5 Ayurvedic Rituals to Nurture Body, Mind & Soul After Birth
An interview with Postpartum Doula Hadhee Jah
At Nest & Baby, we believe postpartum is not just a recovery period, but a sacred window that shapes a mother’s health for years to come. In this Expert Series, we sat down with Hadhee Jah, an Ayurvedic postpartum doula and birthkeeper, to talk about gentle rituals every mother can lean on to nurture her body, mind, and soul after birth.
What inspired you to become a doula and guide new mothers in postpartum healing?
My first birth experience was a really powerful one and it showed me how birth is an initiation on the deepest level. I had an amazing midwife who held space for me to fully birth in power and it transformed me completely. Then I had another baby and also supported my best friend’s homebirth. In terms of postpartum, my own experiences had been rather dark and depleting and took a lot to recover fully. I didn’t want that for my best friend and then I came across an Ayurvedic Postpartum Doula training and my whole life changed when I dived in. I learned so much about the postpartum window, traditional approaches to the diet, herbs and body work a mother needs to recover fully and even thrive in that first forty day window. I was still in the course when I became pregnant again and this gave me the opportunity to apply the wisdom to my own pregnancy journey. This empowered me to heal from the traumatic freebirth I had with my third baby where my placenta wouldn’t birth and I ended up transferring to hospital. It gave me a whole new perspective on birth trauma, which I had never had. But the rituals and remedies I had learned in the course helped me to get through that really difficult time and I recovered smoothly and so fast that my best friend in the Maldives told me I need to bring the knowledge to the women of the Maldives. That’s when I realised upon research that our ancestral midwifery system is based on Ayurveda and that all our traditional midwives were phased out of practice when birth was completely medicalised in the Maldives 3 decades ago. My own great-aunt had been a traditional midwife who managed to transcend the government’s standardization process and crossed over into medical midwifery to keep her license and right to practice. All midwives who did this were assigned to work in hospitals and our once robust indigenous system of home birth with traditional birth attendants ceased overnight. Now I am the only one trained in traditional postpartum care and the only doula from my country. This makes my mission quite heavy and I can’t afford to drop the ball as it would mean the complete end of our cultural heritage. Now I am speaking about this on publically to educate women of my country about the risks of medicalised birth, empowering them to make informed choices and equipping them with the wisdom they need to navigate birth and postpartum with the best outcomes for mother and baby in the centre.
Why are gentle rituals so important for mothers during the postpartum period?
In Ayurveda, there’s a saying: “Forty-two days for forty-two years.” How a woman heals in the first forty days after birth influences her health for the next forty years. When we give mothers rest, warm nourishing foods, and deep care, we set them on a path of rejuvenation instead of depletion.
Unfortunately, modern culture often ignores how vulnerable mothers are at this time. We treat pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and breastfeeding as separate, but they are a continuum. Recognizing this helps us repair the damage done to generations of women.
Can you share your top 5 rituals to nurture the body, mind, and soul after birth?
- Rest as Ritual – A midwife once told me, “The more you do, the more you bleed.” Rest is medicine. Ignoring this can lead to exhaustion, dizziness, and depletion.
- Warmth – Do not underestimate the power of warmth during postpartum! Ayurveda treats this time as one of extreme Vata depletion, which is the element of wind and space so to counter that, we need to support the body with multiple sources of warmth – warm foods and drinks, warm oil, hot water bottles, socks keeping the feet warm, warm oil. This is why traditional cultures across the world refer to this as a time of “mother-warming.”
- Belly Binding – this is a traditional practice from the Maldives – where I come from. Unfortunately it is rapidly disappearing and also found in many other parts of the world. A long piece of fabric is used to wrap the mother’s entire abdominal area. This helps reposition the womb, close the space left by the exit of baby and realign all the internal organs and musculoskeletal system. It is an amazing feeling. I still remember how I felt when my mother bound my belly for me after I gave birth to my first baby. I felt held and supported. After my third baby, I did belly binding on myself for almost the entire forty day window and it really helped me to heal from the trauma and feel supported.
- Self-Massage with Warm Oil – Known as Abhyanga in Ayurveda, this is traditionally done with warm sesame oil, which is the most grounding oil for Vata. This is such a beautiful practice of anointing the body with warm oil from head to toe and is extremely soothing to the nervous system and supports the tissues to regenerate. The word for oil in Sanskrit is sneha, which is also the world for love.
- Ghee – adding ghee to the diet is so nourishing. Even the act of making ghee can be deeply satisfying and certainly cheaper than buying it pre-made. Ayurveda recommends ghee for postpartum in particular because it nourishes all 7 tissue layers and also supports milk production and boost radiance and energy.
How can new mothers reconnect with their inner self or soul during the fourth trimester?
Birth cracks us open. So energetically speaking, we need to close the space or it can continue to leak energy and support the depletion of the body. With my third baby, I experienced a Closing of the Bones ceremony, where the mother is massaged with warm oil and wrapped from head to toe in rebozos, closing her seven energetic centres that had to open to allow for the passage of baby. It is a beautiful traditional women’s practice that we need to bring back.
How can partners, family, or friends support mothers in creating these nurturing rituals?
Educating themselves about postpartum is the most important thing. For example, many don’t realize a mother’s digestion has four recovery phases after birth. She needs specific foods that are easier to digest. In India and in the Maldives, before standardisation took place, the women in the community took part in caring for the new mother after birth. She was massaged with warm oil every day and so was baby, fed herbal soups and broths to restore her energy and witnessed in her tender transition so that she can be the best version of herself for motherhood. To me, there is no more revolutionary act than families learning how to care for their new mamas properly as our ancestors did before us.
Where can mothers learn more about your work or connect with your services?
You can find me on Instagram @hadheejahbirthkeeper or on my website hadheejahbirthkeeper.com. I’ve also written a book called Postpartum Is Forever: A Memoir in Recipes, Rituals and Remembering, available on my website and Amazon.
Nest & Baby Takeaway:
This interview with Hadhee Jah has been such a meaningful experience for us. Her insights into Ayurvedic wisdom and the traditions of her Maldivian heritage remind us how deeply culture, care, and community shape the postpartum journey. We are grateful for the beautiful knowledge she has shared and for her dedication to preserving these rituals for mothers everywhere. Thank you, Hadhee, for opening your heart and guiding us through these gentle practices.
