23/10/2026
Mindfulness in motherhood is not about becoming the calmest person in the house.
The research:
A new umbrella review suggests mindfulness may support women experiencing anxiety and depression during pregnancy and postpartum.
The evidence is promising, although still developing. For me, mindfulness is one layer within a much wider, whole woman approach that honours the physical body, hormones, nervous system, emotions, energy, relationships and the environment surrounding a mother.
My reflection:
This research landed differently for me this morning.
I am pregnant, with a three year old and a four year old, and some mornings it feels as though every part of me is being called upon at once.
The children need you one after the other, like a perfectly coordinated tag team.
Your breakfast somehow takes two hours to eat because every mouthful is interrupted by another little voice, another spill, another request or another need.
You are noticing everyone.
Feeling everyone.
Holding the emotional tone of the home while your body is also growing another human.
And when you are continually meeting everyone else’s needs while your own seem unseen, something within you begins to ache.
It is more than physical tiredness.
It can feel like your energy is being pulled in every direction while no one notices that your own cup has emptied.
Thoughts begin to rise:
Does anyone see how much I am holding?
Does anyone feel what I need without me having to ask again?
Am I being cared for too?
Then come the emotions and meltdowns of little people who instinctively look to your nervous system for steadiness.
And somewhere within all of that, mothers are expected to remain endlessly patient, present and calm.
But a holistic approach to motherhood does not ask a woman to override what she is feeling.
It asks her to listen.
The frustration may be communicating that a boundary has been crossed.
The anger may be carrying a need that has gone unspoken for too long.
The tears may be the body’s way of releasing what it can no longer hold.
The exhaustion may be asking for nourishment, practical support, rest or simply the experience of being cared for.
Mindfulness is not
