Seva Category: Q&A

I’m so excited to share with you part ONE of my tea chats with Dr. Kate Antoniotti of MamaCore Method. She’s my personal (and my kiddo’s) go-to chiropractor who has created a custom movement method to support the unique needs of the postpartum experience. With MamaCore Method, Kate combines movements rooted in Developmental Kinesiology and Vinyasa Yoga to create a gentle practice that feels innate and intuitive to our transforming bodies. She’s also seeing patients on a regular basis, helping women feel the best they can feel through pregnancy, birth preparation, postpartum and beyond.

After a recent Mother Circle, hosted in collaboration by Kate and Southwest Michigan’s BLND Health, we sat down with our favorite tea to dive into some of the common themes brought up during the gathering. This modern mother circle was an ingenious combination of Kate’s movement method and progressice conversations around how we can reclaim the forgotten sacred window.

In this video we discuss 5 burning questions…

Q: What was the inspiration behind this new format of the Mother Circle? (00:57)

Q: How can we find a new balance of masculine & feminine energy during postpartum? (03:03)

Q: What’s the trick to dropping back into our bodies and finding autonomy? (05:02)

Q: Can we discover common ground from the innate desire to build connection? (06:54)

Q: Is there depth without vulnerability… especially for the modern mother? (11:48)

The full annotated chat can be read down below!

Q: What was the inspiration behind this new format of the Mother Circle? (00:57)

Cassie Ballard of Our Seva: Kate and I had the opportunity to meet and do one of these movement practices with a group of 25 other ladies, and it revolutionized my ideas around what a modern motherhood circle could be. It was this combination of gentle movement paired with really thoughtful motherhood chat. Curious…what was the inspiration behind this new time of getting together, because it’s different!

Kate Antoniotti of MamaCore Method: It is different, but it’s evolved a lot. MamaCore was created as just a movement practice. It was created by blending my love for yoga and the appreciation for the anatomy and early postpartum changes to the body. Also, the really poor guidance that’s available to women, especially those first two years after having a baby. Having gone through that, it pushed me into discovery mode, seeking a new safe solution that could heal and nurture my body. I think a lot of the exercises and mindsets out there can actually do a lot of harm, breaking the body down in a time that our bodies need to be built back up. It’s also a very masculine approach and during the early stages of motherhood, there is such a deep desire to nurture the feminine. I at least have the awareness that my body needed nourishment during those early years, and nourishment feels very feminine. MamaCore is that. It’s a beautiful blend of developmental kinesiology and gentle yoga practice.

Q: How can we find a new balance of masculine & feminine energy during postpartum? (03:03)

Cassie: It’s a really fun idea to know that the movement isn’t just moving around on the mat, but centered on the desire to build a strong pelvic floor and the muscles to recover from a birth event. Even the ladies that were there and who were pregnant, we were all able to connect within the feminine energy of this movement practice. We were connecting on the basis that we all knew our bodies really needed this experience. The movements feel incredibly innate. It’s comfortable and supportive.

Q: What’s the trick to dropping back into our bodies and finding autonomy? (05:02)

Cassie: The practice allows us to drop back into our bodies. As mothers we find ourselves floating up in the headspace and there is immense beauty in dropping back in.

Kate: There is something to add here. In addition to feeling airy during the postpartum period, we are now caring for another being outside of ourselves. There is this feeling of “extra” separation that happens.

Cassie: Agree. Often times you feel like your body isn’t even yours in those moments. That seems to be one common thread in my motherhood journey so far. I am always doing something for something else. The evening of connection allowed me to separate, find autonomy for a few hours and build connection knowing all of us women there were experiencing this same idea of reconnection to self.

Q: Can we discover common ground from the innate desire to build connection? (06:54)

Kate: Yes. There is a beautiful alchemy to it. We all came from very different days, very different motherhood journeys, but we were united by the movement practice and sincere, honest dialogue.

Cassie: You mentioned that no matter what background and culture we come from, we all have this built in, primal desire to connect. Many of us do not come from a culture that really supports the needs of the postpartum tradition. You mentioned that you too didn’t come from a super supportive culture, but you did come from a background that really supported the Matriarch in the family. That sentiment stuck with me, because I feel this message resonates with most women, even when our culture doesn’t specifically support the newborn mother. It’s a perfect way for all of us to connect on the common ground of just honoring where we are in the process.

Kate: We all have the same biology of our lineage and many of those lineages did have ways of “mothering” the mother. Unfortunately, we’ve been picked up out of that and placed in a modern culture that doesn’t have practices in place. We are all siloed away during this period of time, so we need to have the awareness to find ways to mother ourselves that will hopefully have a ripple effect for our daughters and communities going forward.  I recently read something that said, “we were eggs inside our mother’s womb, when she too was inside her mother” and it was one of those moments that made me feel so tied to this lineage of mothers. That’s why it make since to nurture myself now to have impacts of future generations.

Cassie: There is something really beautiful about mothering yourself from not only a physical standpoint, but from the lens of maternal mental health as well. There is beauty in the sharing, and the “me too” that makes your overall experience that makes everything feel validated and more powerful.

Kate: There was never another moment in my life where that outside validation and “me too” was as powerful as it was during the postpartum period. I needed to know she was also experiencing it to know I wasn’t alone. There is so much loneliness during the postpartum period. If we only live on surface level connection, you just feel alone.

Q: Is there depth without vulnerability… especially for the modern mother? (11:48)

Cassie: I completely agree. When I was building the idea of launching the Our Seva motherhood community, I went searching high and low for people having really insightful, progressive and deep conversations. Unfortunately, I found a lot of people shying away from talking about the harder aspects of motherhood. We come from a culture that just doesn’t talk about the hard stuff. It’s something that is crippling, because we are left searching for answers, security, validation to prove that something isn’t wrong. In reality, most answers can be found within. We need to shed the layer of transparency, share through vulnerability and show up so that other women and mothers are inspired to do the same with their stories.

Kate: Yes! And then in their “me too”, a piece of their experience resonates with you, helping you process aspects of your journey. That’s why women need to be brought together. There is also something about the physical circle that really keeps the dialogue and vulnerability moving freely….

Stay tuned for part TWO!

Join the Our Seva Motherhood Circle

Join Kate and I in the Private Facebook Group where we frequently explore what it means to advocate for the needs of the transforming body. Together, we are shifting the paradigm around what it means to build connection, share through vulnerability, find a new balance, and inspire great change within our motherhood communities. If you like where this dialogue is headed, follow along for weekly themed discussions around identity, maternal mental health, cultural expectations and our sacred service to motherhood.

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