Welcome to the MAIA Mothers blog

I think in life, we fall into two camps: those that plan and those that go with the flow; which one are you?

I’ve always been a planner. 

Perhaps it’s a control thing, but I like to know what I’m doing and be prepared for it.

So, I always knew that when I got pregnant, I was going to do the NCT course and be ready for that baby! And then I got even more prepared by taking a Hypnobirthing course too.

All set, I thought. Got my plan in place. 

I made 100 dinners for the freezer, I kid you not, 100 nights of meals ready for my husband and me when the baby came. 

Boom! 

I was ready to go! Or so I thought.

I spent a lot of time focusing on the birth. Thinking about how I would handle it with my hypnobirthing training.

I talked to my mum a lot about it, and she pointed out something which, looking back, was very wise that it’s not just about the birth.

And for me, it wasn’t because after all my planning, my first son was breached the wrong way up, and I had to have a planned caesarean.

It was the start of a long road of things being unplanned in my motherhood journey.

Long story short, I’ve found the whole transition into being a mother quite mad, with highs and lows like I could never have imagined. I’ll share more of this in other blogs, but from my experience, considering how it impacted my mental health and wellbeing and that of the thousands of other mothers who give birth every year, I felt like we needed to be more prepared.

Not just for the baby as such, but for the huge impact that becoming a mother will have on us as a person. 

This is where my passion was born: to create something to help support the well-being of new mothers. 

Initially, that was in the form of a digital wellbeing class; my business, Shine Strong Revolution, started with a unique type of holistic class that used a variety of elements to help you look after your mental health and physical health together, the USP being digital nature. 

The inspiration came from lockdown being stuck indoors. It made me realise just how much I relied on spending time in nature to help support my well-being. 

This led me to research the benefits and opportunity to use videos of the natural world to help you feel better when you can’t always make it outside to a forest or to see the sea, perfect for mothers who could spend lots of time at home with their baby. Numerous studies have proved that the benefits are real, and that looking at images of nature helps to reduce stress and build up tolerance to future stresses.

But as I learnt more about the mental health issues related to becoming a mother and came further along my own journey, I realised that there was a lot more that was needed to help mothers.

What if I could create a programme that would equip women with knowledge and skills, they needed to be ready for the changes and challenges they would face, and help them build a resilience that could use to help support their mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Since I shared my mission with the world I have been joined by a team of the most amazing women, all with their own different maternal experiences, which fuels their passion to help support other women.

Together, we are building MAIA, a Maternal Empowerment Programme, which will do just what it says on the tin! Empowering women to be ready for their motherhood journey and support them along the way.

Through this new blog, I will share more about the programme and all the amazing contributors. 

But for now, I ask the question, do you know what Matrescence is? 

Find out in the next edition of MAIA Mothers! 

If you would like to learn more about our MAIA or to join our mailing list sign up at hello@shinestrongrevolution.com

MAIA Mothers is a Shine Strong Revolution brand.