Life After Birth with Yara Heary
Yara Heary - Perinatal Psychologist | Educator | Speaker
Life after birth is a podcast hosted by me; mother, psychologist and coach, Yara Heary. This is where I'll talk to women about their complex experiences of being a mother. You'll find me talking to experts but not how you've heard them talk before. I'll be asking them about their experiences behind their expertise - who were they before a mother, how has it changed them, and who have they become.
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Top 10 Life After Birth with Yara Heary Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Life After Birth with Yara Heary episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Life After Birth with Yara Heary for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Life After Birth with Yara Heary episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Tamica Wilder on Radical Self-Love & Embracing Her Erotic Self as a Mother
Life After Birth with Yara Heary
07/18/23 • 40 min
Hi Mamas. This week, my guest is Tamica Wilder, Australia’s leading Sexologist for Mums, author, and Founder of The Orgasmic Mama. Through her work and the many resources, courses, and retreats she offers through The Orgasmic Mama, Tamica teaches women the tools and frameworks to create sex-positive households for them and their families, and facilitates women to re-attune to the wisdom of their bodies and to shamelessly seek better sex and pleasure.
A while back, Tamica chatted to the mothers in my Rebirth program, and her session was incredibly valuable to the women involved, so I’m excited to have her here again to share her experiences and wisdom with you all.
In this conversation, Tamica talks about her personal transition into motherhood and the importance of normalising and making space for the changes we experience in our identities when we become mothers. We talk about how Tamica works with women and mothers, and discuss the power of embracing the new version of yourself, reacquainting yourself with who you are now sexually, challenging patriarchal ideals of what a mother ‘should’ be as it pertains to sexuality, and how these shifts can ultimately lead to more pleasure, radical self-love and acceptance.
Tamica is doing such important work and I’m excited to share this conversation with you.
Here is where you can find out more about me (Yara), how to work with me and some resources:
*** Waitlist for The Rebirth, Group Coaching for Mamas ***This is my signature 3 months online group coaching container for mothers which covers family of origin, inner child work, nervous system basics, anger, boundaries and much more.
Free Values Aligned Living Workbook
Find out more about Tamica in these places:
Purchase Tamica’s book, ‘Wild Honey’
Join Tamica's Sex Positive Parenting Training (starts Wed 2nd August). Tamica is gifting this training as a pay as you can offering.
Looking for support for anger while you mother? To access my Why Am I So Angry Workshop click HERE
Jacqueline Kelly on Losing and Meeting yourself in Motherhood
Life After Birth with Yara Heary
06/04/24 • 51 min
Hi mamas. Today on the podcast, I’m joined by Jacqueline Kelly, a matrescence coach who supports mothers who feel like they’ve lost themselves in motherhood. Founding Our Brave Hearts, Jacqueline works to challenge the unrealistic standards of motherhood that we are encouraged to aspire to and to support mums in rediscovering and reclaiming their confidence.
In this beautiful conversation, Jacqueline reflects on her own journey of matrescence and her transition from the freedom, adventure and spontaneity of living overseas to having her sense of self imploded when she became a mother. We discuss the romanticism of her notions of motherhood prior to having children, the identity crisis she experienced within the reality of it, where she has experienced the most growth along the journey, and the duality of the joys and the losses of motherhood.
We also discuss:
- The experience of meeting yourself in motherhood by seeing parts of yourself in your children, the complexities of this and how the parts of our children that we struggle to hold are often the very things we never had held for us in our own childhoods.
- Privilege and how the abundance of the times we live in allow us the space to have awareness and insight to be intentional on how we raise our families and create a different future for them.
- The complexity and the emotional load of motherhood and the importance of having safe spaces to talk and work through these feelings, voicing our lived experiences in order to survive in, and surrender to, the process.
- How deeply entranced idealised values and norms around mothering still are, and how the patriarchal structures of the societies we live in are so inextricably linked with our experience as mothers in this world.
And much more. I hope you enjoy listening to this conversation today as much as I loved having it.
Here is where you can find out more about me (Yara), how to work with me and some resources:
*** Waitlist for The Rebirth, Group Coaching for Mamas ***This is my signature 3 months online group coaching container for mothers which covers family of origin, inner child work, nervous system basics, anger, boundaries and much more.
Free Values Aligned Living Workbook
Find out more about Jacqueline:
Looking for support for anger while you mother? To access my Why Am I So Angry Workshop click HERE
Seeds For Your Garden - The Magic of Being Heard in Hard Seasons of Parenting
Life After Birth with Yara Heary
09/05/23 • 18 min
Hi mamas!
This is a more personal episode than usual as I delve into my current season of parenting – spoiler alert! This season is bloody TOUGH. In this episode, I speak to some of my current challenges and vulnerabilities, reflect on the emotional journey of raising two energetic children, and how I’m navigating my own mental health.
I was inspired to record this chat as I was listening to a voice message from a friend who was thanking me for providing a space for her to be heard and seen in her mothering challenges. We jointly reflected on how relieved we both felt after our conversation and it left me wondering about other mothers in my community that might also be doing it tough in some way. I wondered if hearing that I’m currently in a messy parenting space (and that these phases come and go) might normalise their experience, help them feel less alone and offer them some relief too. I really hope it does just that.
Here is where you can find out more about me (Yara), how to work with me and some resources:
*** Waitlist for The Rebirth, Group Coaching for Mamas ***This is my signature 3 months online group coaching container for mothers which covers family of origin, inner child work, nervous system basics, anger, boundaries and much more.
Seeds For Your Garden - Maternal Instinct: Fact or Fiction?
Life After Birth with Yara Heary
11/14/23 • 34 min
In this solo episode I explore the concept of maternal instinct which fell back onto my radar in recent weeks following a viral video featuring Maggie Dent and Kate Richie. I discuss my own thoughts on this topic, recent research on the neurobiology of the mother and father brain, patriarchal implications; and emphasise the importance of understanding parenting to be a skill that transcends one’s sex or gender and is not dictated by biology alone.
**Additional Reading at the bottom of these show notes
Here is where you can find out more about me (Yara), how to work with me and some resources:
*** Waitlist for The Rebirth, Group Coaching for Mamas *** This is my signature 3 months online group coaching container for mothers which covers family of origin, inner child work, nervous system basics, anger, boundaries and much more.
Free Values Aligned Living Workbook
If you’d like to read up on some of the literature I used to inform this episode, please see the titles below and there are many more available on google scholar:
Abraham, E., Hendler, T., Shapira-Lichter, I., Kanat-Maymon, Y., Zagoory-Sharon, O., & Feldman, R. (2014). Father's brain is sensitive to childcare experiences. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(27), 9792-9797.
Ruth Feldman [email protected] (2012) Bio-behavioral Synchrony: A Model for Integrating Biological and Microsocial Behavioral Processes in the Study of Parenting, Parenting, 12:2-3, 154-164, DOI: 10.1080/15295192.2012.683342
Conaboy, Chelsea. "Maternal Instinct Is a Myth That Men Created." International New York Times (2022): NA-NA.
Cabrera, N. J., Volling, B. L., & Barr, R. (2018). Fathers are parents, too! Widening the lens on parenting for children's development. Child Development Perspectives, 12(3), 152-157.
Feldman, R. (2017). The neurobiology of human attachments. Trends in cognitive sciences, 21(2), 80-99.
Feldman, R. (2015). The adaptive human parental brain: implications for children's social development. Trends in neurosciences, 38(6), 387-399.
Scatliffe, N., Casavant, S., Vittner, D., & Cong, X. (2019). Oxytocin and early parent-infant interactions: A systematic review. International journal of nursing sciences, 6(4), 445-453.
Bakermans‐Kranenburg, M. J., Lotz, A., Alyousefi‐van Dijk, K., & van IJzendoorn, M. (2019). Birth of a father: Fathering in the first 1,000 days. Child Development Perspectives, 13(4), 247-253.
Feldman, R., Braun, K., & Champagne, F. A. (2019). The neural mechanisms and consequences of paternal caregiving. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 20(4), 205-224.
Looking for support for anger while you mother? To access my Why Am I So Angry Workshop click HERE
Minna Dubin on Rage, Compassion, and Challenging 'Good Mother' Assumptions
Life After Birth with Yara Heary
10/24/23 • 53 min
Hey there mamas and welcome back to another episode of Life After Birth.
In this episode, I’m speaking to Minna Dubin, the Author of ‘Mom Rage: The Everyday Crisis of Modern Motherhood.’ I absolutely loved this book and was so excited to invite Minna to speak with me for this episode. Minna’s writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Times, Salon, Parents, Romper, Oprah Daily, MUTHA Magazine and many other publications. As a leading feminist voice on mom rage, Minna has also appeared on MSNBC, Good Morning America, The Tamron Hall Show, NBC10 Boston and NPR. Minna is from California and lives with her husband and two children.
In this conversation, we talked about Minna’s experience of becoming a mother and what her difficulties were during this time. We talk about rage in motherhood, exploring the social elements that play a role in this and the power of treating your anger with compassion.
We also discussed:
· The intensity that can come with difficult seasons of motherhood and the importance in having faith and self-belief that you can and will make it through these challenging times. We also discuss the power of drawing on previous experiences of when you have overcome challenging times to help foster this belief.
· The need for time, space and separateness in mothering and how this is often perceived negatively in our society due to patriarchal internalised modelling that has led to the belief that a ‘good’ mother wants to be around her children and husband all the time and who doesn’t have needs of her own.
· Minna’s identity as being a bisexual Queer woman married to a cis-man, how becoming a mother intensified this experience and how she used writing to help process her second ‘coming out’ experience once she was a mother, and the part this played in her returning to herself.
The internalised belief of the “good mother - good child” association that is held in many facets of our society, and how this can manifest in relation to neurodiversity and behavioural differences in children.
And much more. I hope you feel seen and heard by listening to this conversation, and enjoy it as much as I did.
Here is where you can find out more about me (Yara), how to work with me and some resources:
*** Waitlist for The Rebirth, Group Coaching for Mamas *** This is my signature 3 months online group coaching container for mothers which covers family of origin, inner child work, nervous system basics, anger, boundaries and much more.
Free Values Aligned Living Workbook
Find out more about Minna in these places:
www.minnadubin.com
Minna on Instagram
You can purchase Minna’s book “Mom Rage: The Everyday Crisis Of Modern Motherhood” here – it’s an incredible, comprehensive and detailed exploration on the rage felt my mothers, and I hugely recommend giving it a read!
Looking for support for anger while you mother? To access my Why Am I So Angry Workshop click HERE
Anna Cusack on Reframing The Postpartum Period, The Power of Letting Go and Mothering as Activism
Life After Birth with Yara Heary
10/10/23 • 50 min
Hi mama. In this episode, I’m joined by Anna Cusack, a Doula, Speaker, Author and Podcaster who supports women by providing emotional support, advice, resources and organisational assistance through pregnancy decision-making, birth mapping, postpartum planning, birth debriefing and guidance throughout the early stages of parenting.
In this conversation, we discuss Anna’s experience of becoming a mother, both in the initial fourth trimester period, and in the months that followed this. We reflect on how the postpartum period is in many ways a lifelong stage, and Anna speaks to her own experience of feeling relatively prepared for the initial fourth trimester period, compared to the later months where she found herself unprepared for the intensity of the period that followed. This was further heightened for Anna by this period of time coinciding with the pandemic.
We also discussed:
· The power of letting go and surrender, how this relates to so many facets of mothering, & Anna’s own experience of this in relation to both her fertility journey prior to conceiving, and her experience of going into labour with her first child.
· The need to slow down in motherhood and how Anna’s awareness of her own tendencies to pull against this meant that she resolutely committed to taking rest seriously in her early stages of motherhood, setting boundaries around her activity.
· Reframing the value of motherhood in society and how mothering is activism in itself in the sense that how we consciously choose to raise our children affects not only their lives & how they navigate the world but also shapes the world in which we all live – & also the balance of holding this whilst also honouring the stage of life you are in and what you have the capacity for.
· Gender differences in children with regard to privilege, and Anna’s feelings around the implications of this in terms of how to raise her children to be responsible adults.
· Our shared experience of how motherhood can bring with it an increased sense of confidence with regard to living life authentically, in alignment and with integrity.
... and much much more. I hope you love listening to it as much as I loved having it.
Here is where you can find out more about me (Yara), how to work with me and some resources:
*** Waitlist for The Rebirth, Group Coaching for Mamas *** This is my signature 3 months online group coaching container for mothers which covers family of origin, inner child work, nervous system basics, anger, boundaries and much more.
Free Values Aligned Living Workbook
Find out more about Anna in these places:
You can purchase Anna’s book “Mama, You’re Not Broken: Unmasking the Unspoken Emotions of Modern Motherhood”
Looking for support for anger while you mother? To access my Why Am I So Angry Workshop click HERE
Penny Moodie on Parenting With OCD, Self-Regulation and Reframing Failure As Evolution
Life After Birth with Yara Heary
05/21/24 • 42 min
Hi mamas. Today on the podcast, I’m joined by Penny Moodie, a writer, OCD advocate and mum of three. In 2023, she wrote the incredible book, ‘The Joy Thief’, sharing her personal journey and the stories of fellow OCD sufferers, exploring OCD stigmas and treatments with raw honesty and zero judgement.
In this conversation, we talk about Penny’s experience of becoming a mother, and in particular her experience of this while suffering with OCD. Undiagnosed at the time of her first child’s birth, she reflects on how the transition to parenthood prompted her to seek diagnosis and help, wanting to be fully present for her son.
We also discuss:
- Penny’s preparation for motherhood, and her reflections on how her OCD consumed so much of her energy and brain space that she spent comparatively little time thinking about and preparing for the shifts and changes that parenthood would bring.
- How OCD showed up for Penny in the early stages of her motherhood, and how perinatal OCD can affect both men and women.
- The significance of finding the right therapist, with the right interest or specialism in what you are seeking help for, and the importance of attuning to your intuition and sense of knowing when it comes to what is working for you, and having the confidence to seek an alternative therapist if you don’t feel it’s a good fit.
- The role of self-regulation in parenting and how, by nurturing this skill and the ability to repair when we don’t respond how we would like, we can see real change and growth. We also discuss this in the content OCD, and how self-regulation requires you to sit in uncomfortable emotions.
- Embracing failure as an integral part of growth, and therefore reframing hard and challenging experiences as ones that will ultimately help us evolve.
And much more. I hope this beautiful conversation lands with you today.
Here is where you can find out more about me (Yara), how to work with me and some resources:
*** Waitlist for The Rebirth, Group Coaching for Mamas ***This is my signature 3 months online group coaching container for mothers which covers family of origin, inner child work, nervous system basics, anger, boundaries and much more.
Free Values Aligned Living Workbook
Find out more about Penny:
Buy ‘The Joy Thief: How OCD Steals Your Happiness - And How To Get It Back’
Looking for support for anger while you mother? To access my Why Am I So Angry Workshop click HERE
Kelly Wright on Grieving the Motherhood Journey We Didn’t Have
Life After Birth with Yara Heary
02/27/24 • 59 min
Hi mamas. In this episode of Life After Birth, I am joined by Kelly Wright who has recently joined me at Life After Birth in a therapist capacity. Kelly is a mother and therapist trained in social work, attachment theory, nutrition, internal family systems, polyvagal work, and I’m so happy to have her on the team.
In this raw and vulnerable conversation, Kelly shares some of the challenges she has experienced in her mothering journey, and the disparity between what she expected to come with motherhood and the reality of her lived experience. We talk about the dark and messy places she has traversed to find her strength and inner knowing as a mother, and the anger and grief that comes with raising a child who experiences the world in more challenging ways. We also touch on the often-complex decision of whether or not to expand your family.
Other parts of our conversation include:
- Kelly’s experience of anxiety, OCD and eating disorders during in her twenties, and how this affected her perception of her resilience and capacity to be a mother.
- Kelly’s initial fear about being a mother and how this shifted over time.
- The power in shifting your perspective to view what you might have seen as your weaknesses and vulnerabilities, to viewing them as signs of your resilience and strength.
- The need for mothers to be held, and the importance of seeking help when things are hard; that things don’t need to be extreme to seek help, and that this support can come in many forms, such as therapy and women’s circles.
And sooooooo much more. I hope you get as much comfort from this conversation as I did from having it.
*If you are an Australian resident and are looking for some support as you mother, Kelly has availability to support you now. You can find out more about her and book in a session here: https://www.lifeafterbirth.com.au/kelly
Here is where you can find out more about me (Yara), how to work with me and some resources:
*** Waitlist for The Rebirth, Group Coaching for Mamas ***This is my signature 3 months online group coaching container for mothers which covers family of origin, inner child work, nervous system basics, anger, boundaries and much more.
Free Values Aligned Living Workbook
Looking for support for anger while you mother? To access my Why Am I So Angry Workshop click HERE
Rachael Shepard-Ohta on Taking The Pressure off Baby Sleep and The Relinquishing of Control in Motherhood
Life After Birth with Yara Heary
05/07/24 • 45 min
Hi mamas. Today on the podcast, I’m joined by Rachael Shepard-Ohta, who is a certified sleep consultant, a parent educator, content creator, podcaster, mother of three and founder of Hey Sleep Baby. I had the pleasure of being on Rachael’s podcast, No One Told Us, last year and I was so happy to have the opportunity to have another wonderful conversation with her here.
In this episode, we discuss Rachael’s expectations prior to becoming a mother and how her lived experience compared to this, and in particular, the relinquishing of control that comes with parenthood and how this can bring out a part of ourselves that we may not have had much contact with prior to becoming a parent.
We also talk about Rachael’s journey to starting Hey Sleepy Baby, following her own negative experience with sleep training her first child as a response to outside pressure surrounding her baby’s sleep, and the passion this ignited in her to challenge the status quo of baby sleep advice.
We also discuss:
The versions of ourselves from before we had children, the transition parenthood brings and how, when we feel resistance or struggles in our mothering, it is often due to these parts of our former selves that are still there and are needing to be seen.
The challenge of balancing the requirements of career and work alongside motherhood, and in particular both mine and Rachael’s experience of running our own businesses and the challenges this can present in terms of compartmentalising and being present with our children
Rachael’s experience of postnatal anxiety following the birth of her first child, which was contributed to by the stress and external pressures surrounding her baby’s sleep. We reflect on the preoccupation with baby sleep in these early phases and how this stems from the lack of support within our culture.
The power of trusting yourself, trusting your mothering, and knowing that nothing that you’re dealing with is forever.
And much more. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
Here is where you can find out more about me (Yara), how to work with me and some resources:
*** Waitlist for The Rebirth, Group Coaching for Mamas ***This is my signature 3 months online group coaching container for mothers which covers family of origin, inner child work, nervous system basics, anger, boundaries and much more.
Free Values Aligned Living Workbook
Find out more about Rachael:
Listen to my episode on No One Told Us
Looking for support for anger while you mother? To access my Why Am I So Angry Workshop click HERE
Mike Dyson on Redefining Fatherhood and Masculinity
Life After Birth with Yara Heary
11/21/23 • 42 min
Hi mamas. This week I talk to Mike Dyson, Founder of the Good Blokes Co. In his work, Mike empowers men and boys to breakdown restrictive gender norms and to step up as leaders of a healthier culture of masculinity. Mike facilitates Men's leadership retreats, father/son, mother/son and rites of passage camps all over Australia. He also works in schools training teachers to make conversations about masculinity fun, engaging and meaningful for teenage boys and giving parents the tools to get their boys talking.
In this episode, Mike and I chat about his own experience of becoming a father and the nuances of masculinity and fatherhood. We also cover:
· Breaking Down Gender Norms: Mike's passion for empowering men and boys to challenge and redefine traditional gender norms.
· Leadership and Growth: Insights into Mike's own journey into fatherhood at 25, facing negativity, and how he grew through the challenges.
· Men's Socialisation: We explore the tough expectations placed on men and the impact of these on their role in the family.
· Corporate Fatherhood: A look at the corporate world's rigid view of paternal roles and the push for true gender equality.
· Redefining Masculinity: How men can adjust to fatherhood by shifting lifestyles and embracing nurturing roles.
· Solidarity Among Men: The critical need for support networks for men to discuss and share their experiences openly.
I hope you enjoy this episode, and I encourage you to share it with the men and fathers in your life too.
Here is where you can find out more about me (Yara), how to work with me and some resources:
*** Waitlist for The Rebirth, Group Coaching for Mamas *** This is my signature 3 months online group coaching container for mothers which covers family of origin, inner child work, nervous system basics, anger, boundaries and much more.
Free Values Aligned Living Workbook
Find out more about Mike in these places:
Looking for support for anger while you mother? To access my Why Am I So Angry Workshop click HERE
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FAQ
How many episodes does Life After Birth with Yara Heary have?
Life After Birth with Yara Heary currently has 64 episodes available.
What topics does Life After Birth with Yara Heary cover?
The podcast is about Health & Fitness, Parenting, Kids & Family, Motherhood, Mental Health, Pregnancy, Family, Podcasts and Mother.
What is the most popular episode on Life After Birth with Yara Heary?
The episode title 'Joy Netanya Thompson on Finding Completeness with One Child and Befriending Her Parts Within' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Life After Birth with Yara Heary?
The average episode length on Life After Birth with Yara Heary is 50 minutes.
How often are episodes of Life After Birth with Yara Heary released?
Episodes of Life After Birth with Yara Heary are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Life After Birth with Yara Heary?
The first episode of Life After Birth with Yara Heary was released on Nov 4, 2022.
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