other side embracing the new.