The Sacred Womb

Women and MONEY! Why are so many women struggling to earn, receive and retain money?!!Women are conditioned—subtly and overtly—to emotionally over-give, to feel guilty for charging for their time, to equate compassionate with “low fee,” and not to have “too much.”Add attachment patterns that mean receiving can feel existentially loaded, generational trauma that women simply can’t survive without a man (and his money), plus a split from our true masculine nature and the distortions that comes with, and we’ve got a heady concoction of lack and struggle.So where does it come from?From my experience, the actual root is a perceived lack of ability and a rupture of trust in oneself, leading to a subsequent attempt to fill that void with someone or something outside of us. When it comes to money and women, we usually fill our perceived lack of ability to earn with a man (who provides money, but also has his own deficit, usually emotional intelligence, and the ability to care for himself, which women then make up for in exchange). So the problem isn’t “out there.” It's not 'the universe's' fault - it’s the unconscious patterns within—a blend of attachment templates, generational imprints, gendered socialisation and our own outsourcing vs resourcing across our Soul’s Journey—that runs how women charge, receive, retain, manage, and relate with money. In this episode, I talk through:Not working at the root, nervous-system override at the moment of charging/receiving, and the feast-and-famine cycle.Gendered programming (be small, be nice, be grateful, don't charge for caring) fused with attachment patterns centred around a longing to be truly cared for keeps the loop on rewind and repeat.Outsourcing vs resourcing through the soul’s journey – our rupture with self-trust and source, and unwillingness (for various reasons) to take self-responsibility.What creates real change: a direct, embodied process that restores stability and congruence so your relationship with money feels steady and safe.I’ve created A FREE guided practice and worksheet to locate your personal glitches and core beliefs in the cycle of money. Download it here >AND if you’re ready to stop patching symptoms, blaming ‘the universe’ and want to resolve the root, I have created a container where we can work through all of this together – the Money Patterns Rewired intensive, for women.MONEY REWIRED FULL DETAILSSend us a text Support the showMelanie is an experienced Soul & Shadow Worker, Womb Medicine Woman, podcast host, writer and trainer. For over 20 years, she has supported individuals and healing professionals to restore connection with the body, repair attachment and separation wounds, and embody primordial wisdom rooted in the womb, heart and soul. Melanie's approach blends somatic womb healing, shadow integration, shamanic healing and soul-level repatterning - offering a deep and lasting pathway back to the true self. She hosts The Sacred Womb Podcast, leads The Unification Of The Divine Masculine & Feminine Training and is currently writing her first book: The Sacred Womb - a handbook for coming home to our true nature, along with Poems For Peri-Menopause.

Agnieszka Drabek-Prime weaves the cyclical wisdom of goddess archetypes into a rich map for navigating life’s transitions — from menstruation to motherhood, through perimenopause and beyond. Her new book, Dancing With Goddesses: An Archetypal Journey Through The Menstrual Cycle, offers women a way to embrace their natural rhythms and seasons with reverence.The book arrived in a single, luminous moment of inspiration while Agnieszka was camping — a fully-formed vision blending her work as a doula, womb medicine woman, and celebrant with deep archetypal goddess wisdom.In our conversation, we explore:• How goddess archetypes can act as mirrors for women’s lived experiences• A five-season approach to understanding the menstrual cycle• Why each woman’s cycle has its own unique nature and rhythm• How life transitions can be fertile ground for growth and transformation• The wisdom encoded in women’s bodies and experiences• Agnieszka’s personal perimenopause journey• The healing power of being heard without judgmentYou can find Agnieszka at primetherapy.co.uk on Instagram and Substack, and her book is available at all good bookshops and Amazon.Send us a text Support the showMelanie is an experienced Soul & Shadow Worker, Womb Medicine Woman, podcast host, writer and trainer. For over 20 years, she has supported individuals and healing professionals to restore connection with the body, repair attachment and separation wounds, and embody primordial wisdom rooted in the womb, heart and soul. Melanie's approach blends somatic womb healing, shadow integration, shamanic healing and soul-level repatterning - offering a deep and lasting pathway back to the true self. She hosts The Sacred Womb Podcast, leads The Unification Of The Divine Masculine & Feminine Training and is currently writing her first book: The Sacred Womb - a handbook for coming home to our true nature, along with Poems For Peri-Menopause.

The journey through perimenopause is unique for every woman, yet the unsolicited and contrary advice remains universal. This was the inspiration for my latest poem, which is part of a book of poetry in which I’m documenting the entire perimenopause journey from beginning to end.What makes perimenopause so challenging isn’t just the physical symptoms – the hormonal fluctuations, the muscle mass changes – but the barrage of contradictory advice from people who often have no personal experience with it. From well-meaning friends suggesting I drink my own piss, to fitness bros blindly prescribing calorie deficits and skipping meals, the poem highlights the absurdity of simplistic solutions to this multi-faceted physiological transition.The journey through perimenopause, like other significant life transitions, ultimately belongs to the person experiencing it, and external perspectives – however well-intentioned – need to be filtered through our intuition.Ugh, where do I start….?The flurry of adviceFrom uninformed folkWho all have their priceEstrogen is droppingYour bones will crumble!Drink loads of milkOr take a tumbleIngest creatine nowOr lose all your muscleYou should intermittent fast!There’s no end to this hustleEat chunks of proteinAt every single mealEventually, it’ll kill youAll that dairy, tofu and veal“Hey” someone whispers“You should drink your own piss“So I squat over a glass *Gulp*Alright then, come give us a kiss!But my all-time favouriteIs from the 30-something broYou wanna lose weight?His face starts to glowAh, he squints,Like he’s about to shit goldYou just need to be in a calorie deficit!Seriously, this never gets old?Oh! I exclaimWhy didn’t I think of that?!Thank you so much bruhYou dumb little twatHe no longer existsThat poor, sweet boyWho made the mistakeOf thinking I was old & coyBut seriously thoughThis is not about bro’sIt’s the not-so-miracle adviceThat you can stick it up your……noseTo give you a vague ideaOf what it’s like to be in periPut a blindfold onAnd navigate the contraryThe vitamins, the supplementsThe creams and the spraysCan all just f**k offI don’t care what anyone saysMy body is my bodyMy age is my ageMy intuition rulesAnd THAT’S my primary gaugeBY MELANIE SWANSend us a text Support the showMelanie is an experienced Soul & Shadow Worker, Womb Medicine Woman, podcast host, writer and trainer. For over 20 years, she has supported individuals and healing professionals to restore connection with the body, repair attachment and separation wounds, and embody primordial wisdom rooted in the womb, heart and soul. Melanie's approach blends somatic womb healing, shadow integration, shamanic healing and soul-level repatterning - offering a deep and lasting pathway back to the true self. She hosts The Sacred Womb Podcast, leads The Unification Of The Divine Masculine & Feminine Training and is currently writing her first book: The Sacred Womb - a handbook for coming home to our true nature, along with Poems For Peri-Menopause.

Today is my 49th birthday, and peri-menopause is in full swing. My last period lasted 26 hours. As my blood started to flow, I felt love and bliss emanating from my womb.I lay on my bed for 4 hours, riding the waves of energy that flowed through the fibres of my body.The last time I wrote a poem about my stage of womanhood was January 2021, at that point I was standing at the edge of the lake >This poem captures the nothingness and everythingness of my current state of being.The boat has set sailI’m on the lakeMost of the tether has frayedI hear…Leave that world behindIt’s doneThe fog starts to settleLet them enjoy itIt’s no longer for youYou’re no longer for itI know there’s land the other sideI don’t know what’s thereI know what’s thereIt feels more like homeA familiar welcome signals meIt feels like a returnI have questions that don’t need an answerQuestions that aren’t really questionsI don’t have questionsThere are no answersThere’s only a strand of rope leftLeave her behindMake peace with her It’s noise fades, I can hear the waterNothing mattersEverything mattersNothing existsEverything existsI am the boatI am the lake and the landI am hereI am everythingThe final strand tensesIt stretchesI pauseWatching the strandWondering if my heart will break.By Melanie SwanSend us a text Support the showMelanie is an experienced Soul & Shadow Worker, Womb Medicine Woman, podcast host, writer and trainer. For over 20 years, she has supported individuals and healing professionals to restore connection with the body, repair attachment and separation wounds, and embody primordial wisdom rooted in the womb, heart and soul. Melanie's approach blends somatic womb healing, shadow integration, shamanic healing and soul-level repatterning - offering a deep and lasting pathway back to the true self. She hosts The Sacred Womb Podcast, leads The Unification Of The Divine Masculine & Feminine Training and is currently writing her first book: The Sacred Womb - a handbook for coming home to our true nature, along with Poems For Peri-Menopause.

Have you noticed the huge rise in the diagnosis of ADHD?It’s everywhere — in adults, in children, on social media, in therapy rooms. And while it’s often discussed through the lens of ‘neurodiversity’ or executive dysfunction, there’s something deeper going on that rarely gets named.The Root Cause of ADHDADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, but in many cases, what’s really going on is the result of unresolved, early attachment trauma, and for the majority of people, it’s more accurate to describe it as:ATTACHMENT DEFICITIn a very small nutshell:The psyche developed without a secure attachment figure — someone who could consistently regulate, attune, and protect.There were multiple sustained periods of intolerable pain or stress, so the system fragmented in order to survive.These fragmented parts became hyper-vigilant, and being still or at rest felt unsafe.By adulthood, this becomes a way of life — fast-paced, scattered, always ‘on’.As a culture, we like to give palatable names to things we don’t want to face — and mental health diagnoses have become a socially acceptable way of masking deeper truths.Even ‘neurodiversity,’ while helpful in some contexts, can sometimes act as a palatable blanket for what is, at its core, profound and unresolved attachment trauma.Real Healing Is PossibleTherapies that address the root — not just the symptoms — can support us to come back into the body, out of self-preservation, and into the present moment. Modalities like:IFS (Internal Family Systems)CRM (Comprehensive Resource Model)DBR (Deep Brain Reorienting)SE (Somatic Experiencing)It does take time. But the nervous system is designed to heal.A great resource is Gabor Mate’s Book: – Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit DisorderYou’re Not Broken — You AdaptedI invite you to pause, take a deep breath, and notice what part of you is speaking if you say, ‘It’s my ADHD,’ as if that defines the whole of who you are.Part of what’s affecting attention, focus, and emotional regulation is physiologicalSend us a text Support the showMelanie is an experienced Soul & Shadow Worker, Womb Medicine Woman, podcast host, writer and trainer. For over 20 years, she has supported individuals and healing professionals to restore connection with the body, repair attachment and separation wounds, and embody primordial wisdom rooted in the womb, heart and soul. Melanie's approach blends somatic womb healing, shadow integration, shamanic healing and soul-level repatterning - offering a deep and lasting pathway back to the true self. She hosts The Sacred Womb Podcast, leads The Unification Of The Divine Masculine & Feminine Training and is currently writing her first book: The Sacred Womb - a handbook for coming home to our true nature, along with Poems For Peri-Menopause.

In our conversation, Anthony shares the essence of Singing in the Wild, his five-day retreat that I've been on twice (17 years ago and more recently just a few weeks ago).I had such a transformative time that I invited Anthony onto the podcast to share the genuine magic of this work!Many of us were told, somewhere along the way, that we couldn’t sing. Maybe we were asked to stay quiet, to lip-sync or not to make too much noise; these moments can go deep and restrict us - that is, until we decide we want to go beyond those limits.This retreat gently meets that wounding, offering a space where each person's natural, unique voice is welcomed, just as it is.It’s not about performance or hitting the right notes. It’s about remembering what it means to express rather than perform, and reconnecting with the sacredness that lives in sound, loving presence, and connection.What emerges is nothing short of magical. When we step beyond judgment and self-consciousness into pure expression, something shifts fundamentally in our nervous system. 'The voice is not just a musical instrument,' Anthony explains, 'it actually IS the person.'Through practices he calls 'radical relating', participants learn to be fully present with each other without fixing, advising, or turning away - creating moments of profound connection where the boundaries between self and other begin to dissolve.This conversation vibrates with the truth that transformation happens not through technical improvement, but through authentic connection. Whether you've been silenced or simply yearn for deeper relationships with yourself and others, this work offers a pathway home to our most natural and authentic expression.CONNECT WITH ANTHONYFind out more about Singing in the Wild Retreat or learn more about Anthony's overall work, Real Voice >Send us a text Support the showMelanie is an experienced Soul & Shadow Worker, Womb Medicine Woman, podcast host, writer and trainer. For over 20 years, she has supported individuals and healing professionals to restore connection with the body, repair attachment and separation wounds, and embody primordial wisdom rooted in the womb, heart and soul. Melanie's approach blends somatic womb healing, shadow integration, shamanic healing and soul-level repatterning - offering a deep and lasting pathway back to the true self. She hosts The Sacred Womb Podcast, leads The Unification Of The Divine Masculine & Feminine Training and is currently writing her first book: The Sacred Womb - a handbook for coming home to our true nature, along with Poems For Peri-Menopause.

have you ever tried to ‘let go’ of behaviors that no longer serve you, only to find yourself repeating the same patterns? You're not alone. The popular advice to ‘release what no longer serves us’ or burning our troubles away on the full moon simply doesn't work—and there's a profound psychological reason why.What we're actually doing when we try to ‘let go’ is pushing away parts of ourselves that have been working diligently to protect us. These patterns began as vital coping strategies during times when our emotions felt overwhelming. By trying to reject these aspects of ourselves, we create further internal fragmentation and erode trust within our own psyche.The healing begins with a simple but powerful shift: instead of pushing away, try welcoming these parts with curiosity and gratitude. By locating where we feel these patterns in your body and extending compassion to these aspects of yourself, you create an internal atmosphere of acceptance. When we ask these parts how they've been trying to help us and what fears they hold, something remarkable happens—they begin to feel recognized, valued, and integrated rather than isolated and rejected.This internal shift doesn't just heal fragmentation; it creates a ripple effect that extends to your external relationships. As you generate more self-acceptance, you naturally begin to vibrate at a frequency that attracts more authentic connections. When we stop seeking validation externally and instead create that environment within, others feel drawn to our genuine presence. It's the ultimate paradox—by fully welcoming ourselves, we create the connection we've been seeking all along.Ready to experience this transformation? I've created a guided practice available in the Sacred Womb shop for just £3 to help you to dissolve old patterns with love Send us a text Support the showMelanie is an experienced Soul & Shadow Worker, Womb Medicine Woman, podcast host, writer and trainer. For over 20 years, she has supported individuals and healing professionals to restore connection with the body, repair attachment and separation wounds, and embody primordial wisdom rooted in the womb, heart and soul. Melanie's approach blends somatic womb healing, shadow integration, shamanic healing and soul-level repatterning - offering a deep and lasting pathway back to the true self. She hosts The Sacred Womb Podcast, leads The Unification Of The Divine Masculine & Feminine Training and is currently writing her first book: The Sacred Womb - a handbook for coming home to our true nature, along with Poems For Peri-Menopause.

This guided practice serves as both a foundational womb healing technique to energise your whole womb center and a diagnostic tool to understand your current relationship to your womb.You’ll learn to direct energy to each part of your womb system – the ovaries, tubes, the womb itself, cervix, and yoni (sacred space). As you breathe into each area, you’ll discover not just where energy may be blocked or flowing freely, but you’ll actively begin the process of re-energisation.You can practice it indoors while sitting in a chair, though sitting directly on the earth can deepen your experience significantly. Whether you’re exploring womb healing for the first time or are a seasoned practitioner, this foundational practice serves as the cornerstone for reconnection with your seat of power.This practice:Works to energise the entire womb system, including the ovaries, tubes, womb, cervix and yoni Is designed as a standalone practice and is part of a 21-day womb healing journeyIncorporates somatic resourcing through connecting to the earth and your energetic tap rootCan be done anywhere, though sitting on earth, the beach, a tree stump or a stone enhances the energetic Will energise your menstrual cycleActs as a diagnostic tool to discover areas of resistance, old protection, stored emotions or disconnection.If you enjoyed this practice and want to go deeper, you can download the complete 21-day womb healing journey here >***********IMPORTANT NOTE:You may feel slightly faint or dizzy if you do too much deep breathing too soon. Don’t push yourself. Do what you can. Dynamic breathing gets your chi moving. If you feel dizzy, simply pause the practice, open your eyes and breathe gently, returning to the practice once the dizziness has passed.***********If you have comments or questions, leave a review on Apple or Spotify, or contact me on Instagram @the_sacred_wombSend us a text Support the showMelanie is an experienced Soul & Shadow Worker, Womb Medicine Woman, podcast host, writer and trainer. For over 20 years, she has supported individuals and healing professionals to restore connection with the body, repair attachment and separation wounds, and embody primordial wisdom rooted in the womb, heart and soul. Melanie's approach blends somatic womb healing, shadow integration, shamanic healing and soul-level repatterning - offering a deep and lasting pathway back to the true self. She hosts The Sacred Womb Podcast, leads The Unification Of The Divine Masculine & Feminine Training and is currently writing her first book: The Sacred Womb - a handbook for coming home to our true nature, along with Poems For Peri-Menopause.

The phrase 'holding space' is immensely popular with those in therapeutic, healing, coaching, wellness, and women's circles, but what's really happening?I've investigated this over the last few years with those I've worked with and colleagues, and it turns out to be mainly trauma-driven.Holding is the opposite of what we're trying to be as we heal and become more present. The opposite of holding in this relaxed, engaged and present. We don't want to be holding anything! It creates tension, deflects from our presence, and has our energy too focused on the other person, which either consciously or unconsciously creates a reaction in them, of either infantilisation or resistance. Neither is going to help the process of becoming more present.So it's really useful to question what's driving it, as ALL healing arts professionals have a trauma history, which is why our personal work is essential to facilitating the process of coming home to our true selves and meeting the world from a base of increasing love.A big caveat to this is that there is no 'healed' point. All of the markers I talk about are on a sliding scale from a more fear-based, adapted way of being to embodying more and more love, and connecting with others from a sense of security and safety within ourselves.In this episode, I talk through the following:WHAT TRAUMA-DRIVE SPACE HOLDING LOOKS AND FEELS LIKEa sense of 'holding' in our bodyperpetually pushing our own needs to one side to take care of others, have a sense of self-sacrifice and hoping to be seen a certain way in return for our 'holding'viewing others as less than or feeling sorry for themtrying to hold the whole group field or person with our energyfeeling perpetually exhausted after 'holding space'attached to the outcome of other people's state of beingfinding it difficult to be vulnerable with people, either 1:1 or in groups in daily lifecan't feel our own body or emotions whilst 'holding space'feel unappreciated for all our effortsWHAT'S DRIVING TRAUMA-BASED 'HOLDING SPACE'?WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE ON THE RECEIVING END OF TRAUMA-DRIVEN SPACE HOLDERSWHAT WE CAN DO IF SPACE HOLDING IS TRAUMA-DRIVENA Guided Practice To Reclaim Your Energy & Come Home To Your Body >Send us a text Support the showMelanie is an experienced Soul & Shadow Worker, Womb Medicine Woman, podcast host, writer and trainer. For over 20 years, she has supported individuals and healing professionals to restore connection with the body, repair attachment and separation wounds, and embody primordial wisdom rooted in the womb, heart and soul. Melanie's approach blends somatic womb healing, shadow integration, shamanic healing and soul-level repatterning - offering a deep and lasting pathway back to the true self. She hosts The Sacred Womb Podcast, leads The Unification Of The Divine Masculine & Feminine Training and is currently writing her first book: The Sacred Womb - a handbook for coming home to our true nature, along with Poems For Peri-Menopause.

In this episode I explore the concept of becoming a genuine adult, what it means to develop emotional maturity and a grounded sense of self, what that looks like and feels like, and how we can do it in a way that increases our range of experience and expression.Often, we equate adulthood with age, assuming that reaching a certain number automatically means we have attained emotional maturity. However, the reality is much more nuanced. Many of us find that despite our chronological age, we may still operate from various younger emotional states—those triggered by past experiences, traumas, or disruptions during our formative years. To truly embody a genuine adult self, we must address these emotional fragments and develop our capacity to respond to the present moment with intention and clarity.What is an Adult Self?An adult self can be summarised as the energy within us that has little to no emotional charge from the past, and so, therefore, can be present.This energy, or 'amount' of our consciousness that is present is available to experience situations more as they are now, and make choices as to how to respond.What are the features of an Adult Self?Here are some of the main features here, however, they aren't exhaustive, there are so many possibilities! This list is an example.As a genuine Adult, we're able to:Be in the present momentMake clear choices taking into account intuition and cognition. Identify when triggered (distressing charge/memories are activated)Self-regulateImplement consistent self-careTake responsibility for our actions, behaviours, thoughts - whole self and impact on others.Identify and communicate our own needsPlay! (play is to opposite of, and antidote to trauma)Access, embody and express a range of states of beingIdentify and implement clear boundariesWilling to be in love-based, mutual relationships with othersI also explore what 'Leading our System' from our Adult Self means, the relief that comes from un-fusing parts of ourselves that have been mistaken for our personality and reclaiming those qualities that were once buried beneath coping mechanisms. Send us a text Support the showMelanie is an experienced Soul & Shadow Worker, Womb Medicine Woman, podcast host, writer and trainer. For over 20 years, she has supported individuals and healing professionals to restore connection with the body, repair attachment and separation wounds, and embody primordial wisdom rooted in the womb, heart and soul. Melanie's approach blends somatic womb healing, shadow integration, shamanic healing and soul-level repatterning - offering a deep and lasting pathway back to the true self. She hosts The Sacred Womb Podcast, leads The Unification Of The Divine Masculine & Feminine Training and is currently writing her first book: The Sacred Womb - a handbook for coming home to our true nature, along with Poems For Peri-Menopause.