With a passion for community and holding women through the transition from pregnancy to motherhood, Aroha and Bree created Nurtured Beginnings: a holistic wellness platform for pregnant women that offers guidance, evidence-based education and community to support them during preconception, pregnancy and postpartum. Collaborating with other holistic practitioners, they will guide you back to your power within, dissolving fear, isolation, frustration and outdated information, and supporting you holistically during your pregnancy. They have created Nurtured Beginnings The Podcast and the Holistic Pregnancy Course to help women expand their network of support. Here they talk to The Natural Parent Magazine about the inspiration behind Nurtured Beginnings, the challenges they have overcome, and their hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
We recognised how much misinformation is out there; it is so frustrating how outdated the resources are. Women have no idea what is true or false, or what options or rights they have when it comes to their body, pregnancy and birth. We both thrive living a holistic lifestyle, and want women to have evidence-based information and nurturing support for their nervous system, all at their fingertips. Nurtured Beginnings The Podcast and the Holistic Pregnancy course are the gateway to help women expand their network of support. We both have a deep passion for community and holding and nurturing women through this rite of passage: this huge transition from maiden to mother, or for mothers craving a deeper experience the second or third time around. We knew just how needed an online Holistic Pregnancy Course was that nurtures and educates women and expands their community and awareness around pregnancy, birth and postpartum.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
We couldn’t stop thinking about our course, creating voice notes non-stop, having so many ideas, and meeting at the park with the kids in tow. We definitely got wrapped up in the creative phase. It was so fun and kept us on the edge of our seats. We reached out to a handful of women in the birth and pregnancy space helping women holistically through doula support, postpartum doulas, birth keepers, baby soul communicators, psychologists, naturopaths – all mothers themselves, each loving the concept, and they helped us to create our guest content. We recorded lots of webinars, built our website and course, plus launched a podcast in 3 months – we really had to set a date to help us keep to schedule, because you can really get carried away with ‘all the tasks’. Having women collaborate with us was a little external pressure to make sure we showed up for ourselves too!
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
It’s coming soon. Wait and see!
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
Life happens right, and we have four children under five between us, so it is pure magic to express to the other when we can’t show up for whatever reason – emotional, physical, mental – and asking the other to step up or fill in. We work in nap times or when the babes are sleeping, and in very small pockets of the day. We do have to set strong boundaries around gym time and family time. Because our business is online, there is never an expectation to be somewhere at a particular time. We do have a monthly online women’s circle we call Sacred Circle, so we opt out of bedtime duties that night once a month, which isn’t impactful on that precious ritual.
