This Radically Alive Women Edgecast conversation between Julia Neumann and Ellen Appleton explores “mother graduation,” the transition from actively mothering children to relating to them as independent adults.

Ellen describes her deep identification with motherhood, including two wanted pregnancies, and speaks to the innate wisdom, love, and intensity she experienced as a mother. The discussion highlights how motherhood is often undervalued by society and how lack of support for pregnant women and mothers can contribute to generational trauma. Ellen shares that parenting involves repeated separations and describes the particular pain of letting her son enter manhood without clear, emotionally supportive models of masculinity, including her anger at patriarchal systems that encourage men to shut down feelings.

She explains that mother graduation does not mean abandoning children, but completing the separation, cutting energetic ties, and shifting into being an elder—standing behind adult offspring rather than in front of them.

Ellen details her own year-plus process involving emotional healing, grieving, and group work with other mothers, with a ceremony as a culminating celebration. She notes improvements in her relationship with her son, discusses her request for her adult children to call her “Ellen” rather than “mom,” and reflects on reclaiming her identity and energy beyond motherhood to give back to the wider community.

Ellen offers initial guidance for mothers with children 18+ to make graduation a conscious topic, clearly hand responsibility back to their children, allow different timing for different children, and seek support, including coaching.

*We’re passionate about bringing these conversations to you and would love your help to keep them going. Please consider supporting us by making a one-time contribution through ⁠www.radicallyalivewomen.com/invest, or joining our membership with a monthly subscription at ⁠https://www.radicallyalivewomen.com/edgecast/edgecast-membership-sign-up/.

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Your support makes all the difference in continuing this work. Thank you!*

For more information:

Contact Ellen Appleton

On Mother Graduation

Shalane Hopkins went on an extraordinary adventure: she walked the 3,000-kilometer Te Araroa trail in New Zealand in 2010, just before its official opening, and came through Christchurch around the time of the earthquake.

In this honest conversation with Julia Neumann, Shalane shares her experiences, motivations, and what led her to stay in New Zealand and become a Kiwi citizen. The conversation delves into Shalane's personal growth journey, discussing her transformation from a people pleaser to someone who embraces her courage and authenticity. She talks about the importance of intuition, overcoming obstacles, and the lessons she learned while writing her book, 'One Step at a Time,' which chronicles her trail journey and is set for release on 10 February 2026.

The episode touches on themes of resilience, personal empowerment, intergenerational healing, seeking support, and how life's challenges can lead to profound self-discovery.

If you enjoyed this conversation or have other feedback for us, please email to: radicallyalivewomen@gmail.com.

*We’re passionate about bringing these conversations to you and ask for your help to keep them going. Please consider supporting us by making a one-time contribution through ⁠www.radicallyalivewomen.com/invest, or joining our membership with a monthly subscription at ⁠https://www.radicallyalivewomen.com/edgecast/edgecast-membership-sign-up/.

You can follow us on your favourite podcast platform and leave a rating to help others discover these conversations too!

Your support makes all the difference in continuing this work. Thank you!*

For more information:

Shalane Hopkins, shalanehopkins.com

Te Araroa Trail, newzealand.com/nz/feature/te-araroa-trail/

Julia Neumann, julia-neumann.com

Radically Alive Women, radicallyalivewomen.com

Yael Deckelbaum is a platinum award-winning Israeli/Canadian singer songwriter and an activist for peace, and especially well known for her song “Prayer Of The Mothers”, written in 2016 to support the Women Wage Peace Movement: a song for the movement of Palestinian and Israeli mothers walking together for change and peace. You hear its tune at the beginning of the episode. Shared by millions, it inspired and keeps inspiring women across the globe to get together and take action.

This episode is a powerful and deep conversation between Yael Deckelbaum and Julia Neumann. Yael talks with vulnerability about her journey in the last 10 years since she wrote Prayer Of The Mothers, and how she went inwards to peel deep layers on what it means to be a woman. She shares her inner quest about the meaning of peace, and how she discovered that peace is an idea that cannot exist without people looking inwards and healing their core wounds.

Yael and Julia open up on:

• what it means to be a woman;

• women’s true leadership, from a place of love, vulnerability and connection with spirit, but without suppressing fear and denying their humanity;

• the key things for the women's revolution to happen, including women tapping into their own spiritual power;

• how women’s language is inclusive for all life and very different to patriarchal language that is based on and creates war;

• how women’s voices have been censured for generations and the importance of women connecting with their true voice.

Yael shares how she uses singing and praying as a tool to speak her truth and encourages all women to connect with their true voice. She believes that change will be possible if women can speak in a real way. Besides using the voice, she shares other paths for transformation and healing and suggests reaching out to other wise women, like Marlee Wolf, the founder of Sovereign Ground Institute: sovereigngroundinstitute.com

* We’re passionate about bringing these conversations to you and would love your help to keep them going. Please consider supporting us by making a one-time contribution through ⁠www.radicallyalivewomen.com/invest, or joining our membership with a monthly subscription at ⁠https://www.radicallyalivewomen.com/edgecast/edgecast-membership-sign-up/.

You can follow us on your favourite podcast platform and leave a rating to help others discover these conversations too!

Your support makes all the difference in continuing this work. Thank you! *

Music: Prayer of the Mothers, by Yael Deckelbaum

Women of the World Unite, album by Yael Deckelbaum

Marlee Wolf, ⁠sovereigngroundinstitute.com⁠

Julia Neumann, julia-neumann.com

Radically Alive Women, radicallyalivewomen.com