Physio Laura

I am writing this to you from the sand.

Sunshine on my face.

Watching epic surfers catch big waves.

Sipping slowly on my coffee and listening to an epic birth podcast.

Life on the road has been incredible so far.

There has inevitably been moments of challenge, friction, discomfort and “ahhh we don’t know what we’re doing!” but we have never regretted leaving.

We have never wished we didn’t do this.

It has been amazing and exactly what we needed as a family unit.

The kids are thriving.

And my hubby and I are finally learning how to properly relax!

I have found it hard to “switch on” for social media and work if I’m honest.

I’ve not felt like wanting to open my phone and connect in with the digital world, but instead to just soak up exactly what is right in front of me.

So part of this email is to check in with you all and let you know where I’m at but also to update you on what you can expect from me right now.

Bad news: I am going to pause the weekly emails for the time being.

Good news: I going to resume the podcast! I recorded a whole bunch of amazing interviews before we left and I am itching to get them into your ears! They are so inspiring for any pregnant or post-natal mamas out there.

Speaking of pregnancy…

I am almost halfway through my pregnancy with baby number 4!

I am feeling so good and so grateful. My belly has popped right out and I am enjoying this slower pace and time to connect.

I think a big part of me pulling back from sharing like I usually do is that inwardness and reflection that pregnancy sometimes draws us into. Have you felt that before?

So for now if you’d love to connect, the podcast is the place I’ll be hanging out!

Thank you so much for being here each week and being the most wonderful community.

Many of you have been reading these posts for years and I have so much appreciation for your support.

It’s not a goodbye, just a “see you later” 👋

I interviewed the incredible Jane Hardwicke Collings this week for the podcast (stay tuned because you’ll love this episode!) and we had the most interesting discussion around rites of passage and our menstrual cycles.

And what I really took from the conversation was that how we are initiated into one rite of passage, is often how we’ll enter to the next one.

For example… an unfortunately common scenario for our initiation into menarche looks like…

Shame.

Embarrassment.

Subconscious beliefs that are bodies are broken or flawed.

The desire to hide our blood and act as if we aren’t bleeding.

To power on through, rather than rest when we need it.

To take medication to stop our cycles or to numb the pain.

Often then we will enter into birth with these same beliefs…

That our bodies are flawed or broken.

That we need to take medication or pain relief to manage our wombs.

That we can’t trust ourselves, or bodies or our intuition.

It was such an interesting thing to reflect on my own journey through these rites of passages and how I want to change this for my daughters.

This might be interesting food for thought for you… regardless of which rite of passage you might be nearing, what beliefs and fears are you taking into the next rite of passage in your life?

Or what are you trying to change for your daughters and sons?

We’ve been deep in the trenches of sorting out everything we own and selling/donating it all before we pack up and live in a caravan.

After spending the best part of last week turning our house into a demolition site as we prepare for all of this… I learnt a thing or two.

✨ I don’t really care for material possessions, they don’t do much for me. I much prefer experiences, connection with others and fun!

✨ Having too many possessions actually weighs me down energetically. Letting go of it all has felt SO freeing.

✨Whenever I’ve felt overwhelmed by how much there is to do, I keep finding peace in remembering “Just one step at a time”.

✨The kids are thriving in the chaos because they are so great at turning anything into imaginary play or an adventurous set up

✨Regular bouts of nature time and play is helping us all get through the hard work required to transition

✨Asking for help is…. helpful ;-)

What are your top tips for big life transitions or moving house?

📸 of what I'm imagining A LOT of our upcoming trip will look like!

I was interviewed on a podcast this week chatting all about birth and specifically VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean).

One of the questions was “What factors set women up for a higher success rate of VBAC?”.

And I noticed I felt a little queasy at the question. For many reasons.

✨ Because I find a “successful VBAC” a hard term to define. What is success? That the baby came out that way? Or that the birth was epic and empowered? That the mother felt safe and cared for?
✨ Because I know how it feels to your self confidence when you are told your personal circumstances deem you “less likely to succeed” at anything, let alone birth.
✨ And nowhere in this research of what factors make you more or less likely to succeed at VBAC included how safe and trusting your care provider and birth environment was. Which we know (from the data) is fundamental to influencing your VBAC experience.

Don’t worry I answered this question very well, but it certainly provoked a lot of thoughts for me!

It got me thinking about how often we are using information, criteria and labels to define what is and isn’t possible for us.

Rather than using it as ONE piece of information, in a whole army of tools, to help us make decisions for our lives.

Where we also rely on other tools such as internal motivation and desire, intuition and what feels good for us.

Classic examples of this are:

✨ If school tells you you have a learning disorder and you will struggle with reading.

✨ If your OB tells you you have a big baby and you will struggle with a vaginal birth.

✨ If your human design astrology chart tells you you are multi-passionate and will never stick to and see out anyone project to it’s completion.

I absolutely can see how helpful this sort of information can be, I just wonder if we use it to help us or hinder us?

What are your thoughts?

I think I said only a few short months ago that “You can have it all!”.

Ha, well I’m sorry but I’d like to formally retract that comment and follow up with a new statement that feels more correct for me…

“You can have anything you want, but not all at once”.

A mentor of mine recently said that she was at her most unhappy when her expectations were far different to her current reality.

And I deeply resonated with this.

In this season of life, I kept aiming high.

“I CAN HAVE IT ALL” I’d say!

I can mother 3 young kids with patience and presence.

I can have an abundant business that feels spacious and leveraged.

I can have an amazing marriage.

An engaged social life.

A clean and tidy home

Organic and delicious meals on the table every night.

Keep fit and strong.

Meditate every day….

DON’T TELL ME I CAN’T HAVE IT ALL!

But every time I was aiming to do.it.all, I was feeling friction. An ever present disappointment that I was just never quite where I wanted to be. I was never fully where I was, because I wanted to be elsewhere. Doing more, achieving more.

Ironically aiming for more, was actually making me more disappointed and frustrated with my reality.

I thought that adjusting my expectations to meet my reality of the season that I am in was depressing and mediocre. I’ve always been a high achiever, always wanted to be better, always aiming for more.

But there is so much power in acceptance and surrender.

Acknowledging that I’ve got a lot of my plate right now, and that that’s OK and that there will be a season later in my life where I feel ready to ramp up the pace on things like business, social life or my current fitness goals.

That it’s OK to park some dreams for the moment.

It’s actually liberating.

I wonder what your beliefs are around “having it all?

PODCAST BREAK - we'll be back shortly!

This week's podcast episode is a little life and podcast update for you all.

We are busy behind the scenes getting ready for a RE-LAUNCH of the podcast.

New name, new energy!

In the mean time I would love to hear your feedback on what you'd love to see on the podcast.

Is there a guest you'd LOVE for me to interview?

Is there a topic you'd LOVE for me to cover?

Comment on this post below and let me know

I have some very clever friends around me… and recently one of them ( - check her out if you’re a parent, she’s fabulous!) shared a podcast episode about ways to help us regulate ourselves with our kids and all of their BIG feelings.

And the question she posed to us was “What is my most generous interpretation of this?”.

It got me thinking about how important this question is for everyone and everything in our life.

How it can invite us to be more loving and compassionate in our daily life.

For me in this last week, I have had numerous examples of how I could apply this.

1. My kids broke our USB cord in the car (for the second time) and my initial reaction was “Far out, they are so reckless. They don’t care to look after their things and they will grow up to be irresponsible citizens”…. then I checked myself and asked how I could most generously interpret this. “Well actually they were having fun and trying to play music and they’re so young and they pulled the cord a little rougher than necessary and it simply broke”.

2. I asked my husband if I could duck out for a kid-free beach walk before he started work and he sighed and said “Yep sure”. I instantly thought “He doesn’t care about my self-care time. He doesn’t value the motherhood load or understand just how taxing it is to be with the kids all day”. Then I asked myself what the most generous interpretation of this could be and I realised “Oh he actually just really wants to spend time with me right now and he shows me so many ways that he values me and my mothering and my time for myself… it’s just that he wanted to connect with me this morning”.

3. I bumped into a friend this week and got a weird vibe. Something seemed off. My mind went straight to defensive mode “Have I done something wrong that I’m not aware of? Is she upset at me for some reason?” and then I asked myself what is the most generous interpretation of this and I came to “She could be tired, have had a rough night with the kids, had an argument with her partner, found out some bad news… whatever it is, it probably has nothing to do with me and how I can be more loving and compassionate rather than defensive about this weird vibe”.

These are just a few of the many examples of where I love using this question to be more loving and compassionate.

I wonder where you might be able to ask yourself this question this week?

We’re in the thick of transition in our life right now.

Packing up our entire house, and selling majority of our possessions.

Whilst also trying to understand how to live as a family of 5 in a caravan (we’ve never caravanned before!) and tow this absolute beast!

And in my weaker moments I’ve pondered “Why in the world are we doing this?!”.

It’s not easy, by any stretch of the imagination. Doing all of this whilst still caring for 3 young children and running a social life and a business.

But is it worth it? Hell yes!

I keep coming back to the question…. “If not now, then when?”.

There will NEVER be a time in my life when I think… “Oh I most certainly have the space, capacity and patience to pack up our entire life and live in a caravan”.

It’s never going to magically happen and you can bet I won’t be waiting around for that unicorn moment to appear to go out and live my wildest dreams.

It’s going to take confidence, and grit, and hard work. It won’t always be easy. But again, it’ll be SO worth it.

So I wonder if this resonates with you? Where in your life right now are you putting off something you really want…. and then maybe ask yourself “If not now, then when?”

I had such a profound experience with my daughter this week that reminded me how much trust I have cultivated in my body (and hers) and how much my perspective on birth has shifted.

So let me set the scene…

She went to bed complaining of a sore tummy at 8pm. Fast forward to 4am and we finally fell asleep after many many hours of discomfort and vomiting.

I noticed that I didn’t panic, I trusted that her body was moving through this exactly as it needed to.

I held space for her and witnessed her. I didn’t interfere, just merely offered comfort and gave it if she wanted it.

I watched her walking around, squatting down, moving her body in ways that only she knew how to help herself.

I rubbed her back when she vomited and told her that even though this was yucky and she didn’t like it, that this was exactly what needed to happen and her body was doing an amazing job.

I noticed at times when I wanted to just do something to “fix this” for her… to stop the discomfort and put her out of her misery, but again came back to reminding myself that this was all happening as it needed to and to trust her body.

I noticed myself wondering “how long will this take?!” because I was tired and obviously realllllly wanted to sleep. But I reminded myself that her body knows what to do, and she won’t vomit forever.

Alls this to say - I felt like I was a doula to her experience.

It reminded me so much of the importance of trusting birth.

Of witnessing a woman in her experience, rather than interfering.

Of allowing a woman to move through her labour and discomfort without needing to “fix it” or “put her out of her pain”.

Of trusting that her body was doing what it needed to.

Such a profound experience for me.

And fortunately when we both woke at 9am, my daughter was feeling totally fine and had moved through all of her release and was back to being her normal self!

I had a week last week.

My wick was short. My patience was low. I was feeling irritable and I just couldn’t quite find my centre and ground myself like I usually can.

I was listening to a podcast (someone I often love listening to!) and she was talking about tips to thrive and love your life, and in particular motherhood.

And I knew I was playing the “victim” mode when I noticed my inner dialogue being like…

“Oh well easy for YOU to say, you only have one kid!”

“Oh that must be soooo hard for you that your child woke once in the night - I haven’t slept properly for years!”

“Oh I’d love to get up 2 hours before my child and sauna/meditate/exercise like you but they would just wake up when I left the bed!”

And so on….

I was laughing out loud at how ridiculous and childish I was being. I was fully aware I was playing the “victim” and “whoa is me” cards.

Now I’m not dismissing the fact that yes I have 3 kids. I don’t sleep through every night. And I felt overwhelmed and irritable.

That’s all valid of course.

But what was cool is that instead of sitting in this place of feeling trapped and like my life was outside of my control, I acknowledged that this woman was activating me because of ME, not HER.

I would love to feel as spacious as her. So I turned it around and used her tips as inspiration rather than attacking her to make myself feel better.

It’s so liberating to see where you get activated, and ask yourself what’s in this for you? What do you need to look at within?

Does this resonate for you?

I want to introduce you to a concept my husband and I coined a few years ago (I’m sure someone has invented it prior to us, but for the moment I claim stake ;-) ).

It’s called “Prune & Bloom”.

Imagine a garden. If you want your beautiful roses to grow in wild abundance, you must first clear some space in the garden beds for them to bloom. You need to prune the weeds and unnecessary growth in order for there to be room for the beautiful roses to blossom.

Same goes for life.

The idea is that in order for all the good, aligned and wonderful things in your life to grow and bloom, you must first prune back all the unnecessary, poorly aligned, negative energy type-things.

Make sense yes?

My husband and I have seen this work in practice many many times, but even more so in this past week.

We were hitting a tipping point of overwhelm, stress, busyness and poor physical health until we finally recognised that boy oh boy do we need to PRUNE.

And prune we did.

And guess what? The MOST beautiful things bloomed straight away, because all of a sudden they had the space and room to grow.

I wonder if this analogy might feel relevant to your life right now? What might you need to prune in order for something else to bloom?

Ahhh my baby girl turned TWO this week!

Gosh I love birthdays. Such a beautiful time to celebrate. Reflect on the special people in your life and how much joy they bring you.

And when it comes to children, I especially love reflecting on my birth and initiation into motherhood and how many lessons this little human has taught me.

Specifically for my youngest daughter… boy oh boy has she taught me a lot!

Her birth taught me:

• That I can trust myself, trust my body, trust birth and trust her
• To use my voice (even when I tremble) to say what I truly mean
• That following my intuition is ALWAYS the right way forward
• That I am so much more powerful than I could have ever imagined

And being her mother the past 2 years has taught me:

• That being a mother for me is truly the most incredible gift I’ve ever been given
• That a genuine smile can transform your entire mood
• That children are so much wiser than we give them credit for
• That love and presence is the best recipe for a happy life!

Do you do this? What lessons have your little humans taught you?

This week I have been visited by cold sores, acne, weird rashes, a persistent quad injury and the sniffles.

In the past this was not uncommon. Minor “annoyances” would plague me without me taking much notice. I would just continue on my way, and try to ignore what my body was telling me. I’d probably pop a cold and flu tablet and try to suppress all my symptoms away.

Fast forward to current-day Laura. A much wiser, more intuitive woman. I now receive these messages from my body with love and presence.

I don’t blame my body. I don’t get frustrated at it for getting sick. I don’t lose trust in it.

Quite the opposite.

I say “Gday mate, thank you SO much for showing me where I am off track. I’m listening”.

I don’t take medications. I don’t try and suppress. Instead I lean in and listen.

This week all these symptoms have absolutely been related to more stress, a busier than usual pace, too many balls in the air and not enough support, bickering and friction with my husband, dysregulated kiddos, more caffeine than usual, less sleep than optimal.

So I pull back. I slow the pace. I take the pressure off. I am more present with my kids. More compassionate with my husband. I drop a shot of coffee ;-) I stop scrolling and go to sleep earlier.

And I trust that this will set me back on the right path and all the physical “stuff” will resolve.

I wonder what your relationship to your body is like? Are you tuning in to what it’s trying to tell you?

I shared a few weeks ago that I was having a “low” moment.

Too many balls in the air. Not a lot of support. Putting a lot of pressure on myself.

Nothing “big”, but just acknowledging that I’m not always UP as it might seem, and that I’m just as human as everyone else and I have my moments of overwhelm and feeling down.

A beautiful neighbour of ours read this post and decided to pop over on a whim just to give me a cuddle and invite us to dinner.

It was the sweetest and most beautiful gesture and it reminded me of a few things.

☑️ The importance of being real. Of not pretending that everything is “always fine” and allowing others to come in and support (or hug!) you. (as you can tell this is something I really struggle with!)

☑️ The value in real life encounters. Text messages are great, but an impromptu in-person hug is 1000 times better!

☑️ If you think a positive or caring thought about someone else - don’t keep it to yourself, share it with them! Someone’s hair looks nice? Say it! You value how your friend mothers her children? Tell her! You love your conversations with your local barista? Share that with them!

We can never have enough positivity, hugs and love shared between us all right?!

Sending you love and virtual hugs

I’m sure we’ve all heard the term “highlight reel” before but I know for myself anyway, when I’m scrolling I can forget that what I’m seeing isn’t the whole picture.⁠
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Even if social media is not necessarily only showing people’s best, most fulfilling lives - we cannot deny that it at least is only showing a fraction of someone’s day.⁠
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Even if someone posts 20 stories per day, that is only a maximum of 20 minutes of their 16 hours of awake time!⁠
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Now I’m also not into performative vulnerability and I also don’t think we need to share every aspect of our life - many things are sacred and at the end of the day we all get to share as little or as much as we want to, not what we think we should do.⁠
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All of this to say, I’m having a “challenging” couple of days. ⁠
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Just to “keep it real”… for anyone who may think I am always up, always perky, always full of energy.⁠
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Believe it or not I don’t feel called to jump on the camera when I’m crying, feeling stressed, yelling at my kids or husband or feeling overwhelmed and confused with the direction of my business.⁠
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But I often feel called to jump on when I’m feeling bright and hopeful and summery! So majority of the time you’ll see me is when I’m feeling gooooood!⁠
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But today, I’m not feeling that. ⁠
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I’m on day 1 of my bleed, we are currently navigating having no childcare arrangements or support, we are trying to run 2 businesses in our family with a lot going on behind the scenes, we are trying to pack up our whole life to travel in a caravan and my kids still wake in the night.⁠
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Ask me again next week and I’ll probably be all good again, but for now I’m taking a moment to re-calibrate and take a breath. ⁠
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We’re all human. We all feel the spectrum of emotions and it is just as normal to feel down as it is to feel up. It’s all part of life hey and I’m right there with you!⁠
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Sending love to anyone feeling less than their perky selves right now!

We’ve all heard this before haven’t we… “Life is about the journey, not the destination”… yeah yeah, we get it.

But how many of us are still holding our breath for that elusive “arrival”?

When we just achieve “x” then we’ll be happy.

When we go on that holiday then we will feel connected to each other and we’ll no longer have relationship troubles.

When we achieve that promotion at work then we will feel satisfied with our career and income.

When we lose 5kg then we’ll feel happier and more confident in our body.

When our kids are a little bit older then life will feel easier.

When we just get through this hectic and busy month then everything will feel more settled.

But guess what? There is no elusive arrival point where everything is peachy and our problems dissolve.

You all know that feeling when you reach what you thought was the pinnacle… only to feel disappointed at how fleeting the feeling of achievement is.

Then you’re on to the next “thing”. And so on and so forth until the day you die (or hopefully not after you’ve read this email and understood the “arrival fallacy”!).

Positive psychology expert Tal Ben-Shahar describes this as…

“Arrival fallacy is this illusion that once we make it, once we attain our goal or reach our destination, we will reach lasting happiness”

Guess what? It’s a very flawed concept that many of us are bought into! A recent study showed that people who worry about their levels of happiness—like those "I'll be happy when…" thoughts—actually tend to be unhappier.

So I wonder how you might use this information to change how you view life and the “journey”?

I know for me, I’m practicing staying super present when challenged and recognising all the things I have around me and inside of me that show me I have everything I need right now (not in the future!) to be fully content and happy.

I had an interesting chat with a friend this week and the topic of conversation centered around “success”.

What we define as success. What a successful life, business, family, home etc looks like. What we define as failure. What we are aiming for when it comes to success. How success looks like for each different season of life we’re in.

I found it so interesting.

My friend recently stumbled across more money in her business, more fame, more recognition. She got caught up in the whirlwind of this business success that she lost sight of what she truly defines as success for her. Which was family centered business, impact in her community and feeling physically and emotionally healthy and well.

And of course it got me thinking about what my measure of success is.

For me a successful life is one where I am deeply connected to myself, deeply connected to my husband and children, deeply connected to nature and sharing my knowledge and gifts with the world to impact my community in a positive way.

Now remember that success is unique to YOU. Not what you think you “should” strive for. But what truly feels like a life well lived to YOU. There is no shame or judgement, just what uniquely works for you.

So tell me, how do you define your own success?

We went camping over the weekend and ahh it was bliss.

No phones, no distractions, just immersing ourselves in nature and not needing to be anywhere.

And I noticed myself a bunch of times wanting to check the time on my phone (something I do wayyy to much of when I’m home).

Why exactly? I’m not entirely sure.

I kind of just wanted to know was it lunch time yet? Should I put dinner on? Is it time to start getting ready for bed?

Then I realised that it wasn’t actually important what the time was.

Whether it was “lunch time” or not, the question I should be asking myself was am I hungry and wanting to eat?

Whether it was “bed time” yet or not wasn’t really that important, what I should have been asking is are we all starting to get a little tired and ready to wind down?

I know this is easy to do when camping, and maybe not so easy at home when we have places to be and tighter schedules to run.

However it did remind me of something Rhea Dempsey (an incredible birth worker!) mentioned to me once about whether or not we are in tune with our bodies or in tune with the clock.

I don’t know about you, but I am definitely more in tune with the clock rather than my own body. I often eat lunch because it’s “lunchtime” rather than because I’m hungry.

I’m curious to know where you sit on this? Do you follow the clock or your body? Do you go to bed because it’s bed time? Or because you’re tired? Do you eat when you’re hungry or when the clock says it’s time to eat? Let me know!

I read an email from Ryan Holiday this week about parenting and our concept of time. He asks us to consider whether or not we are cherishing the garbage time?

And I so resonate with this concept.

Often when we talk about “quality time” with our loved ones, we think of the big events. The grandiose. The holidays. The special 1:1 date nights. The exciting adventures with our kids. The concerts. The shows. The restaurant dinners.

But all time is quality time with our loved ones isn’t it?

So are we truly cherishing the “garbage time”? Or just hanging out for the big “quality time” moments?

I personally love it all.

I love the chats I have with my kids when they’re on the toilet and and I’m sitting right beside them.

I love the car dance parties we have and how every person gets a turn at picking a song.

I love watching them immersed in a book and wondering what they’re thinking.

I love making my morning cacao with my youngest and knowing that she likes to lick the honey off the spoon and put the milk lid back on.

Some of my fondest memories growing up was driving as a family to pick my Mum up from nightshift (because she was too tired to drive) and getting McDonalds in the car for breakfast. Hardly grandiose, but there was obviously a warmth and connection to these moments that have stuck with me!

So I wonder, do you also love and cherish this “garbage time”?

I’ve been asking myself a very powerful question this week, and I really wanted to share it with you.

I can’t remember where I originally heard this from, but whenever you get triggered or upset or feel particularly reactive to something, asking yourself…


1. “What am I making this mean?” and then following it up with
2. “And what is actually true?”.

So often our brains are running unconscious stories that weren’t even aware of, so tapping in to what creative story our brain has started telling us can really help bring awareness to the situation and a fact-check as to whether our brains are correct or not.

Some real life examples from my week….

I was feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with my kids the other night. I was solo parenting, tired and pre-menstrual and I felt like dinner, bath, PJs and all of that jazz was just me meeting resistance after resistance.

Then my daughter squealed out “Mummmmmmy, Mummmmmyyy, Mummmmmyyyy” at the top of her voice, all the way from the other end of the house because she wanted me to get her dressed… and honestly I could have cried (or screamed!).

I took a breath and asked myself “What am I making this mean?” and the answer was “That my daughter is trying to make my life hard, that she knows how to get dressed but is being really lazy, that my kids never listen to me, that my kids aren’t independent, that my kids are rude and inconsiderate and so on and so forth”.

Then I followed it up with “And is that actually true?” and the answer was “Well no, she is 3 and she just wants a bit of help getting dressed. She is actually very helpful and considerate and respectful. She does listen to me. She just simply wants some help right now and she is yelling because it hasn’t occurred to her to walk over to me - because she’s 3!”.

Another great example from my week…

I had a dinner planned with a friend, so when my husband was running out to the surf I made it very clear he needed to be back by 6pm so I could leave.

The time ticks to 6:20pm and he is rolling in the door, and I am furious.

I ask myself “What am I making this mean?”. The answer was “That my husband doesn’t respect my time or my schedule, that his activities are more important than mine, that he doesn’t value me and so on and so forth”.

And then “What is actually true?” and the answer is that “Well he actually didn’t purposefully try to get home late. He went surfing and doesn’t have a watch so he guesstimated his time poorly. He does actually really value my time and schedule and is often showing me this. He does really honour my need for a dinner with a girlfriend and so on.”

I’m not perfect that’s for sure, but I’ve found these 2 questions to be OH SO POWERFUL at helping me take a moment before I react.

Have you used a similar reframe before?? I’d love to know if you have something you lean on, or whether you use this technique and how it goes for you!