Sacred Window Podcast: Nurturing Awareness in Postpartum Care

Christine Devlin Eck

The Sacred Window Podcast is a voice for change and growth in shifting the current paradigm in postpartum care. We discuss a variety of topics that range from abortion to eating in postpartum. We are a community passionate about bringing awareness to all aspects of the emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing during the postpartum time. This podcast is created by the Center for Sacred Window Studies, an organization that trains current and aspiring doulas and other birth professionals in conscious care for the sacred postpartum window. Visit www.sacredwindowstudies.com to learn more.

  1. 4d ago

    Healing After Birth Through Food with Cherie Calbom

    In this nourishing conversation, Christine Eck sits down with nutrition expert, bestselling author, and "Juice Lady" Cherie Calbom to explore one of the most important questions of the postpartum journey: What should we eat after birth? Together, they bridge Ayurvedic postpartum wisdom and whole-food nutrition, discovering that while their traditions may use different language, they share a common foundation: simple, nourishing foods that support digestion, healing, and vitality. They discuss why postpartum nutrition doesn't need to be complicated, the importance of digestive health, how warming foods support recovery after birth, and why slowing down at mealtimes may be just as important as the food itself. Cherie also shares insights from her latest book, The Truth About Seed Oils, offering practical guidance for reducing inflammation and making more informed food choices in a world filled with processed options. More than a conversation about nutrition, this episode is an invitation to consider nourishment as a whole-life practice—one that includes rest, connection, purpose, joy, and the wisdom to listen deeply to what our bodies are asking for. Whether you are a new mother, a postpartum caregiver, or someone seeking a more conscious relationship with food, this episode offers grounded wisdom for healing one meal at a time. In this episode, you'll learn: • Why simple, whole foods remain the foundation of postpartum healing• The connection between digestion, nourishment, and recovery after birth• How Ayurveda approaches food during the postpartum window• The role of warming foods, soups, broths, and healthy fats in recovery• Practical ways to reduce inflammation through everyday food choices• Why mindful eating, chewing, and slowing down support better digestion• How to balance healthy habits with flexibility, joy, and real life• The deeper relationship between nourishment, purpose, and emotional well-being Resources Mentioned: • Home - The Juice Lady, Cherie Calbom, MS• The Truth About Seed Oils - The Juice Lady, Cherie Calbom, MS If this conversation resonates with you, we'd love for you to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could benefit from a gentler, more nourishing approach to postpartum healing. Healing happens meal by meal, breath by breath, and day by day. ⟡ CONNECT WITH US Begin your own journey into nourishment and postpartum wisdom:https://sacredwindowstudies.com/free-... - Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care? Reach out! ⁠Schedule a time with Christine⁠ to find out how this work can transform your care business or provide a meaningful career path. Here is the ⁠link⁠ to our free class @‌sacredwindowstudies Join our ⁠Facebook Group⁠ Podcast Music is Composed by Sara Emmitt, graduate of the Center for Sacred Window Studies. You can hear more of Sara’s incredible music at www.saraemmitt.com.

    42 min
  2. Jun 4

    42 Days for 42 Years: How Postpartum Nourishment Shapes a Lifetime of Presence, Trust, and Becoming

    In this heartfelt solo episode of the Sacred Window Podcast, Christine reflects on a teaching that has guided her work in postpartum care for nearly two decades: 42 Days for 42 Years. As her oldest child prepares to graduate from high school, Christine looks back on her own postpartum journey and explores how the care she received during those first sacred weeks after birth continues to shape her life today. Through the lens of Ayurveda and the Universal Mother Principles, she shares three profound ways postpartum nourishment creates lasting ripple effects: cultivating discernment, deepening trust, and expanding our capacity for presence. This conversation moves beyond practical postpartum care tips and into the deeper question of what it means to become. How does the way we are cared for in the vulnerable postpartum window influence the way we navigate motherhood, relationships, life transitions, and our connection to the sacred years later? Whether you are currently postpartum, supporting new families, or reflecting on your own motherhood journey, this episode offers a gentle invitation to slow down, notice the qualities present in your life, and reconnect with what truly nourishes you. In This Episode, We Explore: ✨ The meaning behind the phrase “42 Days for 42 Years”✨ How Ayurvedic wisdom teaches us to recognize and balance the qualities present within us✨ The lifelong gift of discernment developed through postpartum care✨ Why nervous system regulation is connected to trust, surrender, and spiritual unfolding✨ How postpartum nourishment supports our ability to connect with the sacred✨ The role of presence in parenting, healing, and daily life✨ Reflections from nearly 20 years of motherhood and personal growth✨ The enduring impact of receiving care during life's most transformative transitions If this episode resonates with you, share it with a mother, caregiver, or practitioner who could use a reminder that the care we receive today has the power to shape the person we become tomorrow. Join us for the Sacred Summer Study! We’ve created a beautiful, free Sacred Summer Study Guide to support your journey. https://sacredwindowstudies.com/sacred-summer-study/ https://sacredwindowstudies.com/sacred-summer-study-guide/ - Begin your own journey into nourishment and postpartum wisdom:https://sacredwindowstudies.com/free-cookbook/ - Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care? Reach out! ⁠Schedule a time with Christine⁠ to find out how this work can transform your care business or provide a meaningful career path. Here is the ⁠link⁠ to our free class @‌sacredwindowstudies Join our ⁠Facebook Group⁠ Podcast Music is Composed by Sara Emmitt, graduate of the Center for Sacred Window Studies. You can hear more of Sara’s incredible music at www.saraemmitt.com.

    29 min
  3. May 20

    The Spiral Framework for Creating Nervous System Regulation and Healing Trauma Responses with Lauren Tobey

    In this episode of the Sacred Window Podcast, Christine Eck sits down with writer and speaker Lauren Tobey for a deeply honest conversation about nervous system healing, trauma responses, identity shifts, and the spiral nature of transformation. Together, they explore what happens when life dismantles the roles and identities we once relied upon — through divorce, burnout, postpartum, grief, career changes, or spiritual awakening — and how healing asks us to meet ourselves with compassion rather than perfection. Lauren shares her Spiral Framework, a trauma-informed lens that helps us understand healing not as a straight line, but as a cyclical and embodied process. Christine weaves in reflections from Ayurveda, conscious caregiving, and the sacred postpartum window, offering a grounded and nourishing perspective on regulation, safety, and self-trust. This episode is for anyone who has ever felt exhausted from trying to “fix” themselves, anyone navigating transition, or anyone longing to feel more connected to their body, their truth, and their inner steadiness. Inside this conversation, we explore: • Why healing is rarely linear• The connection between trauma responses and nervous system survival patterns• How perfectionism, control, over-functioning, and shutdown develop as protective strategies• What nervous system regulation actually means• The role of embodiment in trauma healing• Why community and safe relationships matter for regulation• The postpartum window as a portal for healing and transformation• Creating new neural pathways through presence and compassionate awareness• Returning to ourselves beneath survival patterns and social roles This conversation is a gentle reminder that healing is not about becoming someone new. It is about learning how to walk the spiral with greater tenderness, awareness, and trust. Connect with us: - Begin your own journey into nourishment and postpartum wisdom:https://sacredwindowstudies.com/free-... - Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care? Reach out! ⁠Schedule a time with Christine⁠ to find out how this work can transform your care business or provide a meaningful career path. Here is the ⁠link⁠ to our free class @‌sacredwindowstudies Join our ⁠Facebook Group⁠ Podcast Music is Composed by Sara Emmitt, graduate of the Center for Sacred Window Studies. You can hear more of Sara’s incredible music at www.saraemmitt.com.

    54 min
  4. May 13

    Conscious Care through Higher Wisdom and Being Enough with Christine Eck

    There comes a moment on the path of caregiving when we begin to loosen our grip on striving and remember that true support does not emerge from performance — it emerges from presence. In this deeply honest conversation, the Sacred Window Studies Founders Circle reflects on the realities of conscious postpartum caregiving, sustainable service, community, boundaries, self-worth, and the wisdom of being enough exactly as we are. Together, we explore the tension so many caregivers feel between devotion and depletion, and the important shift from overextending ourselves into creating rhythms that nourish both the families we serve and our own lives. This episode is for postpartum doulas, birthworkers, mothers, caregivers, and heart-led women seeking meaningful work rooted in embodiment, slowness, and conscious care. Inside this episode:• Building a practice through authentic relationships and community• The healing power of presence over perfection• Navigating self-doubt and imposter syndrome• Pricing, energetic exchange, and sustainability• Honoring personal rhythms and boundaries• The Universal Mother Principles and embodied caregiving• Why conscious care must include the caregiver, too We hope this conversation reminds you that you do not need to become someone else in order to begin this work. Your humanity is part of the medicine. With gratitude for this growing circle of caregivers walking together in devotion, learning, and remembrance. - Begin your own journey into nourishment and postpartum wisdom:https://sacredwindowstudies.com/free-cookbook/ - Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care? Reach out! ⁠Schedule a time with Christine⁠ to find out how this work can transform your care business or provide a meaningful career path. Here is the ⁠link⁠ to our free class @‌sacredwindowstudies Join our ⁠Facebook Group⁠ Podcast Music is Composed by Sara Emmitt, graduate of the Center for Sacred Window Studies. You can hear more of Sara’s incredible music at www.saraemmitt.com. - #ConsciousCare #SacredPostpartum #PostpartumHealing #AyurvedicPostpartumCare #SacredWindowStudies #ConsciousCaregiving #PostpartumDoula #EmbodiedWisdom #UniversalMotherPrinciples #PostpartumSupport #HolisticPostpartum #WomenSupportingWomen #Matrescence #NourishingTheMother #PurposeLedLife #EmbodiedCare #BirthworkerLife #BeingEnough #HeartLedBusiness #SlowLiving

    24 min
  5. May 6

    Riding the River of Miracles: One Woman's Journey Through Motherhood, Healing, and Coming Home to Herself With Vivianne Katlaps

    There are seasons in life when we feel deeply prepared—rooted in knowledge, connected to lineage, and trusting in the path ahead. And then there are the moments that ask us to live it. In this intimate conversation, we sit with Vivi—a mother, Ayurvedic student, and emerging postpartum caregiver—whose story gently reveals the space between what we know… and what we come to understand through experience. Raised in a family where birth was honored and trusted, Vivi entered motherhood with a strong sense of empowerment. But like so many women, it was the postpartum window that brought unexpected vulnerability—a quiet unraveling that asked her to receive care in ways she had never been taught. Together, we explore the tenderness of this transition. The shift from caregiver to one who also needs to be held.The humbling reality that knowledge alone does not replace support.And the deeper truth that our lived experiences are not detours—but part of the medicine we carry. This conversation is a reminder that postpartum is not simply a phase to move through. It is a sacred transformation—one that shapes not only how we mother, but how we live, serve, and belong to ourselves. If you have ever felt both strong and undone in motherhood…If you are walking the quiet path of healing your own story…If you feel called to support others in a more conscious, embodied way… You will find yourself here. - In this episode, we explore: Growing up in a lineage rooted in birth and holistic healingThe contrast between empowered pregnancy and vulnerable postpartumWhy the postpartum window requires deep, intentional supportThe initiation of becoming both caregiver and receiver of careHow our personal stories shape the way we serveThe role of the Universal Mother Principles in conscious caregiving- A gentle invitation… If you’re feeling the call to support mothers and families in a way that honors rest, nourishment, and presence…If you’re longing for meaningful work that aligns with your heart… We welcome you to explore this path with us. You don’t need to have everything figured out.You only need to begin listening. - Connect with us:Begin your own journey into nourishment and postpartum wisdom:https://sacredwindowstudies.com/free-cookbook/ - Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care? Reach out! ⁠Schedule a time with Christine⁠ to find out how this work can transform your care business or provide a meaningful career path. Here is the ⁠link⁠ to our free class @‌sacredwindowstudies Join our ⁠Facebook Group⁠ Podcast Music is Composed by Sara Emmitt, graduate of the Center for Sacred Window Studies. You can hear more of Sara’s incredible music at www.saraemmitt.com.

    1h 12m
  6. Apr 29

    Supporting New Families - Integrating a New Baby when a Sibling is on the Spectrum with Catherine Mapa

    There is a quiet reorganization that happens when a new baby enters a home. In this episode, we open a conversation that many families are navigating—but few are truly supported in: how to integrate a newborn when an older sibling is on the spectrum. Joined by Catherine Mapa, a school social worker and therapist with deep experience in neurodiverse communities, we explore what it means to care for the whole family during the postpartum window. What we return to again and again is something both simple and profound: The same principles that support a mother’s healing—safety, rhythm, presence, and nourishment—are the very foundations that support neurodivergent children as well. This conversation invites us to soften our approach. To move away from managing behavior…And toward listening more deeply to what the body is communicating. Together, we explore how to: Support siblings on the spectrum through the transition of a new babyCreate rhythm and predictability as a form of nervous system careUnderstand behavior as communication rather than resistanceBuild sensory-aware environments that reduce overwhelmHold multiple needs in the family without fragmentationAs Catherine shares, neurodivergence is not about deficit—it is about a different way of experiencing and moving through the world. And when we meet that experience with respect and attunement, something begins to settle. This episode is for parents, caregivers, and practitioners who feel the depth of this work—and are seeking a more conscious, compassionate way to walk alongside families in transition. - A closing reflection If you are in this season—supporting, parenting, or simply witnessing—you are holding more than most can see. There is no perfect way to navigate this. Only a returning… again and again… to presence. And from there, something steady begins to grow. - Begin your own journey into nourishment and postpartum wisdom:https://sacredwindowstudies.com/free-cookbook/ - Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care? Reach out! ⁠Schedule a time with Christine⁠ to find out how this work can transform your care business or provide a meaningful career path. Here is the ⁠link⁠ to our free class @‌sacredwindowstudies Join our ⁠Facebook Group⁠ Podcast Music is Composed by Sara Emmitt, graduate of the Center for Sacred Window Studies. You can hear more of Sara’s incredible music at www.saraemmitt.com.

    54 min
  7. Apr 22

    The Matriarchal Model of Nourishment with Christine Eck

    There is a quiet shift happening beneath the surface of how we live and care. In this episode, we explore what it means to return to a more conscious, grounded way of tending—to ourselves, to our families, and to the transitions that shape our lives. Beginning with the postpartum window, we widen into a deeper conversation about nourishment, community, and the small, everyday moments that carry the potential to restore balance. This is an invitation to remember that care is not something we offer from depletion—but something we embody through presence, attention, and intention. If you’ve been feeling the pull toward more meaningful work, or longing for a way of living that honors slowness and connection, you are not alone. We are walking this path together. - In this episode: The hidden imbalance in modern caregivingNourishment as a daily practicePostpartum as a lifelong lensThe return to a matriarchal way of careStepping into eldership and embodied leadership - Begin your own journey into nourishment and postpartum wisdom:https://sacredwindowstudies.com/free-cookbook/ Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care? Reach out! ⁠Schedule a time with Christine⁠ to find out how this work can transform your care business or provide a meaningful career path. Here is the ⁠link⁠ to our free class @‌sacredwindowstudies Join our ⁠Facebook Group⁠ Podcast Music is Composed by Sara Emmitt, graduate of the Center for Sacred Window Studies. You can hear more of Sara’s incredible music at www.saraemmitt.com.

    19 min
  8. Apr 15

    Tending the Sacred Fire: Why Digestion Is the Foundation of Postpartum Healing with Ashlee Sakaishi

    In the postpartum window, healing is often centered around rest and support—but one of the most essential foundations is often overlooked: digestion. In this episode, we sit with Ayurvedic practitioner and postpartum doula Ashlee Sakaishi Wilkin to explore the role of agni—the digestive fire—and why it is central to postpartum recovery. After birth, the body enters a delicate state. Digestion weakens, appetite fluctuates, and the system becomes more vulnerable to imbalance. Through an Ayurvedic lens, this is a time to gently rebuild—using warmth, simplicity, and intentional nourishment. Ashlee shares how tending digestion can support not only physical healing, but also emotional and mental integration during this transformative time. This conversation offers both practical guidance and a deeper understanding of postpartum care as a long-term investment in a mother’s health and wellbeing. - In this episode, we explore: The physiological and energetic shifts after birthWhy digestion becomes compromised postpartumThe Ayurvedic concept of agni (digestive fire)Common digestive challenges in the fourth trimesterThe connection between gut health and emotional wellbeingHow to nourish the body with simple, warm, supportive foodsThe importance of meeting families where they are- About the Guest Ashlee Sakaishi Wilkin is an Ayurvedic Practitioner, postpartum and birth doula, and educator at the Center for Sacred Window Studies. Her work focuses on nourishing mothers through Ayurvedic cooking, herbal support, and deeply personalized care during the postpartum window. - Resources Free Postpartum Cookbook:https://sacredwindowstudies.com/free-cookbook/ - Are you feeling the call to know more about Conscious Postpartum Care? Reach out! ⁠Schedule a time with Christine⁠ to find out how this work can transform your care business or provide a meaningful career path. Here is the ⁠link⁠ to our free class @‌sacredwindowstudies Join our ⁠Facebook Group⁠ Podcast Music is Composed by Sara Emmitt, graduate of the Center for Sacred Window Studies. You can hear more of Sara’s incredible music at www.saraemmitt.com.

    41 min

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

The Sacred Window Podcast is a voice for change and growth in shifting the current paradigm in postpartum care. We discuss a variety of topics that range from abortion to eating in postpartum. We are a community passionate about bringing awareness to all aspects of the emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing during the postpartum time. This podcast is created by the Center for Sacred Window Studies, an organization that trains current and aspiring doulas and other birth professionals in conscious care for the sacred postpartum window. Visit www.sacredwindowstudies.com to learn more.

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