As I heal, my Ancestors heal.

There are mamas in my blood. There are women who did not own themselves. So they could not claim their own children. They could not tend to their child. They could not feed their child from their own body if they wanted to.

I come from women who, for decades, were bound by systemic oppression that denied them the right to mother their children freely.

Caring for my son, feeding him from my body, choosing to work, for his laughter and my own, above and over the tears of the whole world, is the reclamation of what was stolen from those women who live through me.

Mothering is many, many things, and to be sure; it is complex. When my labor started, I prayed, "Heal the mamas in me, through me, in this delivery and in my mothering."

Both my pathway to Motherhood and my becoming a mother is soul and ancestral work.

I am not imprisoned by it. I am free to engage and express myself through it in ways that the mamas in my blood could not imagine.

My blood is theirs and a portal to our healing.

If you liked this blog, check out our other blogs like "Empowering Women Series: Hayley Hobson", or "The Secret of Self-Care: Approach over Action", "Resources for Your Well-Being", and " Resources to Nurture your Spirituality"