Chai & Chats with @solmama__

Through her own journey as a Mother, Laura has intuitively centred her life around supporting women through cyclical living, pregnancy, birth, motherhood and beyond. 

Ritualising feminine wisdom and holding sacred space for women through birth work led to Laura’s invention of a Ceremonial bowl handcrafted from clay, designed to support women in trusting their journey.

We loved enjoying a nourishing conversation over a cup of chai with this beautiful Finnish fairy in her rainforest studio cabin discussing her mother centred offerings, staying true to oneself and trusting in our path.

Tell us about your offerings as a birth keeper, postpartum doula, ceremonial potterist and space holder?

The calling to explore the path of birth work was something that came to me while I was pregnant with my second son. Inspired by the power and magic that is birth, I signed up to a doula training soon after he was born. He has recently turned five which means that I have been journeying with women and families in the capacity of a birth keeper for around four years now. 

My birth and postpartum offerings are forever evolving and shifting. They are a gentle invitation to invest in yourself and your family. Through intentional birth preparation and deep and nourishing postpartum care, it is an opportunity to set yourself up for your future years as a mother/parent. I am here to love fully and to worship you and your choices.

I see the Ceremonial pottery as my passion project and something that was kindled by my love towards pottery and women’s work. To me, working with clay is moving meditation. It is a way to balance myself through the four elements of earth, water, air and fire that are all present when working with clay. The Ceremonial bowls are individually hand built from start to finish and custom made in collaboration with the vision of their owner. They are activated with prayer and there to hold space for women and their sacred ceremonies from childbirth to monthly bleed. I have only recently started to identify myself as an artist and carrying this energy feels so special and grounding. 

My newest offering, a not-for-profit Sisters of the Earth Retreat was birthed last year. Sisters of the Earth is all about women experiencing the sacredness of sisterhood and the magic of being a woman. It is a safe space for women to connect with each other as well as an invitation to journey into themselves. I envision the retreats to take place twice a year and invite new sisters to join our growing heart centred community.

You have created the most beautiful offering of a Ceremonial bowl for women based on the concept of a Labyrinth. What is a Labyrinth Ceremonial bowl and what can they be used for?

The ancient and sacred symbol of labyrinth is found and experienced all over the world. Labyrinths have been painted on the walls, carved into floors and woven into fabrics for thousands of years. The age-old art of tracing the spiralling path of labyrinth has been associated with magic and they have always brought something different to the people experiencing them. A Labyrinth, normally experienced either by tracing or walking, reminds us of our forever evolving journey and constantly shifting perspective through life. With no need to figure out the windy path or how to reach the centre, Labyrinth invites us to drop into complete trust and surrender. We may not know the twists and turns of the labyrinth (life) but we can trust that by sticking to the path readily laid in front of us, we will always find our way through. When used as part of birth preparation, the message of labyrinth is heightened and can be something that will help to guide you on your birthing and motherhood journey. The pilgrimage of labyrinth is there to teach us that we can’t get lost when we stick to our path and stay true to ourselves.

What is your creation process for making a Labyrinth Ceremonial bowl?

My creative process is here to challenge the world where everything is available 24/7, with express shipping to your doorstep on the following day. It is such beautiful alchemy, turning dirt into magick and something that I always approach with a special kind of sacredness. 

All my Ceremonial pottery pieces are individually birthed through my hands while tuning into the customers own energy and vision of colour. The whole process of creating a bowl can take up to six weeks, allowing time for me to work from the space of inspiration. Every time I sit to create, I know who I am creating for. There aren’t many things in life left where something would’ve been individually created and birthed for you. The Ceremonial bowls are sacred pieces holding space in many different wombanly transitions and ceremonies and the energy that is infused in them during the creation process has the utmost importance. It is something I know my customers will feel too. Because of the sacredness of my work, I’ve chosen my art not to be available for instant purchases. I am inviting in orders and would be honoured to create for you. My work is available worldwide. It means so much to be able to contribute towards your sacred ceremonies in the smallest of ways.

Why do you feel practising self-care is important, especially for women?

Taking a moment for self-care is an opportunity to come back to myself and support myself with something that nurtures and nourishes me at the time. After almost ten years of mothering and being in service to others, I have now learned how it is through self-care that sets up the foundation for my whole being. It is through self-care and prioritising my own needs that allows me to show up for my people, that be family, clients and my community of sisters and friends.

Self-care can look like many different things depending on where I am in my cycle. To me it is important to tap into my energy and feel what it is that supports me at the time. It can be savouring a few hours of solitude, preferably surrounded by nature to sooth my Earth element nature. It can be a small intentional moment with my breath, tending to my Altar or anointing my body with beautiful nourishing oils. It can also be social time spent sitting in a sacred circle with dear sisters, sharing and healing.

The invitation for self-care is there throughout our seasons of womanhood. I see you, mother. I see and honour you in this deeply transformative season of mothering little ones. The season of giving, serving and sacrifice. This is the season to tap into your own village and their support, community-care. My wish for every woman and mother is to celebrate their femininity and honour their right to both self-care and community-care.

Why do you feel ceremony and ritual are important throughout the initiation of birth?

Ceremony and ritual used to be deeply tied to our Rites of Passages as women (and men). Our Menarche, the initiation of menstruation was celebrated and honoured with sacred ceremony and ritual. The way the young women were celebrated during their first bleed, prepared and carried them for their next Rites of Passages in life.

When preparing for birth, sitting in ceremony, connecting with your womb space and dropping into your body and intuition can be a powerful way to prepare yourself for the deep transformation that is birth. With sacred ceremony and ritual, we have a chance to set the newly born mother up for her mothering journey and potentially for the rest of her life and positively affect her future Rites of Passages.

While I encourage all pregnant mothers to sit in ceremony and ritual with themselves and their life-giving, expanding bodies, it is also through celebration that we can hold and love our mothers. Mother Blessing ceremonies carry deep potential when preparing mothers for the initiation of birth. It can be a powerful way to open up the portal of birth and honour the woman as a newly born and transformed.

I am a lover of ceremony and sacred ceremony is weaved throughout all my offerings from doula work to pottery. I believe that ceremony can be woven to all aspects of our lives and even the most mundane of moments can be elevated with ritual and ceremony.

What is your intention behind the work you do? Do you have a single point of focus that guides you in your offerings?

From birth work to ceremonial pottery and from postpartum care to women’s retreats, the focus point behind all my work is to create a safe experience for women. Placing women to the centre of their own experience, while honouring their own individual magic and wisdom is something that feels very important to me and something that I hold close to my heart. Women’s work is deep and always involves both light and darkness, death and rebirth. It has a deeply healing potential.

Bringing women together in sacred and intentional women’s spaces is a passion of mine. Re-villaging and safe sisterhood is the red thread behind all my offerings. 

You have two beautiful boys, Noa 9yo and Niila 5yo. Tell us about your journey of motherhood and what becoming a mother has taught you:

I became a mother soon after turning 27. I remember the excitement after we decided we were “ready” but I wouldn’t talk about a conscious conception really. I don’t even know if the word was out there back then. I definitely know that no one was talking about the Matrescence or the physical, psychological, emotional and social changes of becoming a mother. I look back at the old photos of me as a new mum and see a young woman navigating her way through it. I remember missing my own mother, her wisdom and helping hands. I have never missed my mother so much as back then as a new mother.

I will be celebrating my 37th birthday a day after Mother’s Day and in July we will be celebrating Noa’s 10th birthday. A decade as a mama is so big and I have organised a photoshoot with him to mark this special ten-year anniversary. I would like to think that after ten years of mothering, you’d be a pretty seasoned mama but the truth is that the different seasons of motherhood are all coming with their own beauty and challenges, learnings and unlearning. 

I believe that our children come here to teach us about ourselves. They are such a reflection of us and what is ruling our world at times, forever taking us back to love and presence. This journey of motherhood is such a huge one with ups and downs and something that I know will forever be inviting me to grow. I haven’t always seen this, but I know I was put on this Earth to be a boy mama. To normalise all the feminine womanly things like our moon blood, childbirth and deep need for ceremony and ritual. My wish for my boys is to remember these ways and weave this knowledge into their own lives.

We love seeing you float around in your Daughters of India dresses! How do you feel when wearing these designs?

Daughters of India designs make me feel instantly beautiful and comfortable in my skin. The dresses are an easy choice for any ceremony and my go-to when getting ready to hold space for others. The beautiful authentic prints and natural materials are something that I deeply adore and appreciate in a garment. My favourite piece is the Kyra mini dress paired with chunky socks and boots.