jerilynbrownstein@gmail.com | 845.492.1946
This body of work was inspired and grew out of my own personal journey. When my first son was born, I felt disoriented, confused, and altered in a deep way. Searching for some confirmation of my experience, I wrote and read intensely, finally finding a circle of brave and outspoken authors who became my support group. Their written voices encouraged my thinking and opened my imagination to what I was experiencing in my inner life. I began to see motherhood as an initiation – an irreversible crossing over into unknown inner terrain. Mothering introduced me to my Self . . . my whole Self. The dark, ugly, scary, angry, as well as the strong, wise, intuitive, embodied self. What I stumbled into, that I could not find in the mainstream culture, was that this was not pathological. Quite the contrary, encountering so many different and difficult aspects of myself was the actual path to my Self. As I integrated this idea more deeply, my mothering changed, and I found I could meet all aspects of my life in a more unique and full way.
Bringing this process to mothers through individual, couples, group, workshops and retreats, has been my work for the past twenty years. I see the way I work as providing midwifery to the soul of a mother . . . creating and making safe spaces where a woman can give birth to all of who she is – growing herself while she grows her family.
I am influenced by my foundation studies, a BA in psychology and religion from the University of Rochester and an MSW from Rutgers University with a concentration in group work. I have several additional sources of deep inspiration in my life: Buddhist and Yogic psychology, the 50/50 work, Anthroposophy, Jungian studies, and the teachings derived from my personal relationship spending time in nature and the influences and rhythms of farm life. However, of all the ideologies, teachings, and teachers . . . becoming a mother has been the most demanding teacher – working my mind, body and soul in unprecedented ways. The training continues and I am grateful.
I currently live on a small farm in the Hudson Valley of New York, with my partner, David, and our three suns – Kole, Jeremy and Asher.
