Jaide • The Groovy Doula .

Jaide. @thegroovydoula • likes to keep the company of trees. ⠀

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Herbalist & plant freak, doula & birth geek, artist & writer, dog mom, music lover, spiritually seeking, yogi...⠀

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I started #thegroovydoula IG when I was 24 in hopes of documenting my journey into womanhood as a birth doula; I was fresh out of school @coloradostateuniversity where I majored in Rhetoric & Civility with a minor concentration in Women’s Studies.

It was during that time, I was handed Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin and it changed my life... Natural Birth, living close to the land, Being open and honest and spiritually seeking; it all seemed to go hand in hand. I wanted to inspire myself and others to believe that a natural approach to birth and birthing bodies carries the potential to heal society. ⠀

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Not long after I completed my doula certification, my mentor Katie Wise @themamahood suggested I teach prenatal yoga to really understand the energetics of the pregnant body. I took her advice and became certified in teaching prenatal yoga, lived at an ashram in the Colorado mountains for a month to earn my RYT200 where we meditated and did yoga, ate vegan everyday; I cleared some pathways, and started to hear the call of the plants. ⠀

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The physical practice (yoga/meditation) makes way for a deeper connection to the other life forms; compassion for animals and plants ensues - the care and keeping of them being gardening/farming/spending time in wild spaces. As well as becoming vigilant to what the body is exposed to ie - foods, products, Environment; hence specific dietary goals, conscious consumerism and environmental activism...⠀

I didn’t have to try to like all of these things; or to look a certain way; to be mindful... The mindset comes with the practice. Your mind body is driven to take interest in these things because they truly matter to the sustainability in keeping our species alive. Yoga will open you up to an entirely new realm.⠀

Yoga ie: Meditation, singing & playing music, asana practice, mindfulness, medicinal smoke and using essential oils; I naturally just found myself fascinated with the natural world and my natural body. I started eating more greens, I worked on organic farms @sproutcityfarms @solmountainfarm - I was saturating myself in wellness books, podcasts like @forthewild and documentaries. I couldn’t be satiated, I needed to learn more, I needed teachers...⠀

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I found The Eclectic School of Herbal Medicine and knew that working with medicinal plants was what I wanted to with my days on Earth. Studying with Thomas Easley, Matt Wood, Lindsey Feldspausch, Erika Galentin, Jim McDonald, Sam Coffman, and Robert Rogers; & Heather Wetzel & Kathleen Maeir of @sacredplanttraditions while I lived in Virginia and poured love into @elderberryherbals, the apothecary I grew into over 3 years.

I went on to find teachers in New Mexico like Mouna, Martin, Cathy, and Maria Mikahailas; and continue to meet incredible mentors. They say, “knowledge is power” and that feels like an understatement. ⠀

My doula practice is inspirational for me but it’s not something I can do everyday. Whereas herbalism requires I constantly be reading, making medicine, wildcrafting, fascilitating clinics, staying creative. Plant medicine gave me life, and I built my life around giving back.

[ the groovy doula

- a psychedelic life of service - serving people and pregnancy in search of wellness.]

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So; Nowadays I focus primarily on my practice as a clinical herbalist and hope to continue serving pregnant woman as a doula and yoga therapist. Herbalism only enriches my practice as a birth doula, wherein I can make nutritional/lifestyle/positive femme advice on how to make pregnancy and birth more rewarding; and yoga is foundational. It all combines to give me a unique & holistic world view; which I use to fuel my path, specifically in helping folks feel better in their; mental, physical, emotional, psycho spiritual body. I’ve been steadily building this practice my entire life; haven’t we all?.... And over the last 4 years, I’ve focused in on how to build a career out of these beliefs, building a life that is meaningful for me. Helping hands with a heart for service; My hope is that it resonates.

Be well 🕊Jaide, The Groovy Doula