Welcome to The Happy Mama Movement Podcast.

This week’s guest is Ilana Yahdav — a certified grief educator, storyteller, and advocate for reimagining our relationship with grief, especially during the profound identity shift of motherhood. In this deeply affirming conversation, we explore the powerful intersection between matrescence and grief, and how validating our emotions can lead to profound healing.

We talk about:

• The transformative power of grief: Ilyana shares how the loss of her father plunged her into a decade-long journey through grief, and how discovering grief recovery changed the course of her life, helping her validate her feelings and eventually support others through their losses.
• Grief and matrescence as deeply intertwined: Ilyana reflects on the layered grief of becoming a mother—especially during the pandemic—and how discovering the concept of matrescence helped her finally name what she was experiencing. She emphasizes that grief is not just about death, but any significant change in life, including motherhood.
• Normalizing grief in motherhood: From the loss of identity to everyday transitions like a child’s first steps or starting school, Ilana explains how grief is a natural part of motherhood. She highlights the importance of language, validation, and grief recovery tools in helping mothers understand and move through these complex emotions.
• Grieving who we were while embracing who we’re becoming: Ilyana explores how we can hold both grief and gratitude—acknowledging that it’s normal to mourn parts of our past selves, even while deeply loving our children and the life we’ve built.
• Leaning on community through nonlinear journeys: From motherhood to loss, Ilana reminds us that healing isn’t meant to happen in isolation. We need each other. Both grief and matrescence unfold in unpredictable ways—and having a supportive village makes all the difference.

If this episode resonated with you, please share it with loved ones who might need this reminder today.

ABOUT ILYANA YAHDAV:

Ilana Yahdav is a certified matrescence coach, grief educator, speaker, writer, and CEO of The Non-Linear Journey. As a mother of two young children, she combines her expertise and experience to guide moms through motherhood's physical and emotional transformations—from embracing their new identity to grieving the life they've left behind. Ilana makes challenging topics approachable with gentle humor and deep empathy by creating a safe and supportive environment.

RESOURCES:

🌐 Website: https://thenonlinearjourney.com/

Substack: thenonlinearjourney.substack.com

📸 Instagram: @thenonlinearjourneylife

📌 Pinterest: The Non-Linear Journey

📘 Facebook: The Non-Linear Journey

🔗 LinkedIn (Personal): Ilyana Shapiro Yahdav

🏢 LinkedIn (Company): The Non-Linear Journey

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