Many of us struggle during the holiday season. As such, we’re vulnerable to powerful neurological processes that help us manage stress. Over-eating and over-drinking promote a parasympathetic response (hypo-arousal) that makes us hazy and lets us disconnect from unwanted feelings. Or we lean toward deprivation ~ ketosis provides us increased fuel (hyperarousal) for holiday events …
Dear Friends, One of my favorite stories that masquerades as a children’s book is Deborah Guarino’s Is Your Mama a Llama. In the story, Lloyd is a baby llama separated from his mother. With determination and perseverance, he asks an assortment of mammals (a cow, seal, swan, kangaroo, even a bat) if they are his …
I love it when Mother Nature shows off.
Dear Friend, Since naming Mother Hunger, I’ve witnessed how the right term soothes an overactive amygdala and allows healing to unfold. Mother Hunger names a spectrum of difficult emotions. But in its most extreme, Mother Hunger is an absence of nurturing, protection and guidance that leads to complex trauma and disorganized attachment. I call this …
For some of us, mothers provide guidance, nurturing and protection, building an internal compass that directs our choices and self concept. If we didn’t receive one or more of these important needs, however, we may feel hungry for substitutes. Surrogate mothers come in many forms: food and romance may be the most powerful. We may …
Labor Day weekend, and I’m supposed to be writing.
Mother Hunger is a consequence of systemic structures that demand compliance, submission, and seduction from women.
Dear Friend, As summer’s heat lingers, I hope you find a spot of time for reading or listening to a podcast. I just finished Motherland. Lucky for me, it qualifies as research. Altman’s writing is gorgeous. Her memoir offers an intimate view of what it’s like to be “married to mom”. Recently, I had the honor …
Intensives are a unique healing method that I designed 5 years ago to respond to women reaching out to me from all over the world after reading Ready to Heal. Mother Hunger Intensives are designed for women who seek a trauma-informed, one on one, custom tailored experience. Since 2013, my Intensives have helped women find …
How can something as necessary and natural as love get twisted into addictive hell? Probing this paradox led me to the creation of Mother Hunger. The term almost speaks for itself. Like cancer, Mother Hunger invisibly eats away your insides, slowly digesting any strength, dignity, or agency you’ve gathered. Hunger pains need relief. Food, sex, …