Rooting Into What’s Real with Jennifer Sterling

#009: This week's guest is Jennifer Sterling, who lives in Manhattan with her 8 year old son. In this episode, Jennifer gets honest about her experience of being pregnant, which lasted 44 weeks and included pregnancy-long nausea and trouble gaining weight. She also describes her traumatic cesarean birth experience and shares the difficulties she faced during the postpartum period, which included flashbacks to her birth, her divorce, and a period with homelessness. She reveals what she finds rewarding and difficult about being a single mom and what she does to stay nourished. We talk about Jennifer’s work as a registered Dance/Movement Psychotherapist, how she chose the term ‘bodyful’ for her organization that supports black women living with depression, and she suggests a gentle approach for gaining access to pleasure in the body. We also discuss her book Dear Strong Black Woman which speaks to the experience of upholding the “strong black woman” ideal through powerful poetic expression. Finally, Jennifer offers wise suggestions for women who find themselves navigating motherhood and depression, or any other of life’s challenges.

Jennifer Sterling is a registered dance/movement psychotherapist and holistic nutritionist based in New York City. She is also the creator of Bodyful Healing, an organization that provides mental health support to black women living with depression. Her book Dear Strong Black Woman: Letters of Nourishment and Reflection from One Strong Black Woman to Another is available via a link in the show notes, or on Amazon.

For the links and show notes for this episode, head to: http://beingmompodcast.com/podcast/episode-009