Changing name Power of Mum

I can’t quite believe it, but I’ve been blogging for two years now (admittedly with great bursts of activity some months, and then extended periods of silence - see November 2019 to April 2020…) It was when I returned to my blog that I realised I no longer recognised myself in the name Power of Mum.

My initial reasons for starting my blog were entirely business related: having had my second child in a birth that made me ecstatic (and having realised that I wanted to supplement my new, part-time teacher income - I resigned from my full-time Director of Music role in a secondary school after my boy arrived) I qualified as a hypnobirthing and antenatal teacher, training under Katherine Graves and feeling thrilled when I discovered that the domain Power of Mum was available! I wanted every woman I taught to feel as powerful as I had felt when I birthed my son, and as far away as possible from the experience I’d had with my daughter.

I happily taught hypnobirthing for around 6 months, before realising that I was far more interested in helping all women feel how powerful they really were, not just birthing woman. I started my coaching work, working with amazing, inspirational, creative women, helping them get clarity, confidence and creativity into their lives. I loved the geeky business side: the SEO admin, the data analysis, creating back pages on my site, but far more importantly I loved the women I worked with.

I discovered Instagram, and discovered I had a lot to say via poetry. I started writing captions that came straight from the heart. My kids got older. I started to increase my hours at the school where I worked again. I had found it near impossible to juggle the intensity of the classroom with the physical and emotional intensity of mothering two under two. Instagram was an outlet for me to share my feelings, and to build a community. Now my children were suddenly five and three (nearly four) and I wanted to teach and sing (oh yes, I’m also a professional singer - in fact if you want more facts about me check out here) and coach and do workshops and write, write write.

I am utterly devoted to music education, to coaching, to the work life balance, to music, singing, poetry, gardening, feminism, my kids, second-hand clothes, art, craft, philosophy… I want to share it all, to be open to everything. I want to show how my today is - not my yesterday, not my tomorrow. And so here I am. Laura. Here’s Laura Oldfield. I hope you join in.

Now tell me three facts about you - I’d love to learn more!