"And the Great Mother Said": The Poem That Changed How I See Myself as a Woman

There are moments that awaken you in the best possible way.

For me, one of those moments happened in Portugal, during Uma Dinsmore-Tuli's Well Women training. Someone read a poem aloud "Homecoming" by Linda Reuther and I felt something in my womb and heart just... awaken.

I hadn't realised how much I'd been holding. How long I'd been bracing against my own femininity, my own emotions, my own needs. How deeply I'd believed (without ever saying it out loud) that I was too much.

That poem said otherwise.

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The Poem That Started It All

"Homecoming (And the Great Mother Said)" is a short poem by Linda Reuther.

I won't reproduce it in full here — it's her work and deserves to be read at the source — but the essence of it is this:

You are not too much. Bring me all of it — your rage, your grief, your tired spirit, your hope. There is room for all of you here.

You can read the full poem on Linda Reuther's website.

If you've ever felt like you were too emotional, too sensitive, too needy, too angry — read it. Slowly. More than once.

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What It Unlocked in Me

I grew up, like most women, learning to make myself smaller.

Don't be too loud. Don't want too much. Don't take up too much space. Smile. Be easy. Be agreeable. Be fine.

And I was fine, right up until my body started telling me otherwise.

Painful periods.

Anxiety that lived in my chest like a permanent tenant.

A deep sense of disconnection from myself that I couldn't quite name.

What I didn't understand then (and what I understand now) is that when we suppress our emotions, we don't actually get rid of them. They go somewhere:

Into the hips, the pelvis, the womb space.

Into tight muscles and shallow breathing and cycles that are out of sync.

The Great Mother archetype (this ancient, unconditional feminine presence) represents the opposite of all that suppression. She doesn't ask you to be palatable. She asks you to be real.

Reconnecting to that energy was a turning point in my own healing.

What Womb Healing Has to Do With Any of This

The womb, whether you have a physical one or not, is considered in many traditions to be the centre of a woman's creative, emotional, and intuitive life.

When we're disconnected from it, we often feel:

• Emotionally flat or numb

• Creatively blocked

• Disconnected from our bodies and our sexuality

• Like we've lost touch with who we actually are

When we come home to it: through movement, breath, meditation, and intentional practice, things start to shift. Not overnight. But steadily. A softening. A return.

This is what I work with in my yoga therapy practice and in my own life. Not fixing women. Helping them come home to themselves.

A Note for You

If this poem found you today, I don't think it's an accident.

Something in you is ready to stop bracing and protecting.

To stop performing.

To let yourself be held even just for a moment by something larger than the to-do list and the responsibilities and the pressure to hold it all together.

You are not too much. You never were.

Ready to Come Home to Your Body?

If you want a gentle place to start, I've created a free guided meditation for women to help you reconnect with your feminine energy and begin releasing what you've been carrying.

It's short, it's free, and you can do it lying down.

Sending you an abundance of feminine blessings,
Joss | Yoga Therapist C-IAYT

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About The Author

Joss Frank is a Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT, E-RYT 500) and founder of Wild Womb, a women's wellness space focused on womb healing, pelvic health, and nervous system regulation. She works online with women worldwide.

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