A practice for softening the nervous system…

Healing Touch

Dear Mama,

So much of motherhood is lived through our hands. Holding, soothing, protecting, feeding. Touch is often the first language we speak to our babies long before words form. Yet many of us rush through our days without taking even a moment to receive touch ourselves.

Healing touch isn’t only massage, it’s warmth, presence, permission. A hand resting on the heart, oil massaged into the belly, a baby cradled skin-to-skin. Touch awakens the nervous system, calms the mind, and reminds the body that it is safe to soften. Through touch, the body begins to unwind stored emotion, tension, exhaustion, and memory, opening space for nourishment, regulation, and ease.

Below are ways healing touch can accompany us through the seasons of motherhood.

With love,
Saba

Pregnancy: Touch as Connection & Trust

Pregnancy is a sacred initiation into embodied intuition. Touch during this time helps mothers connect with their shifting bodies and growing babies.

Ways to incorporate touch:

Intentional belly oiling ritual each night with slow, circular strokes to soothe tissue, connect with baby, and honour your changing form.
Craniosacral therapy to support nervous system regulation, release tension, prepare pelvis and sacrum, and cultivate inner spaciousness.

I am currently studying Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, and as part of my training I offer two complimentary practice sessions per week. If you feel called to receive this work, you’re welcome to respond to this email for availability.

Postpartum: Touch as Restoration & Rebuilding

After birth, the nervous system needs gentleness, warmth, and containment.

Ways to incorporate healing touch postpartum:

Abhyanga — Ayurvedic warm oil self-massage before showering to soothe the nervous system, support lymph flow, and replenish tissues.
Postpartum massage therapy to restore circulation, support hormonal balance, and honor the body that carried and birthed life.

Even five minutes of intentional touch can shift the internal terrain and invite regulation.

Babies: Touch as Their First Language

For babies, touch communicates safety, connection, and belonging. It regulates the nervous system and supports digestion, immunity, and sleep.

Ways to incorporate touch with babies:

Baby massage after bath or upon waking use gentle strokes, soft pressure, eye contact and a slow rhythm.
Skin-to-skin whenever possible, chest to chest or belly to belly.

Touch helps babies learn that the world, and their bodies, are safe places to be.

How to Practice Abhyanga (Self-Oil Massage)

A self-massage with warm oil can feel intimidating at first, so begin on a slow morning or evening when you have space. Even 10–15 minutes is enough to nourish the tissues and calm the nervous system.

Step-by-step:

Choose your oil, sesame (untoasted) or almond are great options.
Warm the oil (¼–½ cup) by placing the bottle in hot water until pleasantly warm.
Create a cozy space free from drafts; stand or sit on an old towel.
Apply oil generously from scalp to soles.
Massage toward the heart:
- long strokes on arms/legs
- circular strokes over joints
- gentle clockwise circles on chest + belly (following the large intestine).
Take 5–20 minutes, moving slowly with intention and love.
Weekly focus areas: scalp, ears, and feet.
Shower/bathe warmly after, using mild soap only where needed.
Towel dry and put on cotton socks to avoid slipping + protect floors.

This practice grounds the body, supports circulation, and invites deep rest, especially helpful for postpartum.

Join us on Instagram for our Winter Solstice Soultivation Conversations Monday, Dec 22nd 21:30 GST / 18:30 CET

Healing Touch Immersion

Mallorca, Spain • March 2026
Hosted by Saba and Callie | Massage therapy sessions with Louka Leppard | Cuisine by Paulo Chavcar

Soultivation Retreats are thoughtfully composed to offer practices that are both accessible and sustainable, woven seamlessly into daily life. While our time together may feel like a luxurious immersion in self-love featuring Loukas’ transformative massage sessions, blissful mornings of yoga therapy, and intentional cuisine designed to inspire, the residue of the experiences will surely infuse your life even once you’ve returned home.

With elevated sensory awareness, the body begins to guide you naturally toward connection:

• A bottle of herbal oil by the bedside invites a warming self-touch ritual
• Simple, preservable condiments uplift everyday meals with ease
• A moment of stillness with the breath may unfold into spontaneous, intuitive movement.

At Soultivation, our intention is to bring the entire system into a state of surrender and release, creating space for nourishing patterns to emerge organically without overthinking the inconveniences of scheduling yourself in.

When we rebuild the pathways that allow the body to receive, we remember this truth: We are our own best healers.

We invite you to come home through your senses, to yourself.

Reserve your Spot

Meditation in Touch Offered During the Retreat

As part of the Soultivation Retreat experience, participants are invited to receive Meditation in Touch, a signature oil massage practice developed by Louka over 25 years of clinical and intuitive bodywork.

This offering is a deep, slow, fluid, hypnotic communication of presence and tenderness guided by music and rhythm. Each session is approached as a new beginning.

Through attentive, rhythmic movement, the body is met as a living landscape. Stored emotion, trauma, and physical tension are gently released, energetic pathways are opened, and the system is invited into natural alignment, ease, and vibrant symmetry.

Meditation in Touch supports the body in remembering its innate capacity for balance, restoration, and embodied presence.

More about Louka

Growing Together is a community newsletter with a mission to share insights into the world of holistic maternal and infant nutrition through monthly updates. I encourage you to connect and ask me questions on the topic to help foster this online community.

Ask me a question by replying to this email.