This session includes a guided mindfulness practice beginning at approximately 10:30. You’re welcome to participate in the exercise or simply listen and reflect.

Mother’s Day can be an emotionally complicated time for those experiencing infertility, pregnancy loss, or life without children. Even years after a fertility journey has ended, the holiday can bring unexpected feelings of grief, anger, jealousy, or sadness.

How do we acknowledge those emotions without becoming overwhelmed by them? And how might mindfulness help us navigate difficult moments, particularly when the people around us don’t understand what we’re experiencing?

In this personal and reflective session, Dr. Michelle Windmueller, an educator and mindfulness instructor, draws from her own experiences with infertility, multiple pregnancy losses, and living without children. She shares how an unexpected conversation with her brother brought painful emotions back to the surface decades later, and how her mindfulness practice helped her recognize and respond to those feelings.

Combining personal storytelling, mindfulness education, and guided practice, Michelle explores ways to approach Mother’s Day with greater emotional awareness and self-compassion.

What You’ll Explore

• When grief resurfaces: Understanding why holidays, family gatherings, and seemingly ordinary conversations can bring back difficult emotions, even years later.
• Acknowledging difficult feelings: Making space for grief, anger, jealousy, resentment, and sadness without judging yourself for experiencing them.
• Recognizing emotional triggers: Exploring how mindfulness can help you notice your emotional responses before deciding how to act.
• A guided mindfulness and breathing practice: Participating in a meditation incorporating four-sided breathing, body awareness, and focused attention to help create a moment of calm.
• Navigating family relationships: Preparing for insensitive comments, identifying supportive people, and responding to uncomfortable interactions.
• Honoring your own needs: Recognizing that you do not owe anyone an explanation of your reproductive history, your emotions, or how you choose to spend Mother’s Day.

Throughout the session, Michelle invites participants to consider what it means to accept their lives as they are today while continuing to acknowledge the significance of their past experiences.

A Note From Yesh Tikva

Mindfulness is one possible tool for navigating difficult emotions, but it isn’t about eliminating grief or requiring yourself to feel peaceful.

You may find comfort in breathing exercises, prefer other forms of emotional support, or simply need permission to experience Mother’s Day differently from those around you.

There is no single right way to move through this holiday, and no timeline by which grief must disappear. We encourage you to take what feels useful from Michelle’s reflections and practices, while honoring what you need in your own experience.