06 · Your Nervous System Knows What They Did to Black Mothers

Postpartum Liberation

What if your “anxiety” after birth isn’t a personal failure… but your body telling the truth about what this system has done to Black folks?

In this episode, we walk into a postpartum living room where everything looks fine on paper: healthy baby, healthy parent, partner present... but the air is thick, sleep is impossible, and the nervous system is on edge.

This is a real and honest conversation about the nervous system in real postpartum life. Not as a buzzword, but as the house your spirit is trying to heal in.

Inside the episode, we explore:

• What “fight, flight, freeze, and fawn” actually look like in the weeks after birth (and how often they’re mis-labeled as “crazy,” “overreacting,” or “too emotional”)
• Why your brain can know you’re “safe now” while your body still feels like something bad is about to happen
• The difference between “I am broken” and “my nervous system has been working overtime for a long time”
• A simple, 2–3 minute nervous system check-in you can do while nursing, showering, or lying in bed to meet your body with care instead of criticism
• How doulas, midwives, and birthworkers can protect their own nervous systems before and after visits so they’re not carrying every family’s story home in their bodies
• How seeing the nervous system as an altar, and not an enemy, can shift the way we approach postpartum healing, rest, and support

If you’ve ever wondered, “Why can’t I just relax?” or you support families who say, “I feel crazy, but I don’t know why,” this episode will help you put words, compassion, and simple practice to what the body has been trying to tell you all along.

📬 Get on the waitlist for my 9-month postpartum residency, Where the Roots Gather: https://bloomingallover.myflodesk.com/wtrg-waitlist

The Postpartum Liberation Podcast and content posted by Danielle Lyles Barton is presented solely for general informational, educational, and entertainment purposes. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.