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Nourishing the Mother
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Nourishing the Mother

Author: Bridget Wood & Julie Tenner

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Mothering can be an inspired journey to our most glittering, authentic, passionate, creative and connected selves. Through the mirror offered to us by our children, we are taken to every hurt, unmet need, and also every joy and excitement we’ve ever experienced. We want every woman and mother to give themselves and those around them the compassion, love and healing they so readily offer their children, but rarely allow themselves. Journey with us as we discuss the many layers of being a mother today, where we have come from and where we want to go. Learn tools to connect with yourself, offer compassion to those parts we’d rather deny and get back in love with yourself, motherhood and who you are as a feminine woman.
550 Episodes
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In this episode of Nourishing the Mother, Julie and Bridget dive into the invisible labour of advocating for your child inside school and medical systems; especially when your child is neurodivergent, anxious, or simply doesn’t fit the mould. They unpack how our own history with authority shapes how we show up, why systems can both help and harm, and how constant advocacy quietly erodes mothers’ energy, self-worth, and capacity. This is a raw, practical conversation about choosing your...
A simple ask for help on the sidelines becomes a powerful mirror into long-term relationship dynamics. In this episode, Julie and Bridget unpack a very real rupture between Julie and Nick, revealing how moments of overwhelm can activate old attachment wounds, masculine defensiveness, and feminine collapse. Together they explore how childhood patterns quietly replay in adult partnerships, why competence can become a barrier to intimacy, and what it actually takes to keep choosing each other wh...
Back to school isn’t just a diary change…it’s a full nervous system reboot. In this episode, Julie and Bridget get radically practical about what actually creates calm in the return-to-school season. Not mindset hacks. Not “just be more organised.” But the real, lived strategies that reduce friction, soften mornings, and help both parents and kids land back into rhythm; especially when neurodivergence, sensory needs, or emotional overwhelm are in the mix. This is about removing the predictab...
In this episode, Bridget shares her experience of her grandfather’s passing, and the reflections that surfaced in the aftermath. Together, Julie and Bridget explore how our understanding of the people we love is always shaped by proximity, role, and family narrative. We unpack the idea that we never truly know a whole person; only the version revealed to us through relationship, family dynamics, and shared stories. This conversation gently examines legacy, memory, and the quiet humility requ...
You don’t need a quiet house. You don’t need a fresh journal, a candle, or the “right headspace.” In this episode, Bridget and Julie walk you through 10 gentle New Year reflection questions in real time - the kind you can answer as you listen. Sitting in the car. On the couch. With a notes app open and a half-drunk cup of tea beside you. We pause. We give you space. And then…imperfectly and honestly…we answer them ourselves, on the fly. This is not about crafting beautiful intentions or sa...
The post-Christmas crash can leave many women feeling not just tired, but disconnected — from their bodies, their partners, and their erotic selves. In this deeply relieving episode, Julie and Bridget explore how the adrenaline of December masks exhaustion until it drops, and why that comedown so often shows up as sexual shutdown. They gently dismantle the myth that intimacy requires energy women simply don’t have at this time of year, and explore what it looks like to reconnect without press...
In the final week before Christmas, when the lists are finished and the adrenaline drops, many women don’t feel relief…they feel flat, teary, irritable or quietly undone. This episode is an emotional temperature check for overstretched mothers asking, “I should be happy… so why do I feel empty?” Julie and Bridget name the invisible load women are carrying and explore why Christmas becomes the moment everything catches up. This isn’t about fixing yourself, it’s about naming what’s real instead...
The festive season looks magical on paper: twinkly lights, long lunches, sparkling moments with kids… but for so many families, it’s actually a sensory avalanche waiting to happen. In this episode, we unpack what’s really going on beneath the meltdowns, the indecision, the clinginess, the crankiness, and the “I can’t do this” moments (from kids and parents). We map nervous systems, explore individual sensory needs, and name the pressure cooker that December becomes — especially when you’re ju...
Resentment is quiet… until it isn’t.And when it leaks through your tone, your silence, or the way you half-turn when he walks in the door, it can change the entire ecosystem of your relationship - even when you don’t mean it to. In this episode, we dive into the real energetic difference between speaking from bitterness and speaking from love. We explore why so many long-term couples get caught in confirmation loops, scorekeeping, and micro-withdrawals… and how the smallest shift in tone, so...
Julie and Bridget dive into why mothers so often feel their children’s birthdays in their bodies - not just as a date on the calendar, but as an emotional echo of who they were when that child arrived. They unpack the surprising way the body holds onto birth memories, how milestone birthdays can reopen old wounds or tender places, and why perimenopause, identity shifts, and grief can hit hard in the background of these celebrations. Together, they explore the collision of timelines: ou...
This week, we’re opening the door on one of the most invisible seasons of womanhood — being in ‘the sandwich generation’. The stretch between raising children and caring for ageing parents can feel like living two lives at once: one full of growth and beginnings, the other shaped by endings and decline. In this conversation, we unpack the exhaustion, the guilt, the grief, and the quiet unraveling that happens when you’re holding everyone else together — and explore how to navigate this...
If guilt were cardio, every mum would be an Olympian. But what if guilt isn’t proof you’re failing — it’s proof you care? In this episode, we unpack the emotional weight mothers carry and how “mum guilt” has become a badge of honour we never asked for. From the cultural conditioning that tells us a good mother should give everything, to the quiet courage it takes to choose ourselves without crumbling under judgement, we explore how to move from guilt as punishment to guilt as guidance. You’ll...
In this episode, we discuss what to do when your child slams the brakes on; from “I’m not going to school” to daily battles over getting dressed or leaving the house. We explore how to stay grounded when their storms threaten to pull you in, how to use play and connection to move through resistance, and why your regulation is the most powerful parenting tool you have. We unpack what happens in your body when you feel backed into a corner, how to find your anchor, and the small moments of humo...
In this episode, Julie sits down with Fertility Coach Liz Walton to redefine what fertility really means. Liz, founder of the Australian Fertility Summit, brings her own lived experience - ten years of “failed” IVF rounds, deep personal healing, and eventually conceiving her daughter naturally at 46 - to shine light on what so many women long for but rarely hear: that fertility isn’t just medical. It’s emotional, relational, spiritual, and deeply personal. Together, we explore how to hold wom...
What really turns mothers on isn’t roses or lingerie….it’s partnership. It’s not having to carry everything alone, not having to think about one more thing, not feeling swallowed up by kids and needs with no solo time left. In this episode we explore why sharing the load is the ultimate aphrodisiac, how appreciation and acknowledgement fuel intimacy, and why true partnership is so much sexier than performative help. When you feel like it’s not all on you, when you’re a team doing it together,...
Bridget is a full-time working mother navigating the reality of decreased time and increased pressure — which demands a new level of discernment about what can and can’t be held. In this episode, we explore how to protect your energy, bring more equity into your relationship, and create room for your dreams without over-functioning to keep the peace. We talk about holding your partner accountable, building flexible rhythms that support the whole family, and why truth-telling, shared responsib...
So many of us step into business with huge hearts and deep skills, then crash into the reality of motherhood — where hustle culture doesn’t work and “balance” is a myth. In this episode we explore what it really takes to grow your business as an intentional mother: creating rhythms that fit your season of life, using small windows of time to move the needle, building in alignment with your values (not someone else’s), and letting business become something that not only sustains you, but actua...
This episode is raw, tear-filled, and honest as Julie shares what it was actually like to say goodbye to Heath as he left for the United States — the pride, the ache, and the messy middle. We walk through the good, the bad, the ugly, the learning, and the letting go. It’s matrescence at the other end of parenting, when identity is cleaved and you gather the pieces to remake yourself, and when love and intimacy are invited to mature. In this episode we discuss: - Letting go of a son to the w...
Sometimes, being in relationship feels heavier than doing it all on your own. In this episode, Julie shares a raw revelation: while solo parenting her girls, managing sport schedules, interstate travel, and two national award wins — she realised that, in some ways, it actually felt easier than being in partnership. We unpack why long-term relationships can feel harder than parenting solo, what this means for intimacy, and the practical ways couples can shift from tension and resentment into...
Your relationship is a living mirror — not just of your partner, but of the parts of yourself you’ve hidden, avoided, or outgrown. In this episode, we explore the conscious relational tools that don’t just keep your love alive, but help you grow as an individual within it. Because love isn’t something that just happens — it’s something we do, on purpose. We’ll unpack how high-functioning burnout, stress, and survival mode quietly kill intimacy, why polarity and independence are essential for...
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Comments (1)

Kaela Foley

A beautiful podcast on all aspects of motherhood and womanhood. I recommend this to all my mum friends as it has brought me alot of wisdom, peace and reassurance.

Mar 27th
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