Parenting Pointers - Wild Mothering

 Although there’s a plethora of books and other information about parenting, every woman at her center has a wealth of creative resources for mothering. These abundant resources can provide guidance, bring energy when it’s needed, and restore the mother-child connection. To tap into them, it’s essential for women to connect with the energy medicine in their female centers. Author Tami Lynn Kent calls this capacity Wild Mothering — allowing women to move beyond stereotypes and create the type of mothering that both sustains their families and also feeds their mothering souls.

 

While a head-based response to a challenging mothering moment perceives only a “right” or “wrong” approach, the creative womb and loving heart inherent in women offer infinite options and potential. When in the midst of a conflict or high-level frustration, if instead of reacting to what’s happening she redirects awareness into her own center, the mother expands her energy medicine. Breathing toward, and then sensing the reserves in her center, she’s better able to comfort the child, deflate a conflict by taking a different approach, or engage the situation in an entirely new manner. 

I had a chance to learn more in this interview.

Can you share a little bit about the title of your latest book and what it means?

The title of my book, Wild Mothering: Finding Power, Spirit and Joy in Birth and a Creative Motherhood, is a reference to the potency, beauty and intensity of the mothering journey. We return to our womb, the source of our creative inspiration, to give birth but also so that we may know our mothering gifts. We reclaim the wild part of ourselves and motherhood from this spontaneous and untamed place. Wild Mothering means calling spirit down through our mothering, and yet we must surrender to what life brings on our mothering journey. We are changed in the process of mothering — we tend our children across decades of time, and in doing so discover what has been made.

Why is it important for women to tune in to their creative and feminine energies?

Our bodies contain potent creative energy that can be both guide and gauge for life and our mothering. We’re taught to look outside of ourselves for knowledge, and yet our feminine wisdom arises from within. We give birth to our children, and the birth energy field imprinted in the womb can provide energy medicine and resources for mothering each child. The feminine also reminds us to be present and receive the beauty of a specific moment so that we align ourselves with more natural rhythms that give us sustenance.

How can women work to find balance between competing priorities in their lives?

In the fast pace of modern life, finding balance is elusive. Rather than striving for balance, I’d suggest that women seek insight from within for any given moment. In this way she can receive inner guidance for what is presently the true priority, which will also more likely include her own self-care. By attuning to her own center, a woman accesses her intuition for organizing the flow for work, motherhood, and living well.

 

Tami Lynn Kent is a women’s health physical therapist, a TEDx speaker, and the founder of Holistic Pelvic Care,^TM where she utilizes her ability to read energetic patterns of the body. Kent maintains a private practice and an international training program in Portland, Oregon. She has authored three previous books. Her latest, Wild Mothering: Finding Power, Spirit, and Joy in Birth and a Creative Motherhood (Atria Books, May 7, 2024), is a newly updated edition of her classic, Mothering from Your Center. Learn more at www.wildfeminine.com.