SARAH HUMPHREY
Hearthkeeper, Mother, Wife, Teacher, Healing/Wholing Guide
As a child, I grew up in a toxic, psychologically abusive home, I struggled to know my place and value in the world. However, movement and the exploration of my body in movement became my sanctuary, first as a gymnast, then a dancer, I found my joy, my true nature, my home. In college, I continued my growth as a dancer while also studying psychology, trying to make sense of the unhealthy environment I had grown up in, and hoping to bring some healing and understanding to my pain. When I graduated, I began working in the “system”, helping lost adolescents but soon discovered this was not the right place for me. I had been studying and training in Pilates while working the job with the adolescents and this movement practice was a place where I was able to come home to my true self. Pilates was a way to consciously work with my body in a way I had never known, it was a deeper dive into my truth, my heart, my sense of knowingness. It led to an Awakening of my authentic self, and for the first time in my life I felt empowered to honor and follow my heart. I shed all parts of my life that were not aligned with my new sense of awareness and surrendered fully to following a new path, one that I felt would lead me to becoming the woman I felt I was meant to be in this life. I had no idea then, where the journey would be taking me or that this journey would take me nearly 20 years to just begin to fully embody that woman I dreamed of being.
Longing for a deeper understanding of my personal awakening and transformation, I began to study energetic healing through Barbara Brennan and reiki, as well as continuing to expand my movement studies with various modalities such as yoga, gyrotonics, gyrokenisis, and continuum. Through my energetic healing studies, I opened up to a conscious relationship with my personal guiding spirits, particularly my most powerful and consistent guiding spirit, whom I came to know as Divine Mother. In meditation one day, she came through to me with a clear message, I needed to become a mother. At the time this was so hard to imagine, in part because I had not thought motherhood was a part of my path, but also because my life was so far from ready for such a thing. I surrendered to her message and said if it were truly the right path for me then show me the way. A short time later, I was in a position of having to release almost everything I owned and moving myself across the country, where I almost immediately met my future husband. The process of accepting this path was not easy for me, I had a lot of resistance, and there was a lot of healing I needed go through to fully embrace the motherhood journey, particularly because of my own childhood experience, and I ended up falling into what I would refer to as, “a dark night of the soul” process.
The birth of my son was a several days long intense initiation, but the moment I held him, I felt the power and the gift of true, unconditional love, love that I did not even know was possible. This love has been the most powerful, transformational, and healing energy I have ever known, and with that gift in my heart, I embraced fully being Mother. Motherhood has been my greatest teacher, my greatest healer, and it has laid a clear path for me, and my role in service to the Divine Mother. As a young mother, most of my time was dedicated to being the “hearthkeeper” of our home and my family. It was a simple time of caring for them, and myself, supporting and guiding us into balance, honoring what would serve our highest unfolding as individuals and as a family. I deepened my relationship with my guiding spirits, and embraced the ways of the sacred feminine, allowing the guides to lead our family. I remembered something in my soul knowing about my own true feminine nature. I became more aligned with the rhythms of the Earth and Moon. I listened to my intuitive and emotional wisdom. I found balance as caretaker to my husband, son, and myself. I was nurturer, boundary holder, and sacred guide for our family’s health, well-being, and personal growth, both as a family and as individuals. As I knew this time of young motherhood would only be temporary, my son would grow and change, and need me differently at some point, I spent time nurturing, and continuing my own studies in movement, as well as studying shamanic healing practices, and teachings of the sacred feminine.
And here I am now, my son is transitioning into more independence, and my family is grounded and settled in a way that has opened up the time and space for my work to come out more fully in the world. I can feel in my heart, I am being called to share this wisdom I have gained as mother, and hearthkeeper, as well as my unique awareness around authentic embodiment through all the movement work I have studied over the years.
This is a call the womb holders, the womben who are ready and longing to come back into their true feminine nature, to embody their most authentic and empowered selves, so that we may bring healing and balance to our sacred mother Earth, ushering in the gift that is the sacred feminine and shift out of the imbalanced and unhealthy patriarchal system we have all been trapped in.
And so, the next part of my journey begins…