Ep 80: Mama Glow with Latham Thomas
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Ep 80: Mama Glow with Latham Thomas
Episode 80: Show Notes
Today’s guest, Latham Thomas, is a celebrity doula and maternal wellness maven, and the founder of Mama Glow, a global women’s health and education brand serving women along the childbearing continuum and leading a revolution in radical self-care. Mama Glow also offers a globally recognized doula immersion program, attended by women from all corners of the globe.
Named one of Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul 100, supports women in embracing optimal wellness and spiritual growth as a pathway to empowerment. By centering fertility, pregnancy, new motherhood, and everything in between, Latham seeks to elevate the conversation around reproductive justice and share her passion for birth equity.
She is also a graduate of Columbia University and the author of book two bestselling books; Own Your Glow: A Soulful Guide to Luminous Living and Crowning The Queen Within and Mama Glow: A Hip Guide to Your Fabulous Abundant Pregnancy.
In this episode, Latham shares the lessons in self-care that she learned by watching her mother and her grandmother growing up and what the spiritual experience she had during childbirth taught her about birth as an invitation to heal and expand in both body and spirit.
We also touch on the importance of community, committing to your calling, and being a little stubborn sometimes, and Latham shares her words of wisdom for listeners looking to build a life they don’t have to escape.
We hope you’ll join us for this soulful conversation to learn more about Latham Thomas’ backstory and find out how the vision she had while she was in labor eventually led her to create Mama Glow!
Key Points From This Episode:
How Latham modeled pregnancy through dramatic play with her Cabbage Patch Dolls.
The deep connection she developed with nature growing up; viewing plants as allies.
Philosophies about Black excellence and injustice that were echoed in her household.
The self-care rituals and lessons Latham learned by watching her family matriarchs.
The importance of seeking community in environments where you are underrepresented.
Latham shares her experience of attending a mostly white school in Colorado.
Investing in the future we want to create by building institutions that support BIPOC kids.
How Latham’s idea of success was shaped by her mother's desire for her to achieve.
Her dream of being able to support her community by giving them the money they needed.
Why she describes her pregnancy at 23 as an anchoring and transformative experience.
Learn about Latham’s relationship with the spirit world and hear the story of the out-of-body experience she had while giving birth.
What this spiritual experience taught her about the ancestral blueprint for childbirth.
Why Latham believes that birth is an invitation to heal and expand in body and spirit.
The Vedic Astrology reading that informed her of her calling: to mother the mother.
Wise words for those feeling called to something nebulous: this is how stars are formed!
While callings are rarely convenient, Latham encourages listeners to stop resisting.
The importance of surrounding yourself with the people that “come up with you.”
How naiveté, stubbornness, and hope helped Latham see past those who advised her against building a platform around being a doula.
What success means to Latham now; building a life that you don’t have to escape.
Honoring the ancestors who came before her by doing the things that they couldn't do.
While all doulas aren’t created equal, Latham believes there is a doula for every person.
Tweetables:
“What I saw a lot of amongst my mother and my grandmother too were lessons around self-care, about how to adorn oneself, how to take care of oneself, how to rest.” — @GlowMaven [0:21:07]
“What do we want to build? What is the future we want to build? Let's create institutions and spaces that are going to support our kids.” — @GlowMaven [0:31:37]
“I was always connected to the fact that you can have this experience within your body, beyond your body. I did not expect that was going to happen in my birth with my son. It was something that really imprinted me for this work and helped to cement for me [my] calling.” — @GlowMaven [0:41:40]
“The ancestral blueprint that's in place for us, [birth] is to be transformative, birth is to be transcendent. It is a meditation. It’s an invitation for healing and for crossing a threshold and coming [out] on the other side with something that you didn't have when you started.” — @GlowMaven [0:51:06]
“It’s not just for people to survive childbirth. It has to be more than that. It has to be about thriving. It has to be about transcendence. It has to be about this invitation to heal and to connect and to grow and to expand exponentially in spirit and in flesh.” — @GlowMaven [0:52:23]
“When it feels nebulous and it doesn't have form yet, just stay with it. Let it take its shape. Let it run its course. Let it move through you. Let it move you and work through you and transform you and model you in a way that allows you to become in service of that thing.” — @GlowMaven [0:58:15]
“There's different seasons for different things, but figure out for yourself what season you're in, and give yourself the supports necessary to move through that.” — @GlowMaven [1:15:39]
“You're going to select [a doula] not because they went to this particular program or because they have this background and experience. You're going to select them because of how they make you feel.” — @GlowMaven [1:27:59]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: