It was a tough week for my daughter, Olivia.

Being thirteen, a growing girl in a patriarchal culture, and a student at a public junior high certainly all add their special sauce to the perfect storm of teenage angst that has been making its way through.

And then there is her particular Soul Medicine Path and the lessons and gifts she is charged with growing into and inside of.

As a Great Mother/Heroine, she is wrapped pretty tight.

Striving, working, achieving, organizing… she is geared toward bigger, stronger, better, faster.

All eyes on the external world and how she shows up in it.


Photo by Brooke Shaden
Goddess, I love that girl.

On the cusp of finding her independence and newfound freedoms, she is also still innocent and naive in ways I hold so tenderly. She wants to do it all herself, believes in her own strength and capabilities, while also deeply questioning her courage and her worth.

SUCH a mixed bag of humanity reflected back to me in the experience of this Wise One.

So it was, that we found ourselves out on the trampoline Sunday morning after brunch. 

Determined to find her lost backhandspring and unlock the stuckness that had made its way into every nook and cranny of the whole span of her schoolwork, extracurriculars, and psyche.

She’s been doing back handsprings on the trampoline for over a year, but has been unable to cross the threshold of doing them by herself on the floor/mat.

Each week at practice she goes in with high hopes that THIS will be the day she does it without a spot, and each week she comes home questioning herself and quietly internalizing the fear that she might NEVER do it.

Adding to that pressure is the looming deadline of next year’s cheer tryouts and the “finish line” of a competition where precious points are deducted for imperfections - including tumbling prowess.

(I have lots to say about the whole cheerleading situation and will share more about that on the show this week.)

With the weeks whittling away, and the pressure coming to maximum tension, my baby girl “lost her back handspring.” 

She became totally locked up and couldn’t go backwards at all. Even with a spotter.

She knew she could do it. She remembered doing it before. She just. couldn’t. get. herself. to. go. Backward.

Any. More.

I’d been offering to help for awhile. Waiting for the moment when she would find her own Im-pulse to ask for help and open to receive it.

She finally reached the tipping point.

As we sat in the spring sunshine trying to find the key to unlock the stalemate in her system, we cried, we laughed, we jumped, we played.

It took A While.

I don’t know how long. We stopped keeping track of time.

That was part of the game.

We tapped, we laid around and contemplated life and death, trusting our bodies, getting our minds to blink, and admitting our fears.

We got honest, got real, got vulnerable, and got lighter.

We connected with the Truth of the Why and let ourselves off the hook.

It was one of my favorite mama times so far and there is Liv(e) Medicine in there for All of Us.

As I reflected on it this morning, I realized that all of the mothering and coaching I did for her that morning was really for me too.

For Us.

That’s the beauty of Wild Soul Medicine. 

Everything is for All of Life.

Join me this week as we ponder the lessons in Going Backward to Go Forward.

Some highlights to listen for:

(06:00) Both Student & Teacher

(12:50) Locking Up: the back-handspring 

(25:45) You get to play while you’re contemplating the leap.

(35:10) Letting Our Minds Blink 

(46:00) Getting Back on the Horse

POTENT DOSE (if you only have a few minutes):


It’s really a continuation of the energetics we’ve been exploring for the last couple of weeks. 

New codes, expansions, and growth edges in Divine Feminine style.

Over the river and through the woods…

This Path is meandering and filled with twisty turns. 

Make sure your Reverse is in working order if you want to ride this dragon.

Back to where We started.


P.S. Join us in The Tribe for behind the scenes footage of my bareback bloopers and breakthroughs > wsmrtribe.com