I'm an irrevocably happier being since becoming a mother.

In many many beautiful ways. Some people are naturally happy-go-lucky, carefree types - letting life's challenges, frustration and sometimes pain just wash over them like water off a duck's back. I'm not one of them.

I've actually never found it easy to be happy. It sounds silly but I've always worked really hard at it - at battling my insecurities, at seeing the positives in every situation, (my former housemate even said I was ‘industrious’ at it) at finding time for my yoga and within that, meditation, at letting go of the past and embracing the glorious future ahead, and finally, at listening to my intuition.

I feel things so deeply and quite often, famously among those who know me, I need a good cuddle and a little pep talk to boost me on my way. Since River's birth, I realized the birth of a whole new realm of possibilities within myself.

 I'm an incredibly intuitive being. Who knew! It’s something I’ve learned being his mama. I’m also braver and more determined than I ever thought possible. My life has come into focus. Sometimes when I pick my baby up, I can feel Fabian and me mapped out in his body. He smells like me when I sniff his creased neck or his hands. Now it feels like my heart is beating outside of my body. I know other mamas out there will know what I mean...

I've got mala beads from my time in India, charged with the prana of mother Ganga and those majestic himalayan mountains. But when I discovered the HAPPY Mama Mala it really spoke to me.

My husband Fabian and I like to ‘look up’. By this we mean, taking the time to mindfully look up and appreciate the ever-changing sky and take a moment, wherever you are, to breathe, absorb and be inspired. Looking up and being in AWE of the world has probably inspired some of the great thinkers of our species.

Motherhood has given me the ability to look up more. It’s amazing what you can see and now River and I look up every day on our walks.

It’s also given me the confidence in my ability as a Pregnancy and Postnatal Yoga Teacher and a Birth Doula. I feel as though serving women in their pregnancies and in birthing their babies, is what I was born to do.

I feel so passionately about the role of a Doula, and in making Doulas accessible to more women (including being more affordable) so more women can have positive experiences in this key life event - and take that with them for the rest of their lives.  

Whenever I wear my Happy Mama Mala I quietly ask for guidance for both myself and the women I serve, to listen to our intuition and let go of negativity holding us back. It all just fits together with the Happy Mala stones so perfectly and it's stunningly beautiful too.