Embodied Motherhood: Rediscovering Your Body on the Journey of Becoming a Mother
Motherhood transforms us, not only in how we live, but in how we inhabit our bodies. From pre-fertility traumas or early life experiences, to the immense transitions of pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and parenting, our relationship to our body changes immensely. I don’t quite know another experience or transition quite like it! Body image, sensation, identity, and boundaries are all reshaped in ways that can be deeply powerful, and also deeply disorienting.
This is not a small shift. In my view, it is one of the most profound transitions a woman can go through. For some, it brings feelings of connection, expansion, or spiritual awakening. For others, or sometimes at the very same time, it brings loss, disembodiment, pain, grief or the sense that we no longer recognise ourselves.
My story: The weight of fatigue and disconnection
After the conception, pregnancy and birth of my twins, I experienced a kind of exhaustion I hadn’t known was possible. There was stress during the pregnancy of a short cervix threatening a very early arrival (cue anxiety from 20 weeks) and then interventions during birth that took their toll on me physically, psychologically and emotionally, and while I was grateful for the support and safety, I was left feeling completely outside of myself and to put it frankly somewhat unhinged. Like the ground from under my feet had not just shifted but disappeared. It was the fall out of trauma.
My body felt foreign. My energy fluctuated wildly. I was deeply in love with my babies, but I couldn’t quite find the thread back to myself - they way I use to. I wasn’t sleeping. I was anxious and hyper-alert. My breath felt shallow, my body tight, my sense of self distant.
It was in these moments that I began to understand embodiment not as a concept, but as something I longed for. A homecoming that felt out of reach.
The complexity of embodiment in motherhood
Embodiment is often talked about in positive or even idealistic ways. But the truth is, it is layered and personal. There are days we might feel in awe of what our bodies have done, and others when we feel the ache of what has changed, or what we have lost.
The physical and emotional landscape of motherhood is not one-size-fits-all. Research shows that women’s experiences of embodiment in pregnancy and postpartum can vary widely. Some feel more connected to their body than ever before, while others feel distress, disconnection, or even dissociation. These experiences are often shaped by factors like previous trauma, the type of birth experienced, cultural pressures, and the support received afterwards.
A recent study in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth highlights how postpartum women describe their relationship with their bodies as a shifting terrain. Feelings of bodily loss, identity confusion, and a longing to reclaim autonomy are common. Another paper published in Women and Birth explored how embodiment during and after birth can be profoundly shaped by medical intervention and birth trauma, with some women reporting a sense of violation or disconnection from their body’s natural rhythms.
This is not to pathologise the experience, but to normalise it. You are not broken if embodiment feels difficult. You are not alone if you feel disoriented in this new body. You are simply human, living through a threshold.
A gentle path back to yourself
For me, SomaSoul Somatic Therapy, meditation and time in nature became a way to slowly and gently return to myself. I was so relieved to have these already established gateways back to being. Slow and gentle. It wasn’t about fixing anything but about being with what was real. It was creating space for me to exist, feel safe to drop back in and to experience connection that reminded me that there was nothing ‘wrong’ with me - more something ‘wrong’ with how we live in this contemporary patriarchal society.
What I love about somatic therapy experiences is that it invites the body to speak, even when words are not available.
In SomaSoul, we might explore breath, sensation, image, movement, or internal dialogue. These are not performances or techniques. They are invitations to reconnect. In my own healing, SomaSoul gave me space to feel the grief, rage and powerlessness I hadn’t yet processed. It helped me notice where my body was still holding, bracing, or collapsing. And most importantly, it reminded me that my body wasn’t wrong. It was wise. It was trying to survive. And through awareness and real connection, it could begin to soften.
Why this matters
Motherhood does not pause for us to heal. The noise, the fatigue, the emotional labour all continue. But taking small, intentional steps toward your own body can make a world of difference. Because embodiment is not just about how we feel in our body. It shapes how we attune to ourselves, and how we attune to our baby.
When we are disconnected, it can be harder to listen, to respond with presence, to feel into what is needed. But when we slowly begin to feel safe again in our body, we create a more regulated and responsive environment not just for us, but for our little ones too.
Gentle invitations to begin again
Take a few moments to feel your breath each day. Not to change it, just to notice.
Place your hand somewhere on your body and feel the warmth of your own presence.
Let yourself feel whatever is here. If there is tightness, numbness, or nothing at all, that is okay.
You do not have to feel embodied all the time. Sometimes it is your way of coping not to and that’s ok. Just notice it.
Know that you aren’t alone in these feelings or this messy unchartered personal experience. I am with you and know this feeling too.
Something that helps me is to remember that like most things in nature this journey is not linear. It is often tender, slow and layered. But with support, care, and compassion, embodiment can become a home you return to again and again.
