http://www.asteriamovement.co.uk/

Asteria Movement, Leeds (2026)

03/03/2026

Musings from week 2 of Noro - I am quiet here and over the last few weeks I have felt so much of my stuff rising and swirling. The ways I have grown, where there is still a way to go and the things I hadn't even been able to see until now. This is the invitation and opportunity of motherhood. And amongst all the ugh, I have also felt an expansive, seen glimmers of clarity and a knowing that this too is a becoming. That it is here, in the depths, that the sacred portals of motherhood open up.

26/02/2026

It feels a little vulnerable to admit there are times in motherhood – and life - where I’ve felt more like I’m surviving than thriving. Sometimes it's moments or hours, other times it’s days or weeks, perhaps months.

Times of prolonged illness, grief, postpartum, feeding challenges come to mind. So does waiting in hospitals, and airports and anytime I’m in a supermarket with a child having a meltdown. Or anytime anyone projectile vom it's on public transport, which is how this week began.

We live in a time where the myth of the Good Mother looms large. Never have we expected so much of ourselves, and each other, than now. And yet we are also in a time when many of us, also have less support from families and communities, and increasingly less resources. Whilst vast swathes of our society are woefully child and family unfriendly. So, if it feels hard right now, please offer yourself the possibility that could be because it is hard.

You’re not doing anything wrong; there is nothing wrong with you. People will try to make you, and your baby, a problem. That’s often so they can sell you a solution. These people are exploiting vulnerabilities and monetising womens bodies. This is patriarchy. This is late-stage hyper-capitalism. And that’s the problem – the systems that pitch us against each other rather than supporting us to rise together.

In an ideal world, we would all have everything we need to thrive, all of the time. But that’s not the reality for most. And sometimes that pressure adds to the hardship. My recovering perfectionist heart does better knowing that surviving is enough. It helps me to open to the reality of my experience and allow myself to be in it. Because I know how to survive. I know at the point I think I’ve reached my edge, another path will open up. And that sometimes, at the bottom of the pit there is a gift.

I also know surviving can feel all consuming, that sometimes there isn’t a silver lining. It’s just s**t. And it’s easy to get stuck in it. Over the years, I’ve found it’s the pockets, the little rituals and small steps that help me find a way out, a way back to myself. That pave the way from survive to thrive.

22/02/2026

Sad news and good news. For those of you that don't know, this week is my last week for Community Yoga 😭

I have loved being here over the last year and a bit. It's a great space and I hear all the time how comfortable and free people feel here, held within its walls. Thank you OSA for sharing your space with me as I have developed this offering. Your support has allowed me to grow, experiment and play with the boundaries of yoga, movement, philosophy and art. We've had a wild time ❤️

For our last class we will be exploring our heart and tapping into the sweet nectar of gratitude for all the space has offered us. All welcome for our last Community Yoga, Friday 27th Feb at 18:15. Expect a somatic slow flow and short Yoga Nidra. Suitable for all levels of experience including beginners, non bendy and pre/postnatal bods.

And the good news, regular classes are being re-imagined into an Embodied Yoga offering. Still on a Friday, at the new time of 18:30 at one of my other favourite places, the Heart Centre in Headingley 🥳

These classes are founded on the same principles of accessibility, it's just the name that's changing to more accurately reflect how these classes are unfolding ✨

Will you be joining us? Pop any questions below or comment HEART for the booking link ❤️

**ra

19/02/2026

Three years ago, I didn't know where this story would go. My vision of the future was completely blank. This year, I got to wake up next to my baby - not really a baby anymore - and wish him a happy third birthday.

I am incredibly grateful, and lucky, to have received good care. I was listened to. I got the special treatment. That should be the minimum standard.

And, it wasn't just luck. It was also deep inner listening. Getting to know myself, my mind, my body. My stories and my patterns. So I could discern between fear and intuition. So I could know if this is just my stuff coming up, or something more.

It was dedication and devotion to my practice and openness to exploring new things that could support my literal and figurative expansion.

It was tuning in to what I needed and asking for help. Bringing together lots of different avenues for support.

It was sifting through a lot of information to find what was true, and what was true for us in that moment. Finding my voice, asking the questions.

It was finding my No. Feeling it, expressing it. Being willing to take up space, create a seat at the table and say that's not ok.

Journeying through pregnancy, birth and post-partum is sacred work. It involves the deepest parts of ourselves. But it's also the work of body, of mind. And the work of how you choose to navigate data and systems. And for all of that, we need care and support. We need the wisdom of those who have already traversed the path. We need to be held.

We were never meant to do it alone.

A lifetime of gratitude to the many beautiful souls that held me though this portal. Thank you 🌞🌹

12/02/2026

I used to judge my own uncertainty and insecurity in pregnancy and mothering. I felt I should know. I took it as a sign of my not good enoughness.

And then I realised my not knowing wasn't in the way, it was showing me the way.

It is a pathway to awareness. Of the ideals I have been clinging onto, the shoulds I have outgrown. The patterns and beliefs that keep unfolding through these new layers.

One of my teachers, introduced me to the idea of ‘growing down’. Which is so apt for these seasons of pregnancy, birth and mothering that invite us to dive deeper into the ground of who we are. To emerge as a truer, more authentic - often messier - version of ourselves.

When you feel the unknown rising, here is a practice to explore:

🌀 Where do I feel this in my body?
🌀 What are the sensations?
🌀 Breathe into them, notice what happens.
🌀 Explore moving, journaling, drawing, painting from this space - give your uncertainty a creative expression.
🌀 Reflect on any beliefs or thoughts that come up.

🌀 Is there a message here for you? What are you ready to shed? What do you desire to create? Let uncertainty be your guide.

What are you, or have you held onto in motherhood that no longer fits? How did you know? Let me know in the comments.

05/02/2026

I love the philosophy of non-dual Ta**ra because it offers space for all of us to be seen. It embraces us as where we are, as whole, as worthy, as sacred.

It offers radical acceptance for all our parts.

We are none of us one thing. To mother is to live in the realm of both, and.

Yes, I am entrenched in motherhood and mothering as a spiritual journey. I am deep in my obsession with yoga, philosophy, birth, parenting and women's rights. And I also swear a lot, listen to hip hop, and love child free evenings with friends.

I love slow, somatic practices. And sometimes, I just want to sink into a functional mobility practice with none of the jazz because my body craves it.

I love to bake homemade snacks and sometimes I give my kids a freezer tea.

I stay with my kids as they go to sleep and I love these quiet moments, and I wish I could have a break.

I love to go to a sauna and sit in silence. And I love a night out dancing.

I am invested in looking after our environment and believe in collective responsibility. And, I had to stop using reusable nappies.

Motherhood brings into focus all of our complexity and contradiction. And yet here, I find I am often viewed through the lens of 'Mum' as if that were one, simple, universal thing.

I believe we need spaces and places that meet us where we are, holistically, in our wholeness. These are the spaces I crave and endeavour to create because all of us deserves to be seen and embraced.

What parts of you are craving to be seen?

18/01/2026

I still feel a little embarrassed to admit that birth with my eldest child didn't feel good.

I had a huge sense of failure and guilt around the cascade of intervention we found ourselves on.

I wanted to birth within the system, but I had thought with a few tweaks to my environment, if I had released enough fear, if I had practiced enough, if I backed my choices with enough information then I would be in the zone and that zone would feel like flow. And it didn't.

On reflection, I prepared with wrong goal in mind. I can see in hindsight that I was holding these two almost paradoxical ideas if birth being risky and uncontrollable, and safe if you can control yourself.

Unconsciously, I was stuck in a narrative that my birth was solely my responsibility. That it would be a test of my dedication and skill. I was focused on crossing a threshold of good girl, to good mother. And I thought I knew what that looked like.

This is my story, and I'm sharing it from a point where I can see how birth unpeeled another layer of my stuff. But I'm sharing it because I don't think it's only my story, or only my stuff.

It's so easy, with all of our passion and fierce, protective love to get lost in ideology. And so trust in someone else authority above our own; institutions above intuition, yet question ourselves before systems. To fall back into myths of what it means to be a good girl or good mother.

All the noise adds to the pressure and when we are in the this vulnerable state of undoing and unknowing we can so easily take it all on and create fixed expectations.

It was those expectations, not the actual birth itself, that threw me and led me to believe I had failed before I had really began.

I didn't fail. I was lost, and alone in the depths of the birth portal, disconnected and without a guide. It was a brutal beginning, but the one that brought me here.

Do you or did you feel pressure around birth looking a certain way? Do you have expectations about what it should feel like? Let me know below.

If you want to explore this further, comment 'stories' and I'll send you 11 journaling prompts to uncover the good birth myth held in your body 🌹

14/01/2026

One thing I don't love about my work in the perinatal space, is the pressure to have a perfect birth. Usually depicted as a calm, quiet, gentle, physiological birth, outside of a typical hospital. There is often an inference that this type of birth is superior or even the only real or valid type of birth.

It's frankly bulls**t. It creates undue pressure and expectations. They can create fear when entering the birth portal because the intensity is unexpected. It makes the perfect birth into something you win or achieve with the right amount of effort, mindset shift and manifestation. This leads many women to feel like they have failed when their birth or experience doesn't meet this ideal.

Don't get me wrong, I wholeheartedly support and believe in physiological birth, that it desperately needs to better understood and supported. And that medicalising birth when it's unnecessary is causing harm.

And three things.

1. A gentle birthing environment does not necessarily make for a gentle birth. The biological reality of birth encompasses a full spectrum of emotion and experience. It is raw humanity. And that can be ugly, messy and noisy. Physiological birth doesn't mean calm, easy or or****ic.

2. People choose interventions and medical support for a variety of reasons. In some cases, they genuinely are medically necessary. Intervention can be an informed choice, guided by intuition and instinct. It can be a sign of deep attunement to yourself and your baby and part of your process of surrendering to the flow of birth. This is no less real or valid.

3. There are so many factors that shape the way birth unfolds. Birth isn't something you dictate. Preparation stacks the cards in your favour. It helps you understand yourself, trust your intuition and attune to your baby. It supports you to make informed decisions and advocate for yourself. To respond to however your birth unfolds from a place of groundedness and sovereignty. But it can't bring the stuff that isn't yours, into your control. Birth isn't just you. It's you, your baby and the systems we operate in.

All birth is powerful. All birth is transformative. All birth is a portal. You can't fail it.

24/12/2025

Well I'm not sure about you, but December has been unexpectedly WILD over here and all of a sudden we're already heading to the close. As my 5 year old has taken to saying, time really does fly.

So just a little note to say thank you for being here and for all your support over the last year 🌹

I've enjoyed doing this content challenge over December because I love my work and I love sharing it, and I really believe we can and we will change the system. And, sometimes I need a deadline. I've also unexpectedly learnt a lot about myself, and this paradoxical world of social media we find ourselves in. Thank you for your support, encouragement and problem solving 🤪

I'm taking a little time off to spend some time with my loved ones, the trees, the moon, the river. It's time for me to slow down, to nourish and nurture. And process all that 2025 has brought.

For those celebrating, wishing you a sweet and joyful festive season with plenty of rest. See you on the other side ❤️

👋🏻Hi I’m Sophie, a perinatal yoga teacher, embodiment facilitator and doula in training. I’ve been sharing the heart of my work for the last 24 days and I’m excited to keep going into 2026.

If you're looking for my general Embodied Hatha, Ta**ra and other non birthy stuff, find me

23/12/2025

Give me another few minutes and I'll tell you why feeling our feelings is important.

🌹 Emotions are messengers, they give us vital information - what we like, our boundaries, our values, our needs and desires.

🌹 Feelings can be signals from our intuition, tuning in helps us make decisions that are right for us.

🌹 When we feel our feelings we are attuning to ourselves. We get to know and understand ourselves then we can witness and hold ourselves through our experience.

🌹 We can only attune to, and hold in others, what he can attune to and hold in ourselves. This means we may find it hard to recognise and be with emotions in our children (or anyone else) that we can't feel in ourselves.

🌹 Emotions are meant to be felt, it's how their charge moves. Otherwise they can get 'stuck' in our systems which disconnects us from our current experience, aka reality. When we feel our feelings, we get to experience more of life.

✨ Please take care of yourselves. If a feeling or sensation has a charge of F no, repulsion, strong discomfort, numbness or feels unsafe in any way that can be your body's wisdom saying not this, not now - listen to that. Don't force anything, there's nothing gained from going outside of your zone of connection. If this happens, you can see if there is another sensation that feels safe to explore or if you feel activated, orient outside of your body. This could be noticing the weight of your body, pressing into your feet and feeling any physical support or noticing sights and sounds around you.

🌿 Over the festive season, pause and take a moment to feel your feelings. This is good anytime but especially if someone is asking something of you or giving an opinion - see if you can let it land and tune in before you respond. Let me know how you get on in the comments below.

👋🏻Hi I’m Sophie, perinatal yoga & embodiment facilitator and doula in training, I’m spending the next 24 days sharing the heart of my work so you can understand what I do and why it matters.

If you're looking for my general Embodied Hatha, Ta**ra and non birthy stuff, find me

Asteria Movement

03/03/2026

26/02/2026

22/02/2026

19/02/2026

12/02/2026

05/02/2026

18/01/2026

14/01/2026

24/12/2025

23/12/2025

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