Hello, I’m Gemma Douglas.
I am a Certified Breathwork and Meditation Practitioner, NLP Practitioner, and have a diploma in both teaching and professional coaching. I am also a mother of three with qualifications in teaching, as a Reiki Practitioner, and a music degree from Otago University. My passions have led me down many paths, including playing for the successful Southern Sting netball team, in the pursuit of growth, meaning, and fulfilment.
It has always been important to me to lead a life that allows me to express myself fully, and allow myself to explore what it truly means to live a conscious, fulfilling life. I have developed support and resources to share with you everything I have learnt and implemented in my own life journey. My goal is to inspire and empower you to live the life that is true for you.
When I was working as a senior manager in the corporate world, I was offered a life changing promotion the same week I found out I was pregnant with my first child. It was at this juncture where I first felt the shift in my mindset between career & family. A push & pull, balancing act that would soon become my everyday norm. In the following four years I had two more children, and lived the realities of motherhood, being both challenging and immensely rewarding.
When my second daughter was 8 weeks old she was diagnosed with a life threatening illness called pertussis — more commonly known as whooping cough. The next 3 months of our lives we switched into survival mode. I hardly left her side and spent a lot of time skin-to-skin and breastfeeding her. At least once an hour, often more, our daughter would cough, yet the word ‘cough’ doesn’t adequately describe the sound of what came out of her. The mucus produced can block the airwaves of newborns and stop their breathing. Over this time I realised that self care is not only important but incredibly necessary for us to be able to cope on a longer term basis when faced with the challenges that life throws at you. We survived this, but without meditation, mindset and self care tools — and of course the incredible support we had — I don’t know how I would’ve made it through.
After my third child was born, I created The Motherhood Project as a way of bringing all the mothers I knew in my life together. I could see that there was a need for mutual support and connection, and the community grew to empower mothers in New Zealand, and then around the world. It became apparent that regardless of where we lived, we all held a fierce power and desire for support and resources that will help us care for ourselves and our families.
Meditation and music have been part of my whole life, and I truly believe meditation, breathwork and manifestation are life skills for cultivating a fulfilled and conscious life. The Conscious Project was born out of a deep desire to make these achievable self-care techniques I use available to all mothers, giving them back their power. These tools and techniques have brought mindfulness and intention to my most challenging moments, and I want to be able to share this transformational healing to all.
I now live in Hawke’s Bay on an apple orchard with my husband and three happy children, bringing all the techniques and tools I have learnt on my journey to bring presence and calmness to the glorious chaos that is motherhood.
Thank you for being a part of this community — The Motherhood Project wouldn’t be what it is today without you.
