Mothers Circle

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Mothers Circle

Mothers Circle celebrates the journey of Motherhood. We provide unique holistic antenatal education and Doula Services.

07/12/2025

Time is an hourglass.
I arrive at a new home and turn the timer.
We step into the darkness—
tears, blood, breath—
and eventually a new baby arrives.
The sand empties and I move on,
leaving behind the milky softness,
letting it all reshape me.
Then I carry myself to the next home
to flip the hourglass once more.

Time is taken, and time is given.
I can never wrap my fingers around it.
It is neither measured nor fair;
it falls to and from,
a rhythm we cannot hold.
We can sing you in and we can sing you out,
yet we cannot keep you.

We wait and listen and wonder
when you will arrive,
what the signs mean,
why the kingfisher came.
The tulips bloom in bold red,
the blood begins to break through,
and we light the fire
because tonight may be the night.

The truth is, we would wait forever for you, darling.
If the sand was a dune
willing to be carried across the world,
we would move it grain by grain
just to hold you in our arms
for a single moment.

Time stitches us together.
Time brings you through me
and into life—
but only for a lifetime.
Long and short,
full like the hips that held you.
Time gives and takes,
again and again,
all of us.

2026-
Enquire about Doula Services.
My next Writing Circle “The Undoing” starts January 25th.
Keep your eyes peeled for “Pregnancy Soup”, my new online pregnancy container for support, inspiration, education and deepening within- details to drop this week.
The Labour of Love Doula Training opens July 2026.

05/12/2025

This photo was taken this morning at our local Homebirth Community Meeting — a space I’ve been sitting in for over twenty years. A place where babies grow into children, mothers grow into elders, and wisdom is passed quietly from lap to lap.

There were a handful of children running and crawling around at today’s gathering whose births I witnessed.

Im reminded how much community shapes us — how being surrounded by women, stories, and shared experience adds a layer of richness to pregnancy and early motherhood that nothing else can replace.

It’s this same spirit I’m weaving into Pregnancy Soup — an online weekly space for sharing, learning, resting, laughing, and being held during a time of enormous change.

Because pregnancy was never meant to be navigated alone.
Community is one of our oldest medicines.
More details to come. If you are pregnant and wanting to be first to know the details for “Pregnancy Soup”, DM me your email address.

With love
Sophia

19/11/2025

They sat under the plum tree in the evening light.
Each taking a turn to thank the whenua that nourished their new baby into being.
They buried it with gratitude and prayers, covering the earth over with their hands.
“You belong here little one”.

02/11/2025

One of my favourite parts of the “Labour of Love Doula Training” is seeing what happens afterwards.

The messages shared late at night.
The birth stories.
The confidence that grows quietly in each woman as she finds her own rhythm of support.

These doulas are out there now — holding, listening, witnessing — and the world is brighter for it.
I couldn’t be more proud!

The next intake for this unique doula training is July 2026… are you coming?

#2026

23/10/2025

Recently, my daughter sat beside her very good friend as she passed over in death.

My mama heart wanted to rescue my daughter from the pain of loss and I found myself wanting to continuously check in with her, narrate the dying process, draw out what she was feeling, ask her a hundred questions… instead, I made tea and sat close and quiet. (It was hard.)

There were tears but my daughter didn’t say a word, and neither did I, for hours.
After dinner that night, she said, “It’s strange that bodies get put into the ground after death. I spent a lot of time with that body.”
It wasn’t at all what I thought would be on her mind.

People often ask me, “How do I speak to my children about difficult things?” — about loss, death, and grief.
Sometimes as parents we think we have to have everything figured out and placed in neat, tidy boxes before we offer them to our children. We think we need to warn them of every challenge and tell them exactly how to respond.

But parents do way too much talking.
Truly… listen more.

If you fill all the space with words, with teachings , with advice, you miss the small but profound things your children are trying to tell you — what worries them, how they’re making sense of the world, what they think about when they’re lying awake at night.

When we assume we already know what they’re feeling, we lose the chance to really meet them — in curiosity, in presence, and in love.

Sometimes the most supportive thing we can do is to sit close, stay soft and quiet, and make space.
Let them lead the conversation. Let them show you who they are becoming, moment by moment.

10/10/2025

I’ve been learning about engine breaks and waste water disposal and road user charges and parking legalities…

We got a campervan and have hit the road for the summer! Mother Daughter Duo…

When Iyla came home from America, there was a change between us. A new meeting of each other as women.
So here we are, two women, on the road!
For this season…

29/09/2025

That moment, after the arrival, where you cuddle up together and bathe in the love bubble.

Looking forward to sharing ‘s beautiful birth story.

18/09/2025

I love to remember the days in lockdown when you were learning to sew.
“Help me put a zip in” you said.
“I don’t know how to sew” I said.
“Just sit beside me and we can figure it out together” you said.

10/09/2025

Soup is ready.
A writing circle. A shared meal. A table where you can bring your whole self.

We begin 12th October at Wildflour Café, Mount Maunganui.

Four evenings of writing + nourishment. Ten seats only.

$395 for the series ($100 deposit secures your seat).

Will you join us at the table?

#

06/09/2025

Finally home after a life adventure! (Literally)
Was welcomed at the doorway by these new blossoms!
Marigolds, they stay open in the dark.

I have completed the one year cycle that frames my book I’ve been writing over this past year cycle.

I don’t know how to do it- write a book I mean.
Yet, it’s coming.
I keep staying open in the dark and it’s kinda writing itself.

The next Labour of Love Doula Training starts again in July 2026. There are 7 spaces available.

“Soup”, my in person Writing Circle details will be out this week! (Bay of Plenty)

It’s so great to be home! ❤️

03/09/2025

Brave knowing women
We walk together into the night
Dirt lingers on our faces and thighs
What is touched can never be forgotten.
I’m made of embers that glow quietly through the dark months, and years
I’ve stayed just enough alive to know when to rage into morning light
I’m made of birth and death over and over, membranes and blood hold and release us
My grandmothers bones clink from her unmarked grave, like a grand applause
“Keep walking, keep walking”…

Address

Bethlehem
3110

Website

http://www.motherscircle.co.nz/

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Kia Ora!

I am Sophia, mama of two joyous beings, Childbirth Educator, Doula, Bath Connoisseur, Truth Seeker & Speaker!

For over a decade my work has been focused around empowering women to take ownership of their pregnancy, birth and Mothering journey, guiding them to discover, explore and trust their own inner knowing and innate capacities.

I am passionate about celebrating and valuing the rites of passage as women and fostering support and understanding instead of cheapening the experience with outside influences or competition.

These are sacred times for transformation!