Mothering Ourselves Mindfully

I’m back out in the woods (no recording gear, freshly sprung from puppy house arrest) because this topic couldn’t wait. It came up in my own couples therapy session this week and in two one-on-one client conversations, and it’s come up countless times over the years: moms working overtime to deliver the magic, the birthday party, the clean kitchen and the mac and cheese four ways, and getting no thank you. Often they get the opposite: “I thought there was gonna be vanilla frosting.” In this episode, I talk about the feedback moms actually need, why the sting...

If only my partner were more supportive. If only I had a mom or mother-in-law who could help. If only my kids were different. Then I’d finally feel the way I want to feel. In this episode, recorded on the trail the day before we closed the doors to REWIRE, I talk about the “if only” trap. It’s one of the biggest barriers I see to real change in mothers. I share why the problem you think you have is hardly ever the whole problem. I tell the story of two women with completely different partners who were car...

Registration for REWIRE closes October 15th, so this is the last episode before the doors close. I’m answering the questions that are probably running through your mind. What does the program actually involve? How is it different from all the therapy and personal growth work you’ve already done? Can you really change a lifelong pattern in seven weeks? How much time will it take? And what are these therapy balls I’m sending you? I’m also asking you to get honest about what’s behind your “maybe later.” Is it a clear, grounded “not right now,” or is it the famil...

This episode is about something that keeps coming up with women joining Rewire: “I don’t know which pattern to choose.” That question is a pattern too. In this episode I look at how the way we approach the idea of rewiring can show us what most needs rewiring: the need to get it right, self-doubt, time scarcity, money rules, and the fear that we won’t follow through. Then I ask a bigger question. What are you rewiring for?

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Money is rarely just about money. In the final episode of the Let's REWIRE series, after time, our bodies and anxiety, we're taking on one of the most loaded patterns of all. I share why I believe the mother wound and the money wound are the same wound, why your "money mindset" actually starts in your body, and why knowing a belief isn't the same as changing it. We look at the money messages you inherited, how they're tied to your earliest experiences of needing and receiving, and what relationship with money you want to model for your daughter.<...

In the third episode of our Let's REWIRE series, I'm taking on the loaded topic of our relationship with our bodies. I'm recording on day two of my cycle, low energy and all, and I start by asking you to check your "relationship status" with your body. Then I look at how that status got programmed: through what our mothers modeled, the moments that stuck with us, and a culture with very loud opinions about women's bodies. I share parts of my own story, from my grandmother's first words at the door to being sent to ride the bike...

In this second episode of the Let's REWIRE miniseries, I'm talking about one of my favorite topics: anxiety. What if anxiety isn't the enemy? I explain why we don't want to get rid of anxiety, why I actually worry more about people who have none, and how to tell the difference between anxiety that keeps you safe and anxiety that keeps you from living. I also share the Yale study that shows how much our own relationship with anxiety shapes our kids, a personal story about the dead trees in our yard, and the timely message about playfulness from...

“I don't have time. There's never enough time. I'm always behind.”

If any of that sounds familiar, this episode is for you. I'm kicking off a new podcast miniseries called Let's Rewire, where we're digging into the hot-button patterns so many of us as mothers are desperate to change — starting with the big one: time.

This series is launching right alongside open enrollment for the very first cohort of REWIRE, our seven-week life lab designed to help you close the gap between the mom you know you want to be and actually being her. Because here's...

In this episode, I'm finally ready to talk about the big thing that's been cooking behind the scenes: our waitlist doors for REWIRE are opening, and I'm walking you through exactly what this seven-week life lab is and why it's the next evolution of our Mothering Ourselves Mindfully work. I share the backstory on how this program came to be, why insight alone never changes anything, and how you can bring your own pattern — whatever it is — into this process with us starting October 27th.

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Here we are … at 100 episodes of Mothering Ourselves Mindfully! In this milestone episode, I'm sharing the real story of how I got here: one podcast at a time, no batching, no big master plan, just showing up week after week. I dig into why we convince ourselves something's too daunting to start, why perfectionism keeps so many of us stuck, and what actually got me from zero to 100. Plus, I'm sharing why I ditched the "everyone else's podcast" formula, what's changing with our upcoming program, and why community — not willpower — is the real key to consistency.

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I recorded this episode in real time, mid-struggle with a whole lot of pain following a tooth extraction that turned into a bigger deal than expected. What went down with my aunt around my pain led to this unscripted look at what happens when someone else steps in with "maternal assertiveness" - and how it’s so important for all women/daughters, no matter how old we are.

In This Episode

In this episode, I'm sharing highlights from a recent interview I did on the Can We Say That Out Loud podcast with Kara and Greer — a conversation that went deep into estrangement, grief, and the mother-daughter relationship. If you have a strained or nonexistent relationship with your mom, or you're stuck waiting for her to become someone she may never be, this one is for you. I unpack why grieving a mother who's still alive is one of the most necessary and overlooked steps in mothering yourself, and I share a deeply personal hypnotherapy story I've never fully told be...

Recorded mid-vacation on the last leg of our family road trip — Maine to New Hampshire to Lake George — this episode is a fresh-off-the-trail reflection on the two-day, 11-mile hike up Mount Washington my family and I just completed, totally green and totally underprepared on the research front. What I really want to talk about isn't the hike itself, but what made it work: my husband and I believing, from the start, that our kids could do it. That belief becomes the thread connecting this hike to two other places I've had to practice it — sleep training my first daughter and th...

Recorded on a walk in Maine (same outfit, five days running, this episode takes on one of the beliefs that I get the most fired up about: the (couldn’t be more far from the truth) belief that self-care is selfish. I break down why that line is a lie, why attuned presence - not constant self-sacrifice - is what our loved ones actually need from us, and introduce a new framework born out of Mothering Ourselves Mindfully: self-care isn't selfish; it's selves-ish - selves in steady harmony.

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Recorded on a walk before heading off on vacation, this episode is Sarah's continuation of last week's big reveal — The School of Mom is becoming The Home of Mothering Ourselves Mindfully, and Sarah is stepping fully into her own name, Sarah Lowell Harmon. Equal parts backstory and welcome mat, this episode traces the winding road that built her body of work — from a Psychology 101 class in Ohio to event management in New Zealand, from 3,300 supervised clinical hours to the 3am download that became The School of Mom — and lays out exactly how to step into the work now, whether you're...

Some announcements can't be planned — they just have to come out. In this episode, recorded on a walk (dogs, snakes, and all), I share a big reveal I’ve been sitting on: stepping out from behind the curtain of The School of MOM and claiming my name, Sarah Lowell Harmon, and the brand itself is transitioning from The School of MOM to The Home of MOM. This episode is part backstory, part permission slip — for trusting your own timeline, reclaiming your name (literally and figuratively), and understanding why the body is the only home we've ever really had.

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Sometimes the most aligned thing you can do is stop. In this episode, Sarah records something unplanned — a voice note from the woods — to share a message she couldn't wait to package properly: she's pausing the podcast. Not because things aren't working, but because they are running on automation — and she's not here for mindless loops. This episode is a real-time invitation to notice where you might be due for your own hard stop, and why pulling off the highway is sometimes the only way to actually choose your next destination.

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Sarah met life coach, business coach, and podcast host Katie Grimes through Women's Business League, and after spending an hour walking before even hitting record, they had to cut themselves off just to start the podcast. This conversation covers it all — nervous system regulation, the link between our relationship with our moms and our relationships with everyone else, why "regulated" might be the wrong word, the power of play (and pleasure) for mothers, and why conscious parenting happens mostly outside the moments you're actually with your kids.

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Mother's Day has come and gone - so how did it actually feel? In this final episode of our impromptu three-part Mother's Day series, Sarah reflects on her own evolving relationship with the holiday, shares the surprising and somewhat heartbreaking origin story of Mother's Day, and invites you into a post-holiday inquiry that matters far more than any bouquet or brunch. Because if there was any charge, resentment, or pressure wrapped up in this week for you - that's not something to push past. That's the gift.

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Mother's Day stirs up something different in all of us - warmth, grief, indifference, or something in between. In this episode, we get real about what Mother’s Day can bring up, and why we can still celebrate all of it, and why — counterintuitively — having a strained or non-existent relationship with your mom might actually be your greatest gift. This is a Mother's Day episode for every kind of mother, every kind of daughter, and every woman doing the inner work to claim a new level of worthiness.

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Mother's Day is coming — and for some of us, it lands with a kind of grief that's almost impossible to explain. This episode was inspired by a deeply moving session with our Untethered alum group: a community of women navigating dysfunctional or estranged relationships with their moms. If you're a mom who has a hard relationship with your mom, this one's for you — and it might be the most important thing you share this season.

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This week, I'm doing something a little different - recording a non-episode episode as a gentle reminder that we are not meant to be on all the time. I’m away with my kids on school vacation week, and I invite you to consider this your official permission slip to rest, to tap out, to stop producing at the pace you think you should. Because you are a cyclical being, which means you are meant to ebb, flow, and be consistently inconsistent!

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"We are not meant to be on all the time — in business, in l...

You've heard of the mental load — but what if we've been calling it the wrong thing all along? In this episode, I'm making the case that there's no such thing as just a mental load, and why getting the name right is the first step toward actually getting relief. I go deep into the brain-body load, the MOMsight framework, and why real change doesn't happen by shuffling tasks around — it happens in the body.

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In today’s episode, I'm calling out one of the most repeated lines in coaching and personal development, and offering you something that's actually true instead. Spoiler: you have more control than you think - it's just not where you've been told to look for it.

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What's the point? It's a question that can feel heavy — or become one of the most grounding, clarifying inquiries of your life. In this episode, I'm zooming way out on the School of MOM exists, the personal through-lines that have shaped this work, and what I truly hope for every mother who walks with me here. If you've ever found yourself swirling in the "why" of it all — around mothering, your life, your work — this one's for you.

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I'm recording this one on a windy day, and it feels fitting because this episode is unfiltered. I've been sitting with a growing frustration around a word that I've used a lot in this space, and I need to talk about it: regulated. As much as I believe in what it means in the nervous system sense, something has shifted - in me, in this cultural moment, and in what I want to model for my daughters. So I'm officially retiring the word, and replacing it with something that actually captures what we're building here: flourished.

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It's my birthday week, and I'm out on the road celebrating with something special — opening up a limited number of Flourished Mother Map sessions to the wider community for the very first time. In this episode, I walk you through exactly what the Flourished Mother Map is, why it's the foundation of everything we do in the School of MOM, and introduce a metaphor that might just change how you see your patterns forever: your motherhood GPS. We explore who programmed it, where it's actually taking you — and how to reroute.

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In this episode, I talk about one of the most foundational concepts in the work we do here at The School of Mom: selves leadership. This is the thread that runs through everything — through the Mothering Ourselves Mindfully framework, through what it really means to want to "be a better mom," and through how we show up in a world that is desperately hungry for grounded, mature, emotionally attuned adults. If you've ever looked around and wondered where are the adults in the room? — this one is for you.

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In this episode, I'm walking through a snowy winter scene reflecting on a question that's been coming up a lot lately: what does it really mean to want to be a better mom? I share the story of my very first brand positioning statement from 2020, why I pushed back on it then, and why five years later I've completely changed my mind. This episode is an invitation to explore how growth and self-compassion aren't opposites — and why wanting more for yourself as a mom is something to be proud of.

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In this rich and wide-ranging conversation, I'm joined by Leslie Forde — researcher, founder, and author of Repair with Self-Care: Your Guide to the Mom's Hierarchy of Needs. Leslie's work began after a brutal return from maternity leave landed her in burnout, and what emerged from the wreckage was a research obsession that has since become a roadmap for mothers everywhere. We talk about the invisible forces quietly draining our energy, why moms have been left out of the health span movement, and why - backed by real data - your self-care is quite literally the most important thing you ca...

I’m braving the frigid New England temps to share this 5,000-foot view on why mothering ourselves mindfully has never been more timely or necessary. From the Epstein files to racist tweets from the White House, the world is asking us to wake up—and we cannot afford to stay stuck in rage or shutdown. This is your call to get on a “boat” you care about, own your experience, and stop waiting for someone else to save you, your kids, or the causes you care about. If you've been thinking "maybe later" or "I don't have time," this episode...

In this episode, I'm diving into one of the biggest barriers I hear from women about joining The School of Mom: "I don't have time." Here's the truth that might sting a little: the very thing that will change your relationship with time IS this program. And the belief that you don't have time is exactly what's preventing you from the transformation you're seeking. I'm breaking down the neuroscience of "story follows state," sharing my own time scarcity moments, and explaining why our beliefs about time are actually rooted in our nervous system programming—not reality.

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In this short episode walking in a very snowy woods, I share an important shift I'm making with the MOM Program—and it's all about unscaling. While the business world tells us to scale, grow bigger, and involve ourselves less, I'm doing the opposite. I'm choosing intimacy, connection, and the kind of small group work I know transforms mothers' lives. If you've been contemplating joining but feeling stuck on time, logistics, or that familiar "will I actually follow through?" pattern, this episode is for you.

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In this episode recorded during a snowy winter walk, I'm sharing the huge announcement I've been building toward - and it starts with a powerful truth: awareness isn't enough. You can't think your way into change. I'm opening up about why support is the missing piece in our transformation, sharing a "weird woo" meditation experience that reminded me why community is non-negotiable, and officially announcing that Mothering Ourselves Mindfully is opening for enrollment! This is where The School of Mom began in 2020, and it's coming back more refined, more embodied, and more essential than ever.

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In this short episode recorded right before my kids get off the bus, I'm sharing two different pathways into the Unsubscribe inquiry - because sometimes the most accessible question isn't "what do I want to release?" but rather "what do I desire?" Discover which question resonates in your body, why that matters for your nervous system capacity, and how both sides of the coin work together. Plus, I'm sharing final details about our live Unsubscribe event happening January 28th at 7:15 PM EST!

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In this episode, I get specific about the question we've been exploring in my community this week: What am I ready to unsubscribe from? I share what mothers are bravely naming - from hypervigilance and overexplaining to busyness and shame around asking for help - and invite you to explore your own readiness for change. Using the stages of change model, we dig into what "ready enough" actually means, why thinking can't unwind what lives in the body, and how to discern between what we want to unsubscribe from versus the healthy cadence we actually need. This is essential...

Happy New Year! In this first episode of 2026, I'm literally walking on water—or rather, on the frozen pond in front of our house—as I invite you into an important post-holiday reflection. Before we rush into the new year, let's pause and mine the gold from what just happened. This episode is all about what was happening behind the magic-making of the holidays—the mental load, the emotional labor, the inherited programming that keeps us caught in patterns we never consciously chose. I'm sharing personal reflections from my own season and introducing a question that will guide us into t...

Happy New Year! In this first episode of 2026, I'm sharing an incredibly important distinction: the difference between insight and MOMsight. If you've ever felt stuck knowing what you need to change but can't actually make the shift, this episode is for you. Walking a brand new path through the woods (literally!), I break down why awareness alone isn't enough for transformation, and what it actually takes to embody lasting change as a mother. Plus, I'm announcing our powerful kickoff gathering for the year: UNSUBSCRIBE.

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In this powerful final episode of 2025, I share the biggest announcement to date on the podcast: I'm closing my group therapy practice, Parent Wellness Group. This isn't a story about failure - it's about releasing an identity that no longer aligns with who I'm becoming. Join me as I walk through the woods and reflect on the profound timing of this decision, the year of the snake's invitation to shed old skins, and what it means to truly embody the next version of yourself as you step into 2026.

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In the final episode of our three-part HappIER Holiday series, we dive into the science of happiness - because while feeling all your emotions and getting clear on what happiness means to you are foundational, understanding what actually makes us happier is where transformation happens. Recording outside on a 20-degree December day, I share the research-backed truth that might surprise you: only 10% of your happiness comes from circumstances, while a full 40% is within your control through daily habits and practices.

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