As I approached a new decade of life experience, something in me felt unsettled, like a quiet knowing that there was a part of myself I hadn’t yet met. I felt an unconscious layer still lurking beneath the surface.
So in April 2025, I gifted myself a month to go inward. I traveled from Mexico to Peru on a meditative, spiritual journey, returning to the land of my ancestry.
And that is where Ayni Mama was born.
Ayni, the Andean word for reciprocity, is a guiding principle in the Andes, an understanding that when we give with love, life gives back in return.
Throughout this time, I explored four core lessons, each one unraveling a part of my parenting that needed attention, softness, or recalibration. Through learning them and through creating Ayni Mama, I became more present, more grounded, and more aligned. Leaving me feeling lighter, clearer, and overall happier.
Lesson One: Self-Regulation
This lesson arrived on Labor Day weekend, after a long summer of being with my kids 24/7. I unraveled next to my best friend, overwhelmed and depleted, when she lovingly reminded me of something I had forgotten in the midst of parenting and building Ayni: to breathe. Learning to regulate my own nervous system became the foundation of how I show up for my children.
Lesson Two: Imperfection
The pressure to get everything right had become heavy. I realized how often I chased perfection instead of presence, and how rarely I allowed myself to simply be human. Taking parenting lightly and releasing expectations has brought me closer to my kids in ways perfection never could.
Lesson Three: Play
Play had become a longing, a distant desire. Somewhere in the process of “adulting,” striving, and managing it all, I had forgotten how to be light, how to be silly, how to connect through joy. Reclaiming play brought color back into my motherhood and reminded me that joy is medicine.
Lesson Four: Acceptance
This was the hardest lesson to embrace. Acceptance required seeing the shadow parts of myself — the parts I had tucked away for years. Meeting them with compassion rather than shame opened space for healing, forgiveness, and a deeper connection with myself and my children.
It is an honor to share this journey and to practice reciprocity in a way that has reshaped me.
Everything I’ve experienced, everything Ayni has taught me, is woven into the retreat.
Every facilitator, every session, every workshop has been chosen with intention.
They are grounded in the practices that helped me regulate, accept, love, play, and breathe.
My hope is to build a community of like-minded mothers who are aware, awake, and raising strong, fierce, confident girls together.
My journey to this truth is thanks to Ayni Mama.
And this is what I hope every mother who joins us will feel: the support, the softness, and the sacred reminder that we were never meant to do this alone.
If you’re ready to take that next step and cultivate a loving relationship with yourself and your daughter, join our first retreat in Asheville, NC, April 23–26, 2026.