I took photos with my daughters a few weeks ago. I told the photographer I wanted them to be powerful, otherworldly, and fierce.
I wanted photos with my daughters, yes, but in a year that’s been particularly hard, I also wanted to lean into embodying some things that I want to keep making more real…
Boundaries.
Confidence.
Trust in myself, in others, in life.
While booking a photoshoot where I stepped into the version of my story was empowering (especially in how I show up as a mother) the most transformative work I’ve done - the work that’s actually shifted how I live - has happened within.
It’s come through identifying and healing the mother wound: an inheritance carried by all women, whether or not we’re mothers ourselves.
Healing the mother wound is some of the most important work any woman can do, because it’s a path into our collective feminine pain - pain that comes from being raised in a society that doesn’t fully value women.
It comes from being raised by generations of mothers who found ways to survive, but who often passed down the same inner and outer limits that kept them safe.
The mother wound keeps our freedom stuck on a vision board or in a beautiful photography session, rather than being something we embody and feel from within.
Which is why I’m holding a virtual workshop for women this Sunday May 4th at 9am PST where I’ll be sharing some of the tools that have been most transformative for me. It’s a sliding scale offering, open to anyone who feels the pull to heal these deeper layers.
You’ll leave with:
Greater self-understanding
More compassion for yourself and your lineage
Practical tools for healing and resilience
A deeper sense of liberation from patterns that aren’t yours to carry
More awareness that you’re supported and connected on this path
Toni Morrison said “You wanna fly, you gotta give up the shit that weighs you down.”
Would you like to do that?
See you on May 4th. Sign up here. I would love to have you with us.
xo
Melissa
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More about the circle…
Intergenerational Healing Women's Circle: Breathwork & Journaling for the Mother Lineage (Replay Included)
Live on Zoom
Sunday, May 4 at 9:00 AM Pacific / 12:00 PM Eastern / 6:00 PM CET
Replay included with registration
The stories we inherit aren’t always the ones we want to live.
Join me for a 90-minute healing circle focused on intergenerational healing - a space where we'll explore the stories, patterns, and emotions passed through the maternal line, and how we can change the present by letting go of what isn't ours.
I'm intentionally holding this just before Mother’s Day, because it's a time when our mother-related stories often feel louder - whether tender, painful, complicated, or simply present in the body. It is not a space for fixing relationships or trying to change others - it's about healing from the inside out... tending to the lineage you came from, letting any wounds weep, and choosing what you carry forward with agency and sovereignty.
We’ll explore the concept of the mother wound - both personal and collective —-and what it means to heal vertically, through the generations, rather than aiming our pain sideways (at our mothers, children, or ourselves). While the term mother wound may sound like it’s about your individual relationship with your mom, it's not JUST that - its also the larger systems that have shaped us - systems that disempower women and often get unconsciously passed down. We’ll look at how these inherited patterns are influenced by culture, patriarchy, and epigenetics - and how breath, reflection, and presence can begin to create meaningful change from the inside out.
This circle will include:
– A short teaching on the mother wound and collective inheritance
– Journaling prompts for self-inquiry and reflection (including a free downloadable prompt guide to reflect on and optionally print out before the circle)
– A gentle, feminine breathwork session
– Space for sharing and witnessing
Not all women are mothers, but all women are daughters — and that is the place from which we begin to heal. That said, if you ARE a mother, this workshop is a powerful way to transform and transmute the stories you are living, healing, and passing on. (The best thing any mother can do for her own daughter is to heal her OWN stories, first for herself...then to break cycles)
I have been actively healing my relationship with my own mother in the decade + since she's been gone because the work is within...and it ripples without. Whether your mother is living or not, whether you’re close or estranged, this will be a powerful healing container for identifying, excavating, and transmuting the stories we have inherited.
Ultimately, healing the mother wound doesn’t require being in relationship — it asks only that you come home to your inner mother...and yourself.
If this calls to you, I hope you'll join me. Reserve your seat here.
Live on Zoom
Sunday, May 4 at 9:00 AM Pacific / 12:00 PM Eastern / 6:00 PM CET
Replay included with registration
Sliding Scale Options
Please choose the amount that feels right for you - each option helps support the space in a different way.
🌸 Free
Join without cost. I believe healing spaces should be accessible — especially when we're exploring something as deep and universal as the mother line. If you feel called to be there, this option is for you.
🌼 $22 (Support My Work)
Your contribution helps honor the time, energy, and care I’ve put into creating and holding this circle. It’s a way to say thank you while keeping the offering accessible.
🌷 $33 (Sustain the Work)
This amount reflects the true cost of the offering and helps sustain my ability to keep creating and holding healing spaces like this one.
🌺 $44 (Support Someone Else, Too)
This rate covers your spot and helps someone else attend who may not be able to pay. It's a way to give from a place of reciprocity and care for the collective.
🌸All options Include a free downloadable journal prompt guide to support your reflection before the circle🌸
Ready to start a meaningful Conversation with Mom?
I’ve created a deck of conversation starting cards for mothers and children, inspired by (and a companion to) the Questions You’ll Wish You Asked journals. It’s full of the best questions in the journals, as well as some new and updated ones (because I’ve learned a lot from your messages in the past five years.)
ARE YOU ASKING THE QUESTIONS YOU’LL WISH YOU HAD?
The Questions You’ll Wish You Asked journals are another path to intergenerational connection, understanding, and healing. Consider writing down answers for your kids, asking questions of your family members, or sending one of the Questions You’ll Wish You Asked journals to a person you care about today. Don’t forget about the one designed for the longest and deepest relationship of your life: the one you have with yourself. Find them here.