We are sisters with a passion for holistic living. We use mindfulness, meditation, and yoga ourselves to create more space and balance in our lives. When Gráinne was a very new mama and Dearbhla a soon to be mama, we started collaborating informally on some projects – Gráinne joined as a guest speaker on a stress resilience course Dearbhla was running in her hospital during Covid-19. We began to have conversations about stress, emotions, holistic healthcare, yoga, breathwork, meditation, and the value of these practices. We also realised how aligned we were in our way of thinking and being – maybe not surprising given we are identical twins!
We both had previously built up a personal practice of yoga and mindfulness to help heal from burnout from our busy healthcare careers. The transition into motherhood is a massive shift in identity and it’s normal to feel stressed, panicked, anxious, and overwhelmed at times. We both experienced early motherhood as an amazing, heart-opening, and love-filled experience – no one could quite describe it in words -and at the same time, we felt cracked wide open, emotionally and energetically vulnerable. No one was more important than the little soul we were in charge of and that brought immense joy and pleasure as well as anxiety and fear.
Through conversations feeding on the couch, face timing across countries, and over tea at the kitchen table, mindful mama circles was born. We wanted to create an offering that allowed mamas to come, just as they are for connection with other mamas. The nature of mothering especially in the early days can be isolating, so we wanted the circles to provide a space of connection with other mamas to allow them to explore this shift in identity, to feel the raw emotions that go alongside this and to hold space in order for mamas to be nourished and nurtured - to ‘mother the mother’.
The Mindful Mamas
Both Grainne and Dearbhla experienced wanting to be with the babas every minute of every day, the high rush of love but also wanting and needing a break. Experiencing both appearing opposite things at the same time. Everything else also changes, your relationship with your partner and wider family goes through adjustments, how you spend your time etc it's a massive shift in identity and we wanted mindful mamas to give space to explore this - hence our sharing circle of the highs and lows of motherhood.
Our Concept:
Mindful Mama circles bring together five key concepts:
Mindfulness, Meditation, Yoga, Yoga therapy, and Yoga Nidra.
“Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose and in the present moment, non-judgmentally”, Jon Kabat Zinn. We like to call it just “tuning in”.
Meditation is a practice of deepening awareness and often incorporates mindfulness.
Yoga is a spiritual practice where one aims to find balance in mind and body and you could also describe it as a journey of self-discovery.
Yoga therapy is the application of yoga (movement, breath, philosophy) to support mental and physical well-being. It is a combination of breath practices, talking, and movement that allows people to tap into the wisdom of their bodies.
Yoga Nidra or ‘sleep’ yoga is a deeply nourishing practice where you are guided into a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping and it facilitates deep rest, something all mothers need!
"Matrescence" is defined as the process of becoming a new mother. It begins when you are trying to conceive. Who knew it had a name?! When a baba is born so is a mama. Everything changes. It's a massive life transition. There is the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and the whirlwind of emotions to go alongside this journey. Our mindful mama circles hope to help ease this transition into the role of motherhood and support mamas on their journey through motherhood.
Meet the founders
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Dearbhla Turley Byrnes
CO-FOUNDER
Dearbhla has worked as a hospital Pharmacist for over 10 years. It was when she was working in a particularly stressful job in London that she began to turn to holistic practices like yoga, meditation, and mindfulness to help her deal with overwhelm and stress. These holistic practices really helped her heal from burnout and bring balance back to her life.
Dearbhla first trained as a yoga teacher in 2018 with Shaura Hall doing a 220-hour Pilamaya yoga training. This is an approach to yoga that combines science and spirituality, it also teaches the practitioners to teach from the heart and work with their innate wisdom. Dearbhla trained as a Nutrition and Lifestyle coach with the Institute of Health Sciences in 2020. Dearbhla completed a 10-hour meditation course with Loka yoga school in 2021. Recently Dearbhla completed a 60-hour prenatal and women’s yoga training with Lou Horgan. This training teaches pregnancy yoga teachers to help women obtain greater levels of embodiment during pregnancy and get in touch with their intuition which is so vital for pregnancy, birth, and motherhood. Dearbhla loves learning and developing her own knowledge and has done other short courses in the divine feminine, developing your intuition, yoga nidra, and a cacao facilitator training course.
Dearbhla uses her background as a clinical Pharmacist and her learning in holistic practices to support people to heal and take a more preventative approach to their health. Dearbhla became a mother in 2022 to a beautiful, affectionate, and energetic little boy Fiachra.
So far Fiachra has taught Dearbhla to slow down, rest and be present and be there for all the little moments, to be a more mindful mama.
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Gráinne Turley Gibson
CO - FOUNDER
Gráinne trained as a Clinical Psychologist, completing her doctorate at Kings College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience London (IOPPN). Prior to this, she received a BA in Psychology from University College Dublin (UCD) and an MSc in Neuroscience from Royal Holloway, University of London. As part of her doctorate, Gráinne completed the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Mindfulness course. In 2020 Gráinne completed a 3-year (550 hours) professional training in Yoga therapy at the Minded Institute with Heather Mason in London. During her yoga therapy training, Gráinne started to learn from a more embodied way of being and integrated a lot of her previous psychological knowledge in a whole new way, it was a journey of self-discovery.
Gráinne worked in the NHS in London for 13 years and recently moved back to Ireland (2022). She worked in a busy healthcare setting and found yoga and mindfulness essential for her own well-being and self-care. She was always interested in mindfulness and yoga and has done various different courses over the years. She like Dearbhla has a passion for learning and studying, she has done various psychological courses such as Mindfulness and Yoga for Children and Adolescents’ mental health (anxiety and depression) and is a trained dialectical behaviour therapist which is a therapy that supports people to regulate their emotions with mindfulness at its heart.
Gráinne is mama bear to a beautiful little toddler LilÍ who is a curious, determined, and affectionate little soul and who brings light and wonder to every day, she challenges Gráinne to slow down, to be more curious, and get in touch with nature and mother earth. They really are our biggest teachers.