The Healing Cocoon Podcast

In today’s episode of the podcast, we chat with McLean McGown. McLean is a motherhood coach, host of the “Mother the Mother” podcast, a prenatal & postnatal healing expert, postpartum doula, nutritionist, hypnotherapist, Pilates, yoga and meditation teacher, Lactation Educator Counselor, frequency healer, death doula, Reiki practitioner, wife and mother of two daughters, Jemima and Goldy Wolf. She and her family live in Los Angeles. 

After the birth of her first daughter, McLean quickly realized that there was a great need for women to be supported on a deeper level, not only through pregnancy and birth but especially during the postpartum shift. Through her own postpartum journey with little support, McLean made it her mission to show up for other women as the kind of loving support that she wished she’d had.

Mothering Mothers

Pregnancy and childbirth is a sacred, age-old, cultural-crossing experience. Some societies have deeply ingrained support structures for mothers, especially during the first couple postpartum months. However, during her postpartum experience with her first daughter, McLean found out firsthand the many ways in which her surrounding society was not built to support the healing of new mothers in this transitional phase from ‘maiden to mother’. 

And this experience opened her eyes to a world of women who were right there with her, overwhelmed with information, and lacking not only sleep, but a community of support and a roadmap for the healing process. It ignited a passion within her to pursue an educational skill set that could help new mothers in not only the practical, physical ways, but to nurture their spirits and prepare them for a personal growth process that is unique, inevitable, and cathartic—motherhood. Feeling as though it was a dharmic call, she became an advocate and guide for mothering mothers.

The Undeniable Spiritual Journey of Motherhood

It really can’t be avoided. We can’t grow a new life in our own bodies and bring it into this reality without creating the perfect environment for a massive spiritual awakening that forces us to slow down and face our own healing. McLean has now seen firsthand how we cannot power through the transition to motherhood. 

In this informationally evolved day and age that allows mothers access to the most advanced knowledge ever available to any generation of mothers before, she believes that even though it has its benefits, this intellectual understanding also creates a false sense of security, making us think we can navigate the transition without any growth or pain. This is the grand delusion of a purely scientific approach, “We don’t get this massive spiritual journey of motherhood without massive breakthroughs, breakdowns and healing, and that’s what it’s there for,” McLean offers.

Generational Healing

The recovery journey in motherhood is not only completely transformative for mothers, it also offers the redemption of generational healing. When we choose to face our struggles with vulnerability and bravery, and actively seek healing, we are breaking cycles that have been passed down through generations—from grandmother to mother to us and to our own children. It offers a rebirth for all the future generations to come. 

McLean has also observed that when we withhold information from our kids, in an effort to shield and protect them, we are actually doing them a disservice and not equipping them for the inevitable life circumstances they will face. “Whatever you don’t tell them, they will create in their own minds. So we often think we’re protecting them, and we’re not. If you come with a very neutral energy, and very honest energy, they more often than not receive it so beautifully and so well.”

The Trauma and Healing of Birth

Before the first time you give birth, everything about birth is completely theoretical. There is no way to completely prepare for such a tremendous shift that has never been experienced firsthand. And each birth story is so vastly different. 

McLean’s first birth was more traumatic, with complications and unexpected medical interventions. It took her an entire year and a half to feel like she could process and fully work through the event. It’s one of those things where hindsight offers perspective on what could have gone differently, for the better or the worse, but it’s impossible to know any of that until we’ve been through it.

Thankfully, her second birth was a successful, smooth home birth. And although it was still some of the hardest hours of her life, the unexpected turn was that it became a healing experience for her first birth. “No matter what happens in my life, this is a badge of honor I’m giving to myself. It was that profound for me.”

 Learn more about McLean at www.motherthemother.com and find her on social media at @motherthemother.

For the full interview with McLean, listen via the link on this page, thehealingcocoon.co, or find us on Instagram @thehealingcocoonpodcast.