“The most difficult part of birth is the first year afterwards. It is the year of travail — when the soul of a woman must birth the mother inside her. The emotional labor pains of becoming a mother are far greater than the physical pangs of birth; these are the growing surges of your heart as it pushes out selfishness and fear and makes room for sacrifice and love. It is a private and silent birth of the soul, but it is no less holy than the event of childbirth. Perhaps it is even more sacred.” — Joy Kusek
Upcoming group offerings
October 2026 - Maiden to Mother: A Matrescence Mini Retreat
If you identify as a mother of a young child and crave nourishing communal postpartum support, join myself, my co-facilitator Kristen Gutierrez, and 11 other mothers in a restorative and contemplative mini retreat honoring Matrescence and the transformative power and complex journey of stepping into motherhood. The afternoon will be spent in ritual and community and will include meditation, gentle movement, journaling and creative expression, sharing time, and restorative yoga. Together, we will begin to explore, honor, and process the changes we’ve experienced since becoming mothers. We will seek to hold space for one another’s stories and our unique reclaiming of the sacred in motherhood.
Learn more or reserve your spot for October 2026 here: https://www.mothermatricaria.com/mothers-retreat
Past offerings -
Maiden to Mother:
A Matrescence Mini Retreat
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The process of transitioning from woman, or “maiden,” to mother, what anthropologists call “matrescence,” can feel like a metamorphosis. Like adolescence, it is a time of huge physical shifts in your body and mind. It is a time of questioning yourself, and maybe even questioning everything.
This tender time can be emotionally, physically, and spiritually challenging. Just like it takes a village to raise a baby, it takes a village to honor and support a new mother through this transition. Yet sadly, in our Western culture where there are few villages, we are often left to cross this threshold alone. -
Are you a mother who is juggling life with a young kid or kids?
Do you feel like you are just now coming up for air after the complex newborn months?
Are you yearning to get reoriented to the woman you are now?
Do you want to connect with other mothers who understand firsthand?
Are you craving an afternoon that’s just for you? -
Join us for a restorative and contemplative mini retreat honoring matrescence and the transformative power of stepping into motherhood. The afternoon will be spent in ritual and community and will include meditation, gentle movement, journaling and creative expression, sharing time, and restorative yoga.
Together, we will begin to explore, honor, and process the changes we’ve experienced since becoming mothers. We will seek to hold space for one another’s stories and our unique reclaiming of the sacred in motherhood.
No yoga or meditation experience is required. -
Kristen Gutierrez, MS, RYT, is a West Seattle-based mother to an energetic toddler as well as prenatal yoga teacher and storyteller for health and wellness brands. Whether she’s wrangling her kiddo, digging up weeds in her unruly garden, gaping at mountains, or stopping to smell the flowers, yoga is the lens through which she examines it all. She is passionate about birth work and believes pregnancy, birth, and motherhood are sacred rites of passage worthy of deep care and reverence.
Michelle Jones, MA, LMHC, is a Seattle-based mother of a curious toddler as well as a trauma-informed psychotherapist for adults who are processing the complex layers of life transitions. She is passionate about supporting mothers of young kids who need space to process changes to their bodies, relationships, and identities. Whether it is in the soil of her garden or women’s lives, she loves partnering in growth and supporting what is unfurling. -
Although there are no retreats scheduled at this time, if you are interested in future offerings, join the mailing list below.