HEAL at the Threshold: Imbolc, Cycles, and the Wisdom of Womanhood

Womanhood is not a straight line.

It is cyclical, layered, and constantly evolving.

From first bleeding to fertility, from motherhood to menopause, from becoming to unbecoming and becoming again—each season asks something different of us. Yet many women are taught to move through all of it as if we are meant to remain the same: equally productive, equally available, equally capable at all times.

HEAL — Honouring Energy and Limits — offers a different way.

A gentler way. One that listens instead of pushes, adapts instead of demands. Healing, in this sense, is not about fixing what is broken, but about returning to relationship with ourselves.

Imbolc: A Threshold Season

Imbolc sits at a threshold point in the year. Winter has not yet released its grip, yet the promise of spring is undeniable. Light is returning, quietly. Life is stirring beneath the surface. As I write this blog, it is 1st February at 1700 and although it is dark outside already, I can hear the birds call to each other. It is a beautiful sound full of remembering and hope.

This in-between energy mirrors the cycles women move through across a lifetime. From menstruation to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, menopause, and the quieter seasons of healing in between, womanhood is rarely linear. It is cyclical, layered, and deeply intuitive.

Imbolc honours beginnings that are not yet visible.

The early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle.

The slow return of energy after birth or loss.

The subtle inner shifts of perimenopause.

These are times when something new is forming—even if we still feel tired, uncertain, or fragile.

Imbolc does not ask us to bloom.

It asks us to tend the flame.

It teaches us to respect liminal spaces. To move gently across thresholds. To honour boundaries as sacred rather than restrictive. In a culture that celebrates constant productivity, this season reminds us that becoming takes time.

Rest and slowness are not pauses in life.

They are part of the cycle.

By aligning with Imbolc, we give ourselves permission to honour our bodies as they change, release outdated expectations, and nurture what is emerging without rushing it. Each transition in womanhood carries its own wisdom—one that grows stronger when we allow it to unfold in its own time.

Imbolc reminds us that HEAL is not a response to crisis alone—it is a seasonal practice.

This point in the year does not ask for clarity or momentum. It asks for attentiveness. For listening to what is thawing and what is still resting. In this way, Imbolc becomes a living metaphor for how we move through every transition in womanhood: honouring energy as it returns slowly, respecting limits as protective, and trusting that growth does not need to be rushed to be real.

This is the ground from which HEAL grows.

Honouring Energy: Listening to What Changes

Energy is not a moral trait.

It is not something to earn, optimise, or override.

It is information.

Across womanhood, energy naturally fluctuates. Hormones shift. Responsibilities expand and contract. Grief, creativity, desire, and fatigue come in waves. Some seasons bring outward energy—doing, building, giving. Others call us inward—to rest, reflect, or conserve.

Honouring energy begins with noticing:

• How does my body feel today?

• What feels abundant right now, and what feels scarce?

• What season am I actually in—not the one I think I should be in?

A young woman may feel ambition alongside deep uncertainty.

A mother may move between fierce devotion and exhaustion.

A woman in midlife may feel called to slow down as the world urges her to speed up.

Later seasons may carry quieter energy—less explosive, but deeply wise.

To honour energy is to stop asking, What should I be able to do?

And start asking, What is true for me right now?

Honouring Limits: A Radical Act of Care

Limits are often misunderstood as weakness or failure.

They are not. Limits are a form of wisdom.

Every body has thresholds. Every nervous system has capacity. Every season of womanhood comes with different limits. Ignoring them does not make them disappear—it simply shifts the cost into our bodies, relationships, and sense of self.

Honouring limits might look like:

• Saying no without over-explaining

• Resting before complete depletion

• Letting something be “good enough”

• Acknowledging that you cannot be everything to everyone

Most of us were never taught to honour limits. We were praised for endurance and self-sacrifice. Learning to stop can feel uncomfortable—even unsafe. But limits are what make care sustainable. They protect what is still forming and allow us to show up over a lifetime, not just one season.

The relationship I have with myself has been developed deeply over 47 years, it is a practice born out of pain, challenge, joy and love and is ever expanding. The older I get the less I feel I know and yet the more I feel I come to understand. HEAL has been my own development of supportive practice and is what I teach in all aspects of my work. We will all interpret our experiences differently but we can all use the wisdom of HEAL to support our journey.

HEAL Across the Seasons of Womanhood

Early Womanhood

Often marked by pressure—to decide, prove, perform. Honouring energy here may mean exploration without urgency. Honouring limits may mean resisting comparison.

Motherhood and Caregiving Seasons

Energy is frequently pulled outward. HEAL here often looks like micro-rest and fierce boundary-keeping. Limits become survival tools, not luxuries.

Midlife and Transition

Energy may turn inward. Tolerance for what no longer fits diminishes. Honouring limits becomes self-respect. Honouring energy means choosing depth over breadth.

Later Seasons

Energy may be quieter, but it is precise. Limits are no longer negotiable—and that can be deeply freeing. HEAL becomes about dignity, rest, and integration.

Healing Is Cyclical, Not Linear

HEAL is not something you complete.

It is a practice you return to—as your body, life, and inner world change.

Some days, honouring energy means doing less.

Other days, it means using it fully.

Some seasons ask for gentle stretching.

Others ask you to stop.

None of these are wrong.

Healing happens when we stop fighting the season we are in.

A Gentle Closing Reminder

You are allowed to have limits.

You are allowed to change.

You are allowed to rest.

You are allowed to take up space, differently in every season.

Honouring your energy and your limits is not selfish (this can be a hard pill to swallow as guilt will most certainly appear at times). It is how you stay in relationship with yourself over a lifetime. And that, in itself, is healing.

Reflective questions and yoga practices below if you'd like to explore.

These reflections and practices are invitations, not prescriptions. Explore them on the mat, beside your bed, or in the quiet spaces between responsibilities. Let them meet you where you are.

H —

Honour

Theme: Respecting the body’s truth in this season

Reflective Questions

• What is my body asking for today—more movement, or more stillness?

• Where have I been pushing instead of listening?

• If I honoured myself fully in this season, what would change?

Yoga Practice

Hands-on-body check-in: Begin seated or lying down. Place one hand on your heart, one on your belly. Breathe slowly for 5–10 breaths. Notice sensation without judgment.

Slow Cat–Cow: Move gently with the breath, letting the spine respond naturally. Pause whenever it feels complete.

Pause practice: Intentionally stop between movements and notice—this is honour in action.

E —

Energy

Theme: Sensing, not forcing, vitality

Reflective Questions

• Where does my energy feel open and flowing?

• Where does it feel depleted or guarded?

• What drains me that I may be ignoring? What nourishes me that I may be postponing?

Yoga Practice

Energy mapping: In a comfortable pose, scan the body from feet to head. Mentally note areas of fullness, emptiness, warmth, or fatigue.

Gentle waves: Seated side bends or slow spinal circles to invite circulation without effort.

Restorative choice: If energy is low, choose Legs Up the Wall or a supported reclined pose like resting your spine on cushions while bringing the legs into butterfly or crossed legs, instead of continuing to move.

A —

Awareness

Theme: Becoming intimate with inner experience

Reflective Questions

• What emotions are present right now, beneath the surface?

• What am I holding that needs acknowledgment?

• What becomes possible when I allow myself to feel without fixing?

Yoga Practice

Long-held forward fold (supported): Let the spine round, head supported. Stay for several minutes, breathing into the back body. If you find particular stiffness, sit on blankets or allow the legs to bend slightly.

Noticing practice: Rather than adjusting or correcting, simply observe sensations as they arise and pass.

Name it gently: Silently name what’s present—“tired,” “steady,” “sad,” “neutral”—without story.

L —

Limits

Theme: Boundaries as care

Reflective Questions

• Where in my life do I need clearer boundaries?

• What does my body say “no” to right now?

• How does it feel to stop before I’m exhausted?

Yoga Practice

Child’s Pose with options: Knees together or wide, bolsters or blankets for full support. Choose what feels safest.

Choice-based practice: Intentionally opt out of a pose or shorten your practice as an act of self-trust.

Closing rest: End with Savasana or side-lying rest, reminding yourself that stopping is part of the practice.

A Closing Integration Practice

After movement, rest your hands over your heart and reflect:

How did I honour my energy and limits today—even in a small way?

As always my message is to carry this awareness off the mat. HEAL is not confined to practice time—it lives in how you pace your day, speak to yourself, and allow your life to change with you.

If you'd like to join me in a restorative practice this March, take a look at Nurtured Souls Yin and Tonic workshop.

This workshop encourages slowing down and listening to your own needs while having fun and connecting with others seeking the same respite.

If you’d like to work with me, I’d love to hear from you. My work supports women across all seasons of motherhood—not just birth and postnatal. You might be a stepmother, an aunt who has stepped into a mothering role, or someone navigating a unique path of care. There is no one “type” of mothering here—every way of showing up is valid and welcome.

With love and warmth

Jess x