The Soft Ground
Welcome to The Soft Ground. It’s a blog where you’ll find reflections, practices, and stories that honour the messy, beautiful, and often tender journey of being a mother but firstly a human.
Why Can’t I Just Calm Down After Having A Baby
Why can’t you relax after having a baby? Learn how postpartum nervous system changes, neuroception and childhood imprints can fuel anxiety, and what truly helps.
IVF can be an unspoken trauma, even when it brings a baby
IVF can leave a nervous system imprint that doesn’t disappear once you become a mum. This personal reflection explores powerlessness, grief, medical mistreatment, and the pressure to be “only grateful”, and why so many mothers carry IVF into postpartum in ways that are rarely spoken about.
Three Powerful Somatic Practices to Reduce Overwhelm for New Mums (Backed by Research)
Feeling overwhelmed as a new mum? Here are three research-backed somatic supports that actually fit real life: move what you feel, steep in nature with your baby, and co-regulate with one safe person.
Support Your Nervous System in Early Motherhood
Learn how to support your nervous system during early motherhood with polyvagal-informed practices, glimmer tracking, mindfulness, and nature-based regulation that fits real life.
It’s not you, it’s me (the system owes you a village)
Feeling anxious, flat, angry, or overwhelmed after baby? Explore how postpartum anxiety and depression are often nervous system responses to an under-supported system, and what helps.
A Letter to the Mother Who Feels Disconnected
This letter speaks to mothers who feel disconnected from themselves after pregnancy and early motherhood. It reframes disconnection as a survival-based nervous system response rather than a problem to fix.
An announcement - I have launched a podcast!
I’ve jumped into the world of podcasts! Find out more here
Why “Just Relax” Doesn’t Work When You’re a Mum
Being told to “just relax” can feel frustrating or unreachable for many mothers because stress in motherhood is not a simple state of mind. Research shows that ongoing stress affects the nervous system, emotional regulation, and attention, and is shaped by real demands such as mental load, disrupted sleep, and emotional labour. Relaxation practices can support wellbeing, but lasting ease comes from approaches that honour the body, nervous system, and need for connection over time.
Twin Motherhood and the Nervous System - Why So Many Mums of Multiples Live in Survival Mode
Twin and multiple motherhood places unique and often invisible demands on the nervous system. From pregnancy and birth through to sleep deprivation and constant caregiving, many mums of multiples live in survival mode without understanding why. This compassionate, somatic reflection explores the nervous system impacts of twin motherhood, the hidden grief and loneliness many mums carry, and how coming back to yourself happens slowly through safety, nature, breath and being met.
I Didn’t Realise How Much Motherhood Would Pull Me Out of My Body - A personal reflection
Motherhood can pull us out of our bodies in ways we never expect. From birth trauma and sleep deprivation to constant nervous system activation, many mothers live in survival mode while quietly wondering where they went. This personal, somatic reflection explores how early motherhood disconnects us from ourselves, why this makes sense through a nervous system lens, and how coming back into the body happens slowly, gently and in relationship. A compassionate read for mothers who feel foggy, vigilant, lonely or not quite themselves yet.
When the New Year Doesn’t Mean Much Anymore - An invitation for mothers to turn inward
If the new year feels like just another day of caring, feeding and holding everyone together, you’re not alone. This post is an invitation to step away from pressure and perfection, and instead turn inward with kindness.
When Motherhood Feels Lonely and the Feelings Feel Too Big
Motherhood can feel deeply lonely, even when you are never actually alone. Big emotions like overwhelm, rage, grief, guilt or numbness are not signs that something is wrong with you, but signals from a nervous system under pressure. This article gently normalises the emotional intensity of motherhood and offers a somatic, body-led perspective on how to meet these feelings with kindness rather than fixing. It also introduces a supportive Insight Timer course created for mothers who want simple, grounding practices they can return to in real life.
How to Work With Me - A Simple Guide For Mums
Motherhood places a huge load on the nervous system. This page is a simple guide to the different ways you can work with me, whether you’re seeking private nervous system support, gentle self-paced resources, or a place to begin when you’re not sure what you need yet.
Can AI Replace Human Connection When I’m Struggling?
This blog explores why more mothers are turning to AI tools like ChatGPT for emotional support, and what this reach may be pointing to beneath the surface, including loneliness, shame, and a lack of relational care. While acknowledging the comfort and accessibility AI can offer in moments of overwhelm, this piece gently names the limits of technology when it comes to deep healing. Through a somatic and nervous-system-informed lens, it explains why our deepest wounds are formed in relationship and therefore need to heal in relationship too, highlighting the essential role of embodied presence, co-regulation, and human connection, particularly in motherhood.
“Why do I struggle to implement parenting advice? Shame, silence and the nervous system in motherhood”
So many mothers quietly carry this question, especially when they lose their temper or can’t live up to the “gentle” or “conscious” parenting ideals. This blog explores how shame and silence after hard moments keep your nervous system in survival mode, and how societal pressure, lack of support and old wounds all play a role. Instead of perfection, you’ll be invited into something softer: connection, nervous system awareness, and the courage to tell the truth and repair.
When You Feel Like You Are Failing Your Child
Shame, guilt and judgement can flood in after a messy day with your child, especially when you feel you should know better. This piece explores why your nervous system reacts the way it does, and how somatic, cycle breaking motherhood work can create more space, repair and compassion for both you and your little one.
Millennials & Gen Z, Motherhood, and the Beautiful Burden of Cycle-Breaking
Millennial mums are the first generation widely parenting while healing their own wounds. It is beautiful and heavy work. This blog explores the research on cycle-breaking and offers simple, body-based practices to ease the pressure, so you can choose presence over perfection and grow real connection with your little one.
The Soft Art of Letting Go - (Letting Go of Parenting Pressure and Finding Presence in Motherhood)
A heartfelt reflection on the pressure so many mothers feel to “get it right.” This piece explores how the self-improvement mindset and constant stream of parenting advice can leave our nervous systems overwhelmed and disconnected from our own intuition.
The Somatic Landscape of Breastfeeding and Weaning
Explore what happens in your body during and after breastfeeding from hormonal shifts in oxytocin and prolactin to the emotions of weaning. A gentle, somatic reflection to help mothers understand, normalise, and honour this transition.
Why You Need to Know How Hormones Shape Your Body, Emotions and Relationships
Your hormones shape more than your body, they shape how you feel, relate and care. From the sensitivity of adolescence to the deep bonding of breastfeeding and the inward pull of menopause, each shift changes your emotional landscape.
This is why you need to know. When we understand our hormonal rhythms through a somatic lens, we stop fighting our bodies and begin to listen. And in that listening, we find our way home to ourselves.