Mothering the Mother

Bonnie Knapton

December 14, 2023

Stay rooted amongst the chaos which calls you to stray from the intuitive clues that your body gifts you.

Within a constantly moving, striving world that places success above inner peace, teaching us since we were just a babe; to discard our emotions in the name of  ‘reverence’, to choose silence and submission over our passions out of fear of ‘going against the grain’. 

We’re taught time and time again–whether it be directly or indirectly;to focus our senses on the environment which surrounds us, rather than the ecosystem within.

We are so dis-connected from our true nature, we are experiencing a deeply rooted epidemic of anxiety, depression, burn-out and loneliness than ever before. Our bodies are screaming at us. We’re ignoring her calls to a point where we are self-destructing from the inside out, causing disease and unseen human potential.

This is the feeling of a deeply dis-regulated nervous-system. I don’t use these words lightly, this wisdom was born from my own cycling experience of the same fate, due to being so dissociated from my body for what felt like a lifetime, because of a historical feeling of being unsafe to feel the pain of childhood trauma and intense life experiences.

This became all the more true for me when I became a mother. The sleep deprivation, the lack of a village, the high expectations on me as a woman and mother from our culture, being the main carer of my child, and the constant stimulation of emotion and responsibility. 

No matter how deeply rooted our love is for our children, we were never destined to bear this weight alone. 

Children are our mirrors. They have the intuitive gift of reflecting back to us who we are and how we feel. They sense our energy profoundly, and will act accordingly to match this. They also have the power of connecting to our own inner child and the needs or desires that weren’t met for us when we were their age. We can see our inner child come out to play with our children from the emotions, activation and coping skills that arise within our shared experience.

They have the ability to show us all the ways we weren’t able to to regulate ourselves when we were their age. They have given you foresight, and now you’re able to offer them the same gift.

The beautiful thing is, the distress that resides within the body, can be balanced with the body. 

By utilising our body, we can guide ourselves back to a place of safety (regulation), as well as model this for our own children. Once we truly listen to the call, we are able to embody and release our emotions, holding space for us to integrate the flawed beauty of being human.

Mother the Mother – Poem 

Hold the Mother’s in your life

carry the bundled baby as she plunges into the depths of the ocean,
where she can taste freedom in solitude.

Take the weight from her weakened hands,
while she deep breathes her body into harmony.

Ask her how she is, as a sole spirit. Not as a mother, not the baby. —
the babe will always be full of nourishment and tender warmth, the mother has given all of her reserves to her greatest love.

She wouldn’t have it any other way, but with the lack of a village, the only means has been to give all that she has for herself, to this blooming life of hers.

She is becoming weaker by the day, her life force is dwindling. Her joy, is becoming replaced by a burnt-out sickness.

She knows she’ll find the strength, but she hasn’t been taught how.

She needs to find it for herself, amongst the turmoil. The only one that has the capacity to pull her from the marsh of motherhood, is herself.

Will you meet her where she is?

Without judgement or shame?

For this could have been you, with a different name.

Mother the Mother, as she musters the will to find her true self, amongst the grief of her lost self.

This way, a nurtured mother can wholesomely embrace the constantly changing world of our younger generations.

We can change the planet for our future and our ancestral line, when we Mother the Mother.

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• Listen to the calls of your body’s deep knowledge. She has been leaving you clues all along.

Are you hungry to experience:

• The ebb and flow of an ever-changing environment– including stressful situations, without becoming overwhelmed. 
• Feeling a deep sense of safety within your body.
• Unleash your human potential beyond survival.
• Naturally steer clear of chaos and see with clarity, rather than activation.
• Mother with more ease, playfulness and empathy.

If yes, then you’re right where you need to be.

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