Meet Molly Mitchell-Hardt | Psychotherapist and Co-founder of The Sacred Journey of Motherhood

We had the good fortune of connecting with Molly Mitchell-Hardt and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Molly, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor behind my success is sourced from my own inner work, somatic practices, and trust in my intuition. My inner work began as it often does, when the symptoms became hard to ignore and my nervous system experienced a long term collapse. Many of us are so accustomed to overriding our nervous systems, that much of the initial work is coming back into relationship with the body. It wasn’t until I could clearly see the sociocultural milieu I was existing in and the impact on my nervous system that I could take up space and make choices that honored the inner little one who needed to be seen, acknowledged, and protected. Through this and various regulating and resourcing somatic practices, I was able to experience more wellness. My inner work continues to be a lifelong devotional practice that I commit to for myself and for those who I work with. It has been said of the healing profession that you cannot take anyone further than you yourself have gone. I am able to hold others in an empathic container because I can recognize their struggles in my own humanity. It is from this place that I share my work with the psychotherapy clients that I serve and The Sacred Journey of Motherhood community.

Anima Mundi, when we tend to our soul we are simultaneously tending to the soul of the world.

What should our readers know about your business?
I am someone with a great many passions and I always have many projects moving simultaneously, the most prominent of which right now are my psychotherapy practice and our co-creation The Sacred Journey of Motherhood. My psychotherapy practice continues to unfold and evolve as I do, my work centers around intuition, depth psychology, somatic experiencing, and a collection of other healing modalities. My approach is eclectic in nature as I feel into what each client needs and adapt the pathway into the work so that it will resonate with their way of being. No two sessions are exactly alike, it is not a one size fits all approach, it is not prescriptive, it is more akin to a dance, staying present and attuned to what arises in the container to be seen and lifted up. Depth psychology offers an incredibly rich medicine bag, the basis of the approach is the acknowledgement that there is more to this reality than meets the eye and more often than not it is the unseen reality (the unconscious) that dictates our behaviors, motivations, and impulses. The work entails exploring shadow material via the imaginal process, dreamwork, art, exploring parts of self and how they interact, mythological and ritual containers. I combine this with the somatic approach, which centers the body’s physiology, another world that exists primarily within the unconscious and out of linear time. Through the attunement with our physiology we get to slow down and meet those parts that often get lost when we focus primarily on the cognitive, thought-based content. I have found this fusion of approaches to be a powerful healing salve for the soul, ultimately revealing the wholeness that is always ever present.

The Sacred Journey of Motherhood is a community of mothers that question the status quo of what has been handed down, mother’s committed to revillaging, healing ancestral trauma, body sovereignty, supporting natural physiological birth (when possible) and postpartum, and realigning our families with the natural rhythms that support our soma and psyche. Currently, my partner, Becky Whitmore and I have two online courses, one that guides pregnant mamas through each trimester including postpartum and one that focuses solely on postpartum. These courses support mamas physically with yoga practice, fortify her through evidence-based information that helps physiological birth to unfold, channel the mind through meditation and journal prompts, while holding a large mythic container for the unfolding transformation. In addition, I have a podcast in the works that encompasses all of these things and more and am dreaming up new ways to empower women and families while we heal the earth and our relationship to one another.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Venice, so we would likely stick to the Westside. To help them settle in I would take them to The Self Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine, for delicious and healthy food I would take them to Gjusta, Butcher’s Daughter, or Great White for breakfast, Chulitas for dinner or Tocaya for takeout. You can’t come to LA without going to the beach so I would bring them down to El Porto in Manhattan Beach. For the active ones I would take them to Tuna Canyon in Topanga for a hike and a yoga class at The Yoga Collective.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have so many people to shoutout to, first the most inspiring person a know, my husband Zachary Murdock, musician and founder of Channel the Sun, my Somatic Experiencing practitioner Melinda London, my therapist Elizabeth Schofield-Bickford, my alma mater, Pacifica Graduate Institute, The Women’s Clinic, a sliding-scale community mental health practice where I was trained, the work of Michael Meade and This Jungian Life Podcast, Somatic Experiencing Training and so many more.

Website: http://yoursoulrising.love

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mollymitchell_hardt/

Other: Photo by Erick Madrid

Image Credits
Photos by Erick Madrid and Lindsey Wilson