There are many ways to heal.

We can heal on our own, through reading, listening, watching. This is one of the most extraordinary uses of the internet: the world of information is at our fingertips, literally.

We can heal through 1:1 therapy. working weekly or every two weeks with a skilled, loving, attuned guide.

We can heal through spiritual practices like meditation, dreamwork, yoga, prayer, song, dance.

But, one of the most potent ways we heal is in community.

It’s through community conversations and rituals that the possum of shame dares to peek its head out of darkness and into the light of day, When we hears from others who are feeling our same feelings, thinking our same thoughts, and experiencing the underneath threads of the same story (even if the details differ), the shame-possum softens.

There is nothing more potent than telling our stories and feeling seen and heard in the company of safe others that heals shame. Normalization heals shame. And one of the by-products of carrying a mother wound is deep, lifelong shame.

That’s why there are two of my courses that I only offer in a live format, and Healing the Mother Wound is one of them (my 9-month course is the other one).

As Elizabeth from Florida shared of her experience taking the course (you can read her full testimonial on the course page:

“Some other things I loved about this course was the support on the forum. I didn’t write, however, I read through a lot of it. The support is inspiring! The support came from so many angles, which I love. You, Ashley, other forum members. My small group still meets from the recent Break Through Anxiety course and 3 of the 5 of us took the Healing the Mother Wound course. This also felt comforting and beyond blessed to have such amazing support.”

I’m including a new element to the course this year, which I’m very excited about. In addition to the support on the forum and the three live group gatherings, I will be offering the opportunity to pair up with another course member to meet weekly for the duration of the course (and, perhaps, beyond!).

For, at the core, we know that we all need more connection.

One of the greatest gifts of being in this particular community is meeting other like-minded-and-hearted people, which often means other highly sensitive people who are wired to see and experience the world in a very similar way that you are. The temperamental trait of sensitivity combined with a particular area of wounding – in this case, the mother wound – is a connective thread that transcends the other “data points” the define who are you (age, geographic location, etc).

It’s connection that heals. Yes, we must learn how to connect with ourselves, but it’s connecting with others that offers one of the most healing medicines known to humans.

If you are ready to take the next steps to heal the mother wound, I hope you’ll join us for the fifth round of the course, which will start on May 4th, 2024. You can sign up and learn more here. 

Here are the three dates and times for the live meetings. Please note that all meetings will be recorded:

Call 1: Tuesday May 7th at 4pm ET
Call 2: Tuesday May 21st at 11am ET
Call 3: Tuesday June 11 at 4pm ET

Also, if you would like to learn more about the Mother Wound, please listen to this Gathering Gold episode from May 2022. Here’s the episode description:

“Your children are not your children
They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself
They come through you but not from you
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you…”
— from “On Children” by Khalil Gibran

In this episode, we explore the mother wound in its tender, painful, personal, and collective layers. Sheryl shares her gentle approach to exploring this wound, which includes compassion for the generations of mothers wounded by the patriarchy and embrace of “good enough” mothering. She offers a definition and some signs and symptoms of the mother wound, as well as poetry that speaks to her own mother-longings. Victoria and Sheryl reflect on lessons learned from the book Wise Child, by Monica Furlong, and its beautiful depictions of Great Mother love that can help us reclaim our power and free ourselves and each other.