Scribd
Upload
158 views

MWI Taryn Longo Expectful Blog

Taryn Longo is a birth and postpartum doula, meditation teacher, and mother of two. She recently moved with her family from New York City to California after feeling deeply alone on a crowded NYC street. Taryn has a strong inner guidance system and follows her heart despite challenges. She finds motherhood deeply fulfilling but struggled without the support of her own mother. Taryn advises new mothers to incorporate self-care like weekly check-ins with other women to work through challenges.

Uploaded by

Leah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
158 views

MWI Taryn Longo Expectful Blog

Taryn Longo is a birth and postpartum doula, meditation teacher, and mother of two. She recently moved with her family from New York City to California after feeling deeply alone on a crowded NYC street. Taryn has a strong inner guidance system and follows her heart despite challenges. She finds motherhood deeply fulfilling but struggled without the support of her own mother. Taryn advises new mothers to incorporate self-care like weekly check-ins with other women to work through challenges.

Uploaded by

Leah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

Y

MOMS WHO INSPIRE: TARYN LONGO

The Expectful Blog


P A R E N T H PO RO E D G N A N C Y

Moms Who Inspire: Taryn Longo


M

ANNA GANNON AUGUST 9, 2016

You know those moments when you meet someone and theres something deep inside of you that
somehow knows you were meant to connect? Thats exactly what happened when I met the creator of
Wild Heart Family, Taryn Longo.
Taryn is the mother of two children, Jackson (4) and Rabia (1). She is a birth and postpartum doula,
Living Meditation teacher and the wife of David Wagner, the meditation expert for Yogaglo, Kripalu,
and Omega Institute. Taryn has a gentle voice, a witty sense of humor and a beautiful understanding of
how to live a life thats true to yourself.
Over the last year a lot of things have unfolded for Taryn. She had a second child, moved to the
opposite side of the country and started a new business. During our conversation, she opened up to me
about the various challenges that have come up for her this year and how she learned to be more

observant of whats happening inside of her.


What I learned from our chat is that Taryn has an incredible ability to truly listen to her inner guidance
system. This became clear to me when she spoke about a particular experience that pulled her to move
from NYC to California this year. She told me about a moment when she was standing on a busy NYC
street, surrounded by hundreds of people, when she suddenly realized that she had never felt more
alone in her life. It was that moment, along with many other signs that led her to eventually follow her
heart and move her family to California. To Taryn, it wasnt about one place being better than the other,
it was about what was right for her and her family.
Its this womans condence, humbleness and inner wisdom that makes me so happy to share this
interview with all of you.
1. Whats your favorite part about being a mom?
I love the woman I have become through being a mother. I feel more myself than ever before, more
beautiful in my body than ever, and more whole. But this is remarkable because arguably I have less
time than ever to spend on myself, and my body has birthed two babies and is softer and a little bit
bigger than I ever was before kids. I dont have at toned abs anymore, but my belly is one of my
favorite spots on me now. My breasts have not been mine for years as Ive nursed two kids, but I have
never felt so comfortable with them. I dont get to frolic around freely anymore or travel the world on a
whim as easily, but my life feels more full and my sense of self stronger than ever. I have grown in ways
I never expected to grow. I am more calm than ever, more able to help others, more in tune with nature
and with the people around me, and more able to love. My ability to love others has grown
exponentially. Motherhood has made me into a new woman, and Im grateful for it even when I am
exhausted and worn out and stressed to the max. I love who I am now, and I wouldnt be who I am
without the intense journey of motherhood.
2. Whats been the biggest challenge being a mom?
So many women have mothers who nurture them and care for them after they have their own babies.
They come and clean the house and make food, they help care for the babies, and they take their
daughters under their wing and teach them how to be mothers. I dont have that kind of relationship
with my mother, and one of the hardest parts of motherhood for me is becoming a mother without
being mothered myself in that way. Beyond not having nurturing mother energy to hold me during this
time, I have had to consciously go about motherhood dierently than my mother did, because who I
am as a woman is just so wildly dierent than who she is, I couldnt just click into the patterns of
motherhood I knew growing up; there was so much about what I experienced growing up that I did not
want to repeat for my kids. So I had to carve my own way in an extreme way, and at times this felt
lonely and hard. I reached out to mentors that I have as well as mothers who walked ahead of me, read
many books, and took my own self education very seriously. I think it is even part of why I became a
doula and birth mentor myself, it was a way of learning what was not passed onto me. But nothing
totally lls the void of having your mom to call when you need some love or advice or help with the
kids, and I have found that to be the hardest on my heart.
3.

Self-care can be a challenge for moms. What advice do you have for moms who want to
incorporate more self-care into their lives?

The biggest source of self care for me is taking time each week to have someone I check in with and
work through my process with. There is a small handful of women in my life who I have formal
relationships set up with so I can sit, talk about what I am going through, what I am facing, and work
through my stu with. Sometimes its one on one with a trusted source, and sometimes its in the form
of a womens group. I have a womens circle that I do not run myself that I meet with every week for
one hour on a conference call, as well as a womens mastermind group I meet with every two weeks in
person where we support each other in our work lives, and I help run the Ojai Birth Collective here
where I live, so I get to sit and process my pregnancy work with the two other amazing women I run it
with. It is so nourishing to have that support. It sounds like a lot but it only adds up to one or two hours

a week, and believe me, that tiny bit of time translates into the most high leverage self care I have
found and the most supportive relationships I have in my life. I also facilitate a monthly Mamas Circle,
where we sit and share and talk about what we are facing as mothers. It is one of the pieces of my work
that is dearest to my heart and helps me with everything I do. Far more than daily yoga, far more than
green juice or smoothies, this kind of care, checking in about my process with others, gets right into my
soul and feeds me in a way that nothing else could. It makes me feel more energy in all of my work,
makes me pay attention to myself in new ways, and is a form of self love and self acknowledgement
that i feel we all need. If we arent giving love to the process we are in as women and mothers, I nd it
very hard to get into a ow of other forms of care like yoga or meditation, and when I do those
practices it is not as eective as when i do them in conjunction with self-inquiry. Having someone or a
group of people who hold me accountable to show up and shine some awareness onto my inner life is a
game changer, and its why I oer it for other women. I know the power it has rsthand. When a
woman takes one hour a week to talk to me in a private session and work through everything she has
coming up for her, the rest of her week will be so much more conscious and alive and healthy. A small
amount of time translates into an ongoing sense of support. It takes us out of a sense of isolation, of
going at it alone, and gives us a sense of strength and presence. Its a form of wellness that runs deep
and makes all our other wellness practices so much more effective.
4. Whats the one piece of relationship advice you would give to new parents?
Have a vision for how you want to be as a mother, for how you want your home environment to be, for
how you want your relationship with your partner to be in you have one, and make that your compass.
It will give you something to connect to when things get hard, and will serve as a reminder when we
lose track of what we are doing. Write it down, work with it, know it, and use it.
5. Whats one thing that people would be surprised to learn about you as a mom?
That I struggle with the demands of motherhood just like anyone else does! It is not always sunshine
and rainbows in my life, and even if I am the one running womens circles and oering wisdom and help
to others, it does not mean I have everything easy and without challenge. I have to work just as hard as
anyone to stay aoat, and to me that is what qualies me to be a real helper to others. I have moments
that I feel helpless and hopeless just like anyone, and I have had to face a lot of challenge and hardship
in my life. I work super hard at times to keep my state high and to stay connected with my heart and
my dharma, its just that this is an absolute priority for me.but its an absolute priority because I know
rsthand the suering that comes when we let this slip. I think thats why my weekly or bi-weekly
check-ins are so important, and why I maintain a support system to help me care for myself on a
personal and professional level. I put in the time and the work to keep myself in a high state and I stay
honest and real with myself about where I am at. That keeps me in alignment with my purpose and
keeps me in service to others in the way I am meant to be, but I struggle just as anyone else would and
have to put in work for that.

Are you pregnant or a new mom?


Expectful is a digital platform that makes meditation easy for expectant and new moms. Each one of
our guided meditations has been created to support you throughout your pregnancy and motherhood
journey.
Our mission is to help you give your baby the best start in life. Go to expectful.com and sign up for our
free 30-day meditation trail.

, TW

AH

RO

Y , WNI

IN

LLS

DOP

HN
I

ERG

AEO

Add a Comment

MOST POPULAR POSTS

THE SIMPLE PRACTICE THAT MIGHT CHANGE THE


WORLD

DEAR PRE-MOM SELF: ITS TIME TO LET YOU


GO

TWO WEEKS OVERDUE: HOW I FOUGHT TO NOT


INDUCE

WRITE WITH US

You might also like