Welcome to the Happy Mama Movement Podcast.

I'm Amy Taylor-Kabbaz.

I would like to start by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Aura nation

on which this podcast is recorded as the traditional custodians of this land.

And pay my respects to the elders past, present and emerging.

And as this podcast is dedicated to the wisdom and knowledge of motherhood, I

would like to acknowledge the mothers of this land, the elders, their wisdom, their

knowing and my own elders and teachers.

Welcome back Mamas.

This week, we are opening the doors for enrollment to Mama Rising again.

The coaching certification and facilitator training for anyone to share the wisdom

of matresence and to be a part of the change that we need to see around how we

support and value mothers and to guide a woman's perspective and understanding

of herself through motherhood.

This training began four years ago now.

After coaching for many, many years, so many different women.

Women all over the world with different experiences of becoming a Mum.

Women who knew from the day they were born, that they wanted to be a Mum too.

But now they are a mother, they're struggling with what that means and it

not being what they thought it would be.

Other women who never assumed there would be a Mum at all, didn't think

they had a maternal bone in their body is how they would describe it.

And now are experiencing the changes and transformations of motherhood

and wondering who am I now?

So many different experiences, different countries, different languages, solo

Mums, Mums who have done IVF, same sex marriages, partners, all of it.

And what I realised was that I was not able to do what I felt I was here to do.

So much of what I wanted to be a part of in this world,

was this change for mothers.

I grew up with such a deep passion about telling the stories and being

part of the change in culture for women.

I thought as many of you would know if you've been listening

for a long time, I thought I would be a foreign correspondent.

I thought I would be out there finding the women's stories and bringing them

to the world, just like this podcast.

But I didn't think I would be part of the change.

I thought I would tell the stories of those who want the change

and who are part of the change.

I would simply be the storyteller.

So when I found myself in the trenches of coaching and supporting so many

women listening to so many stories, creating online programs that then

hundreds and hundreds of women would take, I found myself in a role.

I didn't know I would ever do.

And that has been a part of the change.

I knew I was an activist.

I knew I was a feminist.

I knew I had big dreams.

But it didn't feel like it was me who would be doing all this change.

Another part of me also realised that there's only so many women

that I can have in my groups.

There's only so many conversations I can have.

And so with the deep guidance of my mentor, Dr.

Aurélie Athan, and some pretty phenomenal women in my life.

I began to explore this idea of what if my role was once again

about telling stories, supporting those who were making the change?

What if my job became supporting, inspiring, seeing, valuing, cheerleading,

those who are out there supporting the Mamas and creating the change.

And so four years ago I created a program Mama Rising.

It was before the book was written.

My business was sustainable.

It wasn't a runaway success, but it was sustainable.

And I thought maybe I'll have 20 women who would be interested in

learning about how I coach Mums.

Because the coaching industry as phenomenal as it is, and I truly say

that because I feel so deeply grateful I'm a part of the coaching industry.

The coaching industry traditionally is very formulaic in a way it's

quite a masculine structure.

It's goal orientated.

It's outcome driven, traditionally.

Now there are some phenomenal coaching institutions, academies and training

schools around the world that are so much more feminine embodied.

Many of them have been interviewed on this podcast and the way I was trained by

Julie Parker at the beautiful U coaching academy was not goal driven by any sense.

It was driven by self actualisation, self empowerment.

You are there as a cheerleader, a guide, a mirror, but you are

not by any means a task master.

But through my experience of coaching so many Mums, I discovered that

there was a particular formula, a particular way that we can hold space

as if there were stepping stones out.

That, no matter what she was experiencing, if we just gently

guided her to the next stepping stone, she could find her own answers.

This wasn't a definitive, you need to follow this and you need to do

this in two weeks and you need to meditate or you need to do that.

No, it was completely in her control, completely her own answers, her

own words, but there was a formula.

I think of it as if back in the day, the elder in the village, she would have

her set ritual that she would do with the girls who are entering womanhood.

Their first bleed, their first period, they would call her into the tent.

And yes, there was a ritual that she would be walked through.

No one was sitting there and telling her, you need to do it this way.

But there was a guide, questions that were asked, ceremonies that were performed so

that she could arrive in womanhood, ready.

It's the same with the Mama Rising formula.

It's the rituals, it's the questions, and it's the guide that she needs

to arrive in her motherhood.

Whether she is pregnant, whether she has three children at school, whether

her children are leaving home, it is the same ritual and guide the same

questions, the same tiny pebbles that she follows to her understanding of herself.

So I used that formula that I had seen work over and over again for thousands of

And as I said, I thought 20 women may say yes, that would be a success.

And I got 76 and suddenly, that desire to change who I am in this space.

And to instead, once again, step back and support those women who are out

there wanting to create change began.

Suddenly, I wanted to tell their stories.

I wanted their success.

I wanted to hear about how they connected with a woman in their local community and

changed the way she felt about herself.

Suddenly there was connections all over the world of how this was going

to work in different parts of the world and in different cultures

and even different languages.

And since then every year, the program has matured.

You know, I do see myself stepping into more of that elder role in

the sense of not that I've got the answers, but in the sense of, I hold

the space for those who hold the space.

The team, and I hold the space for those who hold the space.

Because that's the way it's meant to be done.

We're not meant to be creating change one by one by one.

We're meant to do this together.

Matresence in my belief, my core belief has the potential to not only

change how a Mum feels, of course.

But change how we educate, how we work, how we honor our bodies and our health.

Because at the core of it again, matresence is an acknowledgement

that we are not machines.

We don't just show up and do this motherhood thing and then go

to work and do this work thing.

We are human beings, divine complicated human beings who are growing and

grieving and figuring this out.

And if we can have this formula of support, if we can have these rituals

and guides to understand how this has changed ourselves, we can do anything.

We can go into a workplace and say, Hey, instead of assuming she's

the same person she used to be before she went on maternity leave,

she's actually very different.

And she has new gifts and skills to share.

And instead of ignoring the fact that she's a Mum let's bring that to the

surface and say, actually, now that you're a Mum, how should this work?

What do you want to contribute?

Because here's the thing I know if possible, if possible, acknowledging

that some women do not have a choice to go to work or not.

But if she does have a choice, she wants to be there for a purpose.

If she needs to be away from her baby, then make it purposeful.

Something has activated in her.

She wants to make a difference.

She wants to be a part of something.

She now knows the world needs to be fixed, needs to be changed.

And so within this training, over the last four years, we have

birthed so many versions of it.

I have birthed so many versions of myself as that person who holds that space.

training over the last three years.

This is our fourth year.

Nearly 200 women accredited as rising coaches around the world.

Here we are.

And the time has never been better.

What we've been through with COVID.

I don't even need to tell you, you know what the last two years has been

like to stretch on women and mothers.

Is bigger than I think any of us understand right now we've held

space for our children while we've also tried to keep life

going as normal, and it's showing.

So many are talking about the great resignation, because so

many working mothers are saying, nup I'm not doing it anymore.

Now is the time for us to come together, support each other and rise up.

Whether you can talk about matresence and the experience of motherhood

differently to the people in your circle, to your work colleagues,

to the Mums at the school gates.

Or whether in this time of your life, it is time for you to step into

something like this, to be a part of the change, to be a part of Mama

Rising we can all be a part of this.

And I really mean that, I'm not saying that dismissively.

Recently in a call, I said to women who were considering Mama Rising if

you are in the middle of the trenches yourself, the greatest thing you

can do is do this for you first.

Look after yourself, say no to being even more productive,

ask for help, speak up at work.

Put some things in place to make sure that you are not depleted,

that is a revolutionary act.

But if you have the capacity and the calling right now to step into

Mama Rising even if it's terrifying, then we are waiting for you.

This year, we've changed the training to be a five month certification program.

In those five months, you learn about the matresence theory, feminism

and motherhood, workplace culture, birth culture, what it means to be

a woman, a mother, so many things.

The second module, we work through the redefined program.

The program for me, that started at all the program that Mama Rising is based on.

We do this so you can experience it yourself.

We can't teach from a place of not knowing.

We have to move through this process ourself, even if you've done hundreds

of hours of self development.

As a Mum and as a woman, this is what we need.

We need to sit in this together.

And the third module is how to coach, whether you are in the birthing suite,

in a women's circle, in a coaching business, or at work coaching skills

is what we need because basically it's active listening, and powerful

questions, guiding her to her own answers.

And that is a skill, but gosh, it's the most rewarding role.

So rewarding.

And for those of you that are just starting out and really want to build

a business and a presence in this work, we've added on a fourth module, a bonus

module you can sign up for on building a business business, 1 0 1, everything

from how to pitch to a podcast, how to build a social media following, how to

write copy, how to find your audience.

Because I truly believe as you've heard me say so many times that when

we heal the mother, we heal the world.

And we really need to be doing this right now.

So, if Mama Rising is calling you, we are open for enrollment for just a few weeks.

We start in September.

All the details are in the show notes or go to mamarising.net/open.

Any questions, reach out to me and the team.

And no matter what thank you for being here for these conversations, cause this

is how we change things for mothers.