Here's what I've got for you for today:

1) Dismemberment - what is it and what does it look like?

2) Re-membering - the Healing Journey

3) Mother Medicine 6-week Program

DISMEMBERMENT - WHAT IS IT AND WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

Last Friday at our magical Mother Medicine Retreat, I shared about my own dismemberment journey that happened with motherhood.

(if you haven’t heard of the dismemberment concept before, stick with me – it sounds rough, I know… actually, it is rough, but not in the way it sounds...)

I shared how two things happened after my child was born:

1) My heart burst open and I felt like I’d stepped into the most miraculous journey of my life – and was filled with a love I’d never known before;

2) My world cracked open and seemed to shatter into a million different pieces. I couldn’t make sense of how upside down, isolated and lost I felt. Everything changed – the way I saw the world, my relationships, my experience of time, sleep (oh, sleep, how that changed…), relationship to work, life, caregiving, the world, the city. Everything was different.

Dismemberment is a concept in the shamanic world (not intended to be a psychiatric or medical diagnosis) that describes what happens when there is an enormous disruption that changes all we know to be true. The rules change, our understanding of how to relate to the rest of the world changes, we change, and it can feel quite unsettling.

Dismemberment can look all kinds of ways…some moments it can show up include:

When someone experiences trauma – physical or sexual assault, accident, forced migration, or migration, etc.
A significant loss – divorce, death, loss of health, loss of a job or career, etc.
Birth or coming into motherhood (there’s a lot of gain and also a lot of loss)
As a parent, a diagnosis of a physical or mental health condition, or disability in a child
A pandemic that turns the world upside down (that one was a collective dismemberment that was also experienced as an individual dismemberment for many)

RE-MEMBERING - THE HEALING JOURNEY

How do we go back after dismemberment?

We don’t.

There’s no going back (as we learned through COVID), as we've changed.

But as we go forward, we have to be re-membered.

Re-membering. That is the healing journey.

Putting the pieces back together and re-membering how we can be in the world.

And often, when the re-membering process is done well, and with sacred and steady support, we can experience the world feeling more whole, authentically ourselves, and fully present in a way we weren’t before dismemberment.

When I asked the mothers and caregivers in retreat Friday if they resonated with the concept of dismemberment, there was a Zoom room full of nodding heads and hands raised.

A lot of re-membering, some of it in process, some needing to be done.

MOTHER MEDICINE 6-WEEK PROGRAM

In support of re-membering and creating a village to help the process, I’m offering Mother Medicine– a 6 week program born of my re-membering journey.

This is a program to help mothers and caregivers go from isolation, overwhelm, and struggle to re-membering who they are on their path, and finding connection, calm and confidence again.

If you're a mother (or caregiver) who could use some extra care, connection, and support, this if for you.

If you're a mother of a highly sensitive child, a neurodivergent child, an LGBTQ child figuring out their identity, or a kiddo struggling with mental and physical health challenges, you may need an extra dose of mother medicine, and this is for you.

If you are or you know a mom or caregiver struggling with self-care and a sense of resilience while caring for kids, please join, or share this invitation.

We need our safe and connected “village” on the journey – and this is a place for moms to receive that. Along with a whole set of tools and resources to help with our own resilience and nervous system wellness, all of which helps us support our kids in their resilience.

For all of us, the more we consciously we re-member, individually and collectively, and the more consciously we walk in the world, the greater our capacity to serve, lead, parent, heal, bring hope and heal the world.

Remember, the world needs you well.

And the kids do, too.

With love and many blessings,

Kelly

P.S. As you read this, does the dismemberment concept resonate for you? Have you experienced what feels like dismemberment - whether in motherhood, relationships, work or health? What has helped you to re-member? Please share. I'd love to hear from you.

Note: Dismemberment is not intended to be a formal diagnosis or substitution for any medical or psychiatric diagnosis.

Kelly Lubeck, MPH, RYT