So... What's a Portal Doula?
Portal = a gateway, an entrance, a threshold. To paraphrase Arundhati Roy, portals force us “to break with the past and imagine [our] world anew.”
Doula = a companion for before, during, and/or after significant events who provides support, guidance, information, and resources. Most often before, during, and after events like birth and death.
Portal Doula = a steward who provides support, guidance, space, and resources for - and along with the expertise and wisdom of - individuals and communities navigating portal-like experiences. We specialize in supporting folks during the postpartum and amid grief + loss.
Change - of all kinds - acts as a sort of portal in our lives.
Michelle is pictured, wearing black, and holding a bouquet of cempasuchil, aka marigolds
Events like birth, breakups, new jobs, coming out, medically and/or surgically transitioning, death, and other types of great life changes tend to usher in many lessons, much transformation, and the next chapter of our journey. It may be change that we desire and actively seek - and/or it may be change that surprises us. It may be change that is full of hope - and it may be change that is full of heartbreak. It may be change that is full of both. Often, portals will hold a lot of “both, and” energy - the space for multiple, seemingly binary, experiences to be happening at the same time. Like joy and grief, love and heartbreak, and so on.
While we are navigating portals in our personal lives, we are also collectively witnessing and living through great life changes in the world around us. Systems of oppression doing their damnedest to stay relevant. Loving and just worlds begging to be (re)born. We are witnessing and holding so much violence, oppression, and heartache. So much loyalty to extraction, toxicity, and corporations over nature, love, and life. Our hearts are so tender and so brave - and to be living right now might mean they are also too full. To full of this heartbreak and grief. Our spirits are begging to rest. Our joy practices are calling to us. And our grief is begging to be seen.
I see the experience of portals reflected through one of my favorite herbal allies - cempasúchil (aka marigold). Cempasúchil is a teacher and healer in many ways, and one of it’s manifestations is the reminder, the embodiment of "la vida que nace de la muerte." The life that is born from death. Suggesting that so much of what we now about life and time and ancestors and healing and growth - exists beyond linear experiences of time. To quote Octavia Butler, “the only lasting truth is change.”
To be clear: suggesting that something can be born from our change - especially with loss - can feel wildly activating, painful, and/or bypassing to where we are right now. We don't have to be there yet. We don’t have to be there. Grief is not linear, on a set timeline, nor is it something we fix. Rather, grief is something we witness, hold tenderly, and nurture dearly.
While portals may often be defined by “singular” events (ie birth, death, moving, coming out, etc) - they are liminal spaces that also exist outside of linear modes of time. For all of us that have ever loved or lost - we know the echoes and vibrations of those people, commitments, experiences beyond a singular point in time.
To change, to transform, takes a great deal of bravery and vulnerability - and it also takes a great deal of energy, capacity, and support.
Our Portal Doula work is meant to offer you a nurturing, braver, and steady space to navigate change. Guiding and supporting you in (re)connecting and strengthening your own connections to support, community, and the capacity to navigating these portal experiences. Witnessing you and your story with great compassion. Offering the space to help you to understand, honor, and integrate the emotions, love, grief (and more) that have carried you here. And supporting you as you imagine and live the life that exists beyond the threshold.
I am honored to work with my BIPOC fam, LGBTQIA+ sibs, hopeful or current parents whose parenting or healing journey exists beyond the so-called "norm" (most specifically: BIPOC, multi-cultural and multi-racial families; folks with gender-expansive identities; queer families; mid-size and fat identified loves; single parents), and all those that are seeking nurturing, heart-centered space and guidance.
As a Portal Doula, I might support you with:
connecting to rituals to help honor your grief after the loss of a loved one (as well as honor your loved one and your connection to them);
creating a sacred space to tell your birth story;
custom herbal remedios that will nourish and nurture you and where you are on your healing journey;
gender-affirming and compassionate in-home postpartum care to nurture and pour into gestational* parents and their expanding families (including, but not limited to: herbal tea blends & sitz baths, therapeutic bodywork, listening space, support for non-gestational parents and family members, lactation support, nourishing foods, connection to resources);
gender-affirming and compassionate in-home postpartum care for all postpartum experiences - such as after loss and abortion;
nourishing space to honor and uplift your rest;
(re)igniting joy based practices in your life;
integrating and embodying change and transformation in your life through intuitive coaching & body-based mindfulness;
nurturing resilience and honoring the ways in which the experiences of change and grief are impacted by systems of oppression;
building your capacity and adaptability to change (in your life and the world) through stress management support & grief coaching (which may include somatic or body-based mindfulness, herbal care, intuitive coaching, and more);
manifesting creation energy - be that through fertility and prenatal care or the support to imagine and construct new worlds for yourself and (y)our communities;
and so much more
As a Portal Doula, I will always support you as a guide and honor you in your wholeness, your wisdom, your power, and as the expert you are on your being, healing, and experiences.
Our Current Portal Doula Offerings Include:
1:1 Portal Pláticas - intuitive coaching sessions for navigating life’s portals. Book here.
Portal Dreams - a grounded group to gift our spirits and nervous systems room to breathe and time to rest. Learn more here.
Coming soon: Postpartum Doula Services, other Portal Doula services, groups, and more!
We’d love to know - what questions do you still have about portals and Portal Doulas?? Comment below or email us here.
image description: looking out of a rocky cave, the cave’s entrance is backlight by bright light; the foreground is more shadow-filled.