Caitlin Priday

Postpartum tips #1 - My Postpartum Trolley

In late pregnancy I watched go through her postpartum and I was so inspired by her postpartum trolley as it was never something I had thought about before. I went and got mine from Kmart for $20 and it was the best money I ever spent.

As my postpartum began, it became a living altar, a place so easily accessible that I could continue lying down but have everything at my fingertips.

In my top tier I had everything I needed to heal.
- Socks
- Faja/Rebozo for belly binding
- Ointments
- Painkillers (for my foo foo)
- Essential oils
- Baby wipes
- Ni**le cream
- Silverettes
- Speaker
- Room clearing sprays

In my second tier was Maple related
- Socks
- Swaddles/Muslin cloths
- Burp rags
- Nappies
- Sleep suits

In my third tier:
- Extra water
- Pajamas/extra tops/undies for night sweats

That freed up my bedside table for all my food. Every morning .cormick would set me up with morning snacks such as lactation cookies, ladoo, berries and cream, honey and bee pollen. He would then serve me a warming bowl of food such as congee, soup or scrambled eggs so my digestive tract could heal quicker. I was also loaded up with an ongoing thermos of hot herbal tea, another with a milky sweet tea and always a large bottle of water. Vases of flowers always made their way to my table, often replenished by my dear doula’s .margot and . Everything was sweet, soft and pink. I was able to relax, replenish and let go as I was so lovingly tended to by the women and man in my life.

I truly believe this alone set me up for incredible lifelong vitality and also a healthy menopause, when the time comes. They say the way a woman treats her first 40 days post birth will set her up for the rest of her life. I have to say I agree. Now being almost 6 months PP my hair and skin have never looked better. I feel vitality, even amongst my sleep deprivation. I honestly believe this is due to how I approached my sacred window ❤️

Next tips coming soon ⭕️

2 hours of sleep and when we woke up I was a new woman. I’d never been able to see my birth. And now I knew why.

Leah looked me in the eye and said ‘it’s time to call upon your ancestors’ and that I did. Māori ancestors came by my side, along with a bunch of spirit animals from my shamanic crew and I accessed my body consciousness in a whole new way. Connecting with the obsidian arrow I met a new found appreciation for my sense of determination and focus. A tenacious bitch, that’s me!

For 2 hours I focused on getting my deflexed baby down and out. Not a small feat for my semi numb body and a head not easily rotating.
By this stage I was done, I was ready for my baby to be out of me.

My final surrender. What I wanted and what I’d planned had gone and I was left with a choice. Could I finally let go after holding on for so long?

I signed the papers to go to theatre, even though I begged to stay in the room for an instrumental birth. A miracle occurred.

A brilliant OB came in, took one look inside me and said ‘no, you can birth in here, are you ok if I flick her hand out of the way?’

Not just deflexed, a hand on the chin. Our eternal thinker, slow and considerate. Now it was time for me to get my own head back on, taking 30 seconds to breathe and recollect myself. I was about to meet my baby.

A gentle flick got her head back into the right position and within three contractions and assistance from the vacuum and a cut, out she came.

Straight onto my chest, I met my vibrant, crying red baby. A short cord and small placenta, I was shocked! No one interfering with us, I got her straight onto my boobie, her cord and placenta still in tact. For 2 hours we let her cord pulse, collecting her placenta in her precious labrynth bowl by

Instantly a mother and father, Jackson and I were elated with our wild journey into parenthood. Our darling red headed Maple Rose-Blossom, here with us at last.

The lessons, oh the lessons.
So many take homes, where to even begin?

Cont. below ⬇️

Screaming for water, the pool, some kind of mercy I got in and found myself submerged in my one true love. Water, oh merciful water. Swinging on .birth.sling I found some reprieve, certain my baby would be here soon. Maybe she would be born en caul after all!

But then the bite of posterior continued and I begged for mercy again. This time it came in the wasp sting of sterile water injections. Hysteria on the beside as I wept at the extreme pain to be met with relief. A reprieve from excruciating posterior pain (IYKYK!)

The morning continued with up and down steps, new positions, lunges, more crying, showers, Spinning Babies.. working hard and working Jackson hard as well.

Midday came and I needed something or someone else. A new energy to shift my perspective. So I called my dear friend Kate for moral support and she was able to come, what a miracle! Within the hour Kate arrived with her drum and a fresh energy as I was on the IV drip. I was losing my ground by this point… exhausted, hungry and very over it.

I got myself back into the pool and with support of my whole team around me, I found myself in transition. Soaring through the cosmos I found her soul in a special place, immersed in deep primordial trance I exited the here and there. I was nothing and everything.

But within my body I felt the obstruction of her waters against my cervix. Sinewy and firm, I wanted to pop them. But with that was a risk of transfer if I presented with meconium. Maple had a perfect heart rate and I had no worries so I made the choice, knowing this was the next thing to mentally overcome. And so we did.

As I laid on the bed, sure I’d have my baby with me soon once we got these waters out of the way, I flooded meconium everywhere. Not just a little, a lot. Green liquid dripping, I couldn’t help but internally laugh. My biggest fear arrived. I now had to transfer to Tweed. The weaving of my own story of birth inevitably weaving its way into Maple’s to force me to surrender and let go.

Within my own deep knowing that I’d end up in hospital, I’d packed all our bags and written us a list. Within minutes the ambulance arrived. This was it, we were going.

Cont.below ⬇️

The days leading up to my birth were truly ecstatic. I’d had a mentally challenging pregnancy and to feel the wonder and awe of creation move through me was a wonderful thing.

On Monday the 2nd of October .cormick and I went swimming in Bruns river. I felt sunshine bursting from my veins. I was huge and so deeply within my birthing goddess archetype.

That night my back was aching like a dull period pain all night long. When I awoke on the Tuesday I felt myself swimming in the liminal space, a portal had opened and I was inside it. I wanted to smudge the house, close the curtains and be quiet and alone. Our midwife was coming that afternoon so I laid in bed all day with the curtains closed feeling myself floating through energetic doorways.

came over to see Jackson for a massage that afternoon just as i found I was already 2cm and enjoyed dilating with me in joyous gentle bliss 🤣

As the evening got darker I was ready to go deeply within. Jackson finished what he needed to do and we lit the birth altar and played music. We made love on the lounge room floor knowing we were going to meet our daughter.

My mum came upstairs around 11 and I said my famous last words ‘wow this is so amazing, I don’t know what women complain about’ 🤣
Mum replied ‘let’s see how you are in a few hours..’

Cont. below ⬇️

This year I’m so proud to have birthed not one but TWO babies 🥰PRESALE for our Nourishing Those Who Nurture: More than a Preconception Guide to Conscious Conception book is now LIVE!⁠

My incredible business partner .hormone.suite Tahlia and I are such an amazing team and working together on something we love and live so deeply is just such an easeful dream. Bringing this incredible new book to the world was a joyous journey! Much easier than my actual birth 🤣

Many people have reached out to me personally on here asking for preconception advice. I’ve also seen countless women in clinic now looking for where to start, with fertility being such a huge and vast world it can feel incredibly overwhelming. I’m so happy to say we have put together the ultimate preconception guide written not just for women but also for men!⁠
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In this incredibly informative book we cover all the bases such as:⁠
- understanding your menstrual cycle for conception⁠
- egg health for women⁠
- s***m health for men⁠
- all the different aspects of health you should look at for preconception ⁠
- practical tools such as warming the womb, yoni steaming, looking after your health and beyond⁠
- emotional and ceremonial preparation for being ready to call in your spirit baby⁠
- 60+ nutrient dense recipes to get your body ready⁠
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and soooo much more!⁠
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Tahlia and I have both tried and tested the info in this book (with baby success!) and we are thrilled to bring our years of lived knowledge and expertise into one place to help support and celebrate the beginning and continuation of thriving families.⁠
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We love this book! And we think you will too!⁠
Presale ordering available via the link in our Nourishing IG. Orders due Autumn 2024 🙏
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All our love! Hope you enjoy this as much as we did putting it together for you ❤️

Some vulnerable words on the process of early motherhood and my journey of self worth as I become someone’s entire world ❤️

Her Mother -

Does she love me?
I wonder as her ant sized fingernails scratch at my breasts like a kitten for more milk

Will she love her dad more than me?
As she crawls her tiny body closer to mine in the darkness, thumping my legs like she once did my ribs

Will I be enough of a mother?
As I wash, sing, caress, dry her tears, feed and grow her from my body

Am I doing this right?
As my intuition guides me, as her breathe becomes mine in the dark of the night, her body next to mine

Will she forget about me?
As her eyes dart at the sound of my voice, even with her misty new eyes

But will she love me?
As she lays on my chest, consoled by skin, our hearts beating as one

Am I enough?
Me, her entire world, her life line to this body and earth

Her mother ⭕️

PSA for 2024 birthings (not a baby this time 🤣)📢

As I slowly exit my birth portal I feel called to share my proposed calendar for work.
As much as I am divinely in love with my mothering phase, I always knew my work would still remain and after some epic little drop ins with my business spirit I’m excited to share what I’m planning for next year ❤️

- Kinesiology clinic will be reopen from April/May onwards with a maximum of 5 sessions a week. These will be a no cancellation policy due to the nature of my current life ❤️ I will open my books to new clients as well. Sessions available in person in New Brighton and online.

- ‘Holy Mother’ kinesiology treatment plans for preconception, pregnant and post-partum mums to help prepare for and integrate blocks and fears surrounding birth. A mother mentoring so to speak 🙏

- ‘Fertile Waters’ energetic preconception programme, a 3 month journey for all those wishing to call in the spirit of birthing something new whether baby, business or creative project, launching Winter Solstice (more info to come) 💧

- our new book on Preconception preparation due March/April 2024 📖😍 (it’s a good one!)

I’ve also got a new style of session currently brewing away and will be looking forward to some collaboration next year as well 🔥

Looking forward to seeing some new and old faces next year, meeting me as the new upgraded me 🥰 it’s been quite the ride to get here and I cannot wait to share and support you all.

All my love,
Caitlin x
🌹⭕️🌸

Exiting my 40 days has been a huge journey into the big wide world.

I’m seeing things with new open eyes, along with learning to work with a vulnerability I’ve never let myself lean into before. Things feel simultaneously more overwhelming than ever, whilst also beautiful, new and raw.

As I continue to journey through my own post partum, I am reminded of my own journey prior to this supporting lots of post-Partum women over their own journeys. And to be really transparent, I partly cringe at some of the ways I acted and spoke, despite having the best intentions at heart.

In many ways I was a clumsy maiden, so desperate and excited to help, but not fully and deeply aware at the delicacies and sensitivities that a post-partum woman is living within, especially in those first months after having her baby.

The amplification of energy is the thing I’m noticing most. As though the portal of birth has opened me to a whole new dimension and I’m learning how to dance within it, baby in tow.

Honouring post-partum is a gift to the body, mind and soul. Allowing ourselves to crumble so we can rise from the ashes of the Maiden honours the Mother who is being born from within us.

I’m still meeting this new me and I will be for a long while. With delicacy, sensitivity and respect. If you have a new mother in your world, I invite you to meet her with this energy too.

📸 me in the earliest days of PP, when softness flowed out of me like honey

It is with great joy that as I celebrate being 8 months pregnant I am backing the truck out of Instagram to go into the nest of our home and prepare for our big transition into a family of 3.

I just wanted to say a huge amount of thanks and gratitude to my online community on here that’s been such a massive blessing in my life. I’ve learnt so much from this platform and the community engagement has been one of a kind.

I’ve grown a small business into a thriving little clinic and I am so deeply grateful for all the referrals, testimonials and word of mouth that’s allowed me to work a job of my dreams, all from the safety and comforts of my own home.

I’m so thankful to all my clients, in all the ways you’ve touched my heart and soul and taught me so much about myself as a human and as a clinician. The mirror effect of being a therapist is truly one of a kind and I am so thankful to grow alongside my clients and be able to step deeper and deeper into myself along side you. I can’t wait to come back to work as a new me in 2024.

Next year sessions will look a little different as I bring an array of new offerings to the table, along with (hopefully!) reviving some of my shamanic work (baby dependant). Session spots will be limited ❤️ I assume I’ll be back to part time work around May next year and online workshop offerings just after that. But let’s just see what baby girl thinks is good 😊

I’ll be back on here in a few months time, joyfully ready to share my post partum journey. We won’t be sharing our daughter or her birth story online but I see the extreme value of sharing a well supported post partum and I cannot wait to experience it first hand in the loving hands of my support team and close community.

And finally I would like to say my deepest thanks to my mentor who has been the back bone to my business. She’s taught me how to hold power, harness energy and most importantly run a clinic with psychic hygiene that’s ensured I didn’t burn out in the first year of clinic (which unfortunately many clinicians do). I wouldn’t be who I am without you Shazzy, thank you🙏

See you all on the other side of the birth portal ❤️
All my love,
Caitlin x

Today I’m celebrating my man. The man who has helped me become a mother. The big daddy himself .cormick

Today our favourite funny guy turns 30 and what a wild ride it’s been alongside him. I could fill the slides with lots of humurous photos over the years, but it feels important to honour him as he enters a new decade and embodies the role he was born to be - a dad.

Our whacko Jacko is one of a kind and anyone that knows him personally and deeply knows that beneath his calm, steady persona lies a wild, strange, unique dude with a heart of gold, patience of a saint and compassion of a Buddha. He’s an entire galaxy and I’m so lucky to live my days with someone so kind, consistent and bizarre 🤪

Watching him grow over our five year relationship has been watching a boy dedicate himself into a more focused, determined and steadfast man. I’ve watched him bloom into many new versions of himself, whilst also staying the strong and all knowing version of himself that he always is. He is calm, safe and secure with a healthy dose of spice and fun.

It’s been a huge year for us as we watch my body transform into the home of our daughter. And even though she hasn’t physically arrived yet, I get the glimpses of the father Jackson will be and I am so excited that our daughter will get the best gift of all - a loving, warm and present father. She is so lucky to have him as her masculine role model and to know love every time she will look into his eyes.

So happy new decade to my lover, best friend, partner, team mate and most frustrating challenger. My soulmate who shows up every day and forces us both to grow. It’s had all the colours of the rainbow but I am so lucky to walk this journey by your side ❤️ 🌈

Happy birthday my lion love 🦁

(These photos are by for our next book and what an incredible keepsake for our baby girl one day 🌸)

In March this year I completed a training with Sharon and our team that was probably the biggest, most intense and profound training I’ve done yet. Hence the elongated amount of time it’s taken me to share as the journey itself was a ripple effect into months that almost felt as though it was lifetimes.

Our Soul Constellations ® training felt like a quantum leap, to summarise it, if that’s even possible.

I’ve journeyed alongside the incredible practitioners in the second photo for six or so years and we have travelled many dimensions together prior to this training. However Soul Constellations took us somewhere completely new, uncharted territory that asked us to delve deeply into our own wounds, soul lessons, our energy as a group and the art of true, unmasked authenticity and vulnerability within and with each other. It was one of the biggest weeks of my life, if only to meet the rawness of my human experience, exposed to our group on every level.

Sharon showed us the true mastery of her work through this training and I was yet again flawed by the depths that she took us into, the places of truth and wisdom that her soul and spirit team possess. Sharon, thank you for being a conduit for this work for the world. It is a true, deep honour to hold the frequency of this work.

I look forward to offering Soul Constellations ® sessions to my individual and group work when I return from maternity leave next year. They are deep, soul quenching sessions that show us the truth of who we really are and ask us to step deeper into who and why we are here at this time. I believe this work is a remedy for our humanity and a much needed exhale in being truly, deeply seen on all levels.

Deepest gratitude to all the divinity that led me to the White Dragon lineage and Sharon all those years ago. They have moulded me from Maiden into Mother and I wouldn’t be who I am today without this support and guidance from my treasured mentor and fellow soul voyagers. 🌈 🐉🙏

My final offering for quite some time ❤️
And what a potent one it was last time 🔥

Volcanic Woman is a self discovery journey to access the spirit of ‘Sacred Rage’ - that which is primordial, primal and inherently our access point for understanding our boundaries and where they have been crossed, whether by us or others.

In our ‘Good Girl’ society, women have become numb to their anger as a tool for transformation and change. Being critical of having boundaries, being afraid of speaking up, fear of saying no, fear of isolation or alienation or suppressing or numbing uncomfortable feelings such as intensity or frustration are some symptoms of running the ‘Good Girl’ programme.

Women have become programmed through years of Ancestral patterning and trauma to be afraid of their own power, voice and magick. This programme aims to be a safe and grounded container to experience the transmutation from within so that Anger does not sit turned inwards, making us sick, frustrated or unable to access our own boundaries when the moment asks for it.

This will not be a journey of unbridled rage, but a 5 week online journey of stepping into the power of the Volcano within, learning how to accept and identify our feelings of rage, the emotions and experiences that lay beneath them, the allowance of feeling the emotions and a guided journey into igniting and experiencing clean anger.

We will embody our experience of Sacred Rage in a ceremonial container, held and supported by the some special plant spirits and Deva’s of the Obsidian and the Volcano.

This programme is inspired and supported by the Obsidian Spirit of programme and Volcanic Woman will be held within in a White Dragon Template of transformation and change. Deep love and gratitude to the White Dragon Lineage for the support and guidance within offering this work.

To sign up:
http://www.caitlinpriday.com/page/volcanicwoman
Payment plans available
Looking forward to this sacred journey together 🔥 🌋

A love story between my body and I.
A returning to a familiar but oh so different place.
A new me, quietly birthing herself as I expand into someone I’ve never met before.

My blooming womb.
My daughters first home.
Her secret watery chambers where we speak in telepathy.
Just her and I, spirits entwined as one.
I share with her my deepest secrets, my innermost thoughts and feelings and she responds with wiggles and fierce kicks.
I know she can hear me.

A roller coaster of emotions.
So deeply exposed.
Surrendering to my vulnerability and new capacity.
My body no longer just mine.

Pregnancy, what a trip.
Mine, not the glow story.
Mine, a deep dive into the shadow realms.
Mine, retrieving all aspects of long, lost feminine to teach my daughter that she can be wild and free and still be in her essence of feminine beauty.
Mine, a long awaited journey.

Not what I expected but exactly what I needed.

Pics for our new book due later this year by ❤️

Last week I closed my two containers for both online and in person. We journeyed three months together working with Obsidian, the master reflector and mirror medicine, a true ally for all women who embark on this incredible journey.

Deepest thanks to the 30 women who trusted the spirits of this work through this journey and the continual showing up it took to go deeper into yourselves. You will forever be the Boundaries groups and I am thrilled to have witnessed you all claiming your power back and empowering yourselves in this way 🔥

My deepest thanks to Sharon for the birthing of this programme and the courage it took to bring it out into the world. As the work evolves I witness more layers of what it took for you to birth this and it is an incredible thing to deepen into. I see you ❤️

And of course my deepest gratitude to the ever evolving spirit alliance with The Empress, The Dragon and the Obsidian Deva’s and the miracles they create for all those who walk through the gates of this programme. It is a joy to have been in service to them once again and to assist their work in the physical realm so that more women could heal.

This time around I facilitated pregnant and it was a huge and beautiful experience for me to be at the control panel whilst also growing my daughter. I will be putting down Obsidian for some time, perhaps forever, as I pass the torch onto some trusted and incredible facilitators to set free this programme and touch the hearts and wombs of so many more women so that they can heal and be held in such an incredibly potent and powerful programme.

It’s been a privilege to facilitate and serve this work all these years and it has moulded me into the woman I am today. I am so fortunate that this has been apart of my path, what a lucky women I am ⭕️

I’ll be back with but in a new form, eventually. I can’t wait ❤️

Art by the amazing .klerks

It’s taken me a moment to get to this sharing, but it’s something I knew was necessary to do because what I’ve learnt from the last few months is more people need to speak to this more as until I spoke up, I didn’t realise how common it is.

What I’m talking about here is Prenatal Depression ❤️

I’ve had a lot of guilt arise over this experience, mostly because in terms of a physical experience our pregnancy journey has been mostly easeful. I didn’t have the classic 3 month nausea and vomiting, so I was viewing my experience through a view point that I’ve had it easy. However as I experience under methylation, digesting my new hormones has been an incredibly bumpy ride and one I felt I needed to share in the hopes I can help any others mothers along their journeys.

My pregnancy up until the last few weeks has been a big mental journey for me, mostly because I experienced a large amount of depression that I really didn’t expect. As most of you know we have prepared for this baby for a long time and we wanted her so deeply. When my depression kicked in I was overcome with shame and guilt that I would be having an experience like this when I wanted my baby so badly.

I’ve experienced overwhelming anxiety, so bad that it kept me up most nights in the first few weeks. I was petrified of losing our baby, along with worrying at every moment my heightened emotions would be ‘ruining’ her and setting up trauma for her early in. This obviously didn’t help my anxiety, which spiralled me out in more ways than I realised.

Thankfully with the support of my brilliant midwife, doula and a bunch of precious friends who have walked this before me, I was able to let go of the worry of my pregnancy and let myself crack open to the new me that I’m birthing, along with my daughter.

CONT BELOW

Last week I finally received a certificate that encapsulates so much. Completing my Diploma in Kinesiology is so much more than just a piece of paper.

I first walked into Parijat’s office only a year after my dad died. I was seeking something to take my mind off my grief and also something to put into my tool belt that would help people across every aspect of their life. What followed became the most incredible journey of healing for myself personally as I learnt a craft I’d spent my whole life looking for.

I first received a kinesiology session when I was 14 from my friends mum and I consequently got followed by the spirit of kinesiology throughout the following years of my life in moments of true crisis and need of repair.

Through learning this modality I’ve leant into my many edges to truly show up as a practitioner, how to be a professional, how to listen well, how to speak to anyone and most importantly how to allow someone’s story to truly be heard through their all knowing body.

In our classroom I made friends for life and healed the classic classroom trauma that so many of us face. I also found my niche, a clinic for women that specialises with trauma, grief, body shame, anxiety, thought loops and so much more.

My deepest thanks to my wise crone Parijat for her gentle, intuitive ways of teaching that have touched my soul forever. And to my interstate mentor Bianca who led me to this college, mentored me and got me over the finish line with so much support and encouragement for my journey.

I’m thrilled to have found my calling and in turn help others in return. I am so beyond grateful to have a thriving clinic where I can welcome people just as they are and help them in the way Kinesiology has helped me. I adore this work, it is so deeply profound and the thousands of hours of work this piece of paper represents means to me cannot be encapsulated in words.

If you haven’t tried it, you simply must ❤️ it may just change your world the way it did mine 🙏

Today I just wanted to celebrate the wonderful array of women that circulate my life.

It has been a big journey for me with sisterhood wounds. One I’m not fully healed from, that still has its moments that circulate into my dream space and every day life.
But one I’ve wanted to tackle head on because I believe in the power of sisters, of women, of our magical innate beauty that resides within us all.

It’s been coming up a lot lately as I prepare to run Obsidian again. This wound always shows it’s face in the lead up to running the workshop. Because if you’re not getting smashed with your own medicine prior to running a workshop, are you even running a workshop? 🤣

Owning my place within the wounds of sisterhood has also been an important missing piece to this puzzle. In the last few months I’ve had to really sit within my own parts of friendship breakdowns and come to true forgiveness for my self and the others to finally let it go. I’ve had to wholly and fully love them and then myself to release myself from the binds of shame, guilt and anger so we could both truly be free.

It hasn’t been easy work to own my shadow in the realm of sisterhood wounding, but there is nothing more important to me than to energetically claim my 50% so I can then move on.

It’s taken me years to call in women who truly see and cherish me as the wild force that I am. And I am so grateful to look around me in the reflections of beautiful feminine and know I am loved, supported and held just as I am.

To my wonderful, special women who are in my inner world, you are my world. I couldn’t do it without you. You’re not all pictured here (I need to get more pictures) but you know who you are and what we share and that is worth it’s weight in gold.

If you want to be closer with women, look inside at the parts of you that have fear and resistance and make an effort to heal them. We all deserve sisterhood where we are fully cherished in the colourful rays that we are and deserve to feel challenged and fulfilled by the women around us, rather than torn down.

Women are a precious gift and I am so glad to be one ❤️