WHAT IS MATRESCENCE?
For the Love of Mum is devoted to creating and holding space for Mothers, by cultivating an understanding of Matrescence.
Matrescence encompasses every aspect of a mother's body, identity and reality.
According to Dr Aurelie Athan, matrescence is:
"The process of becoming a mother, coined by Dana Raphael, Ph.D. (1973), it is a
developmental passage where a woman transitions through preconception, pregnancy and birth, surrogacy or adoption, to the postnatal period and beyond.
The exact length of matrescence is individual, recurs with each child, and may arguably last a lifetime!
The scope of the changes encompass multiple domains - bio-psycho-social-political -spiritual and can be likened to the developmental push of adolescence"
"Matrescence... the time of mother-becoming"~ Dana Raphael
When you became a mother, you split in two: who you used to be, and The Mother.
And Matrescence is about exploring what that split is, and how to bring your whole self back together again.
How do you do this?
Starting with self-compassion, and an understanding of the gift of Matrescence.