Iona McNeil

Celebrating my daughter’s 1st birthday! What a year it has been witnessing Fia grow, learn skills and discover the world. So proud of her. Such a profound love I have for her. May this parenting journey continue to unfold in wondrous ways. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Casually drinking tea whilst making millions. Wanna know how? BUY MY COURSE!!!! #smugface

2025 Part 2: Postpartum & Motherhood initiation Amongst the relentless looking after a baby, domestics, adulting (finally), attending lots of baby groups, and wonderful visits from lots of friends & family wanting to meet the baby… not to mention me obsessing over sleep, or the lack of it the whole time… there were lots of highlights of this part of year, probably the best was hearing all of Fia’s giggles 🤭: - Closing of the Bones Ceremony by my lovely post partum doula @georgie_thesacredwindow to mark the end of the 6 week sacred window - Fia’s Emergence Ceremony after 30 days of being inside the house - going to a festival during summer solstice when Fia was 7 weeks old (!!!) errrr what was I thinking - celebrating Sarah’s 40th birthday festival in Brighton, it was exciting cos it was my first night out since giving birth. It was awesome to celebrate such a special human. I even signed up to do a Cabaret act! - went to an inspiring Artists’ retreat with Quinn & Fia, tried out some poetry and activism through art - lots of walks in Stroud with Fia in the sling - photoshoot with my Mama Village in Stroud was special - being Joseph, Mary & Jesus in a nativity play. Totally type cast now I am a mother…

Round up of my 2025 - Part 1: leading up to the birth. Preparing for birth and a baby was a lot of medical appointments, shopping, moving house shenanigans, hypnobirthing classes, doula appointments and NCT groups… and the fun bits of a baby shower and a mother’s blessing. I held a funeral for my old self at my baby shower cos I really think some part of you does die when you become a parent… in order for a new person to be activated. Honestly I feel very different now, biologically speaking my brain chemistry and hormones have changed, I have surrendered into my new role and my perspectives on life have changed. Part 2 of 2025 coming up - postpartum and landing into motherhood.

Quinn got me a Lyre for Christmas. HAPPY NEW YEAR! #lyre #bouzouki #auldlangsyne

Having a baby is such a wonderful experience - I’m so in love! But amongst the joys, I’ve been experiencing grief during my early motherhood. Loss of my old life, my old friends, my hobbies, time for creative projects, time for anything for myself, my identity… I knew this was coming, I had a funeral for my old self at my baby shower. I had NO IDEA what other friends who walked this path before me were going through. Although your brain changes when you give birth- you become utterly devoted to your little one, sacrificing everything, your unwavering focus becomes on them. And it’s a really beautiful thing, and I feel I’m levelling up as a human, this fierce protector within me I didn’t know was there, and it’s completely cracked open my heart like nothing else. They say it takes a village to raise a child, I think it takes a village to support mothers and families! It’s a challenging job being a mother, it’s not meant to be done alone. You need so much resilience to look after your baby, and for me exclusively breastfeeding and having only slept in 1 or 2 hour intervals for 6 months… (the sleep deprivation is the most crazy part - that’s another story.) It saddens me I don’t have extended family around me, no one to step in when the going gets tough. In my “old life”, I was always very tapped into community, I felt I knew a lot of people, but it was all centred around going out dancing / going to a festival / events…not so useful now. But that’s just the way things are. We don’t tend to live with aunties and cousins and grandparents near us. We have to fend for ourselves and try not to burn out! So in Stroud, I have sought out other mums in the area, and feel so blessed to know these wonderful women in this photo. Amongst us 40 strong Mama Village are people who run ‘Tree Babies’, pregnancy yoga, we have saunas together in the woods, we get together to do batch cooking, we sing together, we dance together, we have a monthly mama sharing circle, and we have a WhatsApp chat to help each other out for advice, sleep support, weaning nutrition… We are creating our Mama Village! We are in this together. And together we are strong. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Iona Express Out Now on YouTube@cockneyprophet As a corporate accountant managing renewable energy projects, Iona’s left brain function convinced her she was helping to heal the world. Her right brain had other ideas and birthed Iona Express. #ecstaticdance #newpodcast #awakening #thecockneyguidetoenlightenment #newvideo❤️ #healingjourney #authentic #embodyment #dance #creativity #playmatters #writer #conditioning #ayhuasca #wakingup #eastlondon #cockney #greatconversations #enlightenment #renewable

Welcome to the new Wednesday morning MUMS & BUBS DANCE class in Stroud! Facilitated by Maria-Carin Gala from Come Dance Stroud, plus guests. Local new mothers asked for a dance class like just this, so here it is. TIME: 10-11:30 am DATES: 10 SEPT , 8 OCT (one-off different time 12-1:30pm), 12 NOV &10 DEC LOCATION: Trinity Rooms Community Hub, Field Road, Stroud, GL5 2HZ @stroudtrinityrooms PRICE: Sliding scale £7/£10/£12 at the door. No need to book, just come on the day You (dads included) are warmly invited to come with your baby and have the opportunity to move your body to groovy tunes that are slightly quieter to accommodate little one’s ears and perhaps tired parents ones too. Don’t worry though, the music is for grown-ass humans who love to dance! Guest facilitators such as @ionaexpress will be offering her passion for bringing us together in a safe, playful and connected way. This is going to be a lush combo! Iona is such a fun and passionate facilitator and new mum too 💘 Please find more important info here: /mcevents/mums-and-bubs-come-dance link in bio baby See you there? MC @comedancestroud #mumsandbubsdance #mumsdance #dadsdance #dancestroud #mcgaladance

Today I turn 42 years old! (42 being the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything…) ✨✨✨✨✨ It’s also Lion’s Gate and a full moon 🦁 🌝 🦁🌝🦁🌝🦁 AND it’s been breastfeeding awareness week 🤱 🤱🤱🤱 So I’ve been thinking on this significant day, especially as they say life goes in 7 year cycles… that I am fully embracing this new phase… which I am calling 🌟 MOTHERHOOD ENLIGHTENMENT 🌟

Fia Rosehip is 3 months old today 🎉 🌹 I love her so much. My heart has cracked open in a way I didn’t know was possible. We eye gaze at each other and I feel waves of love between us, it’s incredible! Her smiles, silent giggles, coos and squeals delight me so much, it makes it all so worthwhile. She loves to look around at everything, and her favourite place to be is being held by me whilst she looks out at the world. I have so much to say about motherhood yet I can’t fully say what I feel about it in a flimsy instagram post… it’s just so massive. Huge respect for mothers everywhere, wow, I hadn’t realised until I became one how intense and beautiful it is. it’s activating so much in me. I have become a new person, one with greater devotion, patience and nurturing skills I didn’t think I had in me. And on a silly note, I am so amazed at my BOOBS and what they can do… they are really serving a purpose these days which isn’t just to jiggle 😂 (And when I ever catch up on sleep and get my brain back, I’d like to try to write more profound musings about the motherhood journey. Errrr that is if I ever catch up on sleep….? Erm erm…. Please tell me I will… one day?!!!)

Introducing a new arrival in the world, @quinnmagick ‘s and my daughter, Fia Rosehip Quinn McNeil. In figuring out the name, (which took a while!), we wanted to connect with our Celtic roots, both having Irish and Scottish ancestry, and with a nod towards connection to nature: - Fia, the anglicised version of the popular Irish name Fiadh, meaning wild or untamed, or ‘deer’ in Irish (where deer are deemed messengers between worlds). Also means weaver in Portuguese & Italian, or flamma / flame in Latin giving her fiery qualities 🔥 - Rosehip, because her big half sister named her that during the pregnancy and it stuck! And coincidentally there are variations of Rose in my family - Rosa, Rosemary and Roisin. Also a lovely nature name and I rubbed Rosehip oil on my bump 🌹 - Quinn, an Irish unisex name meaning wise, Daddy’s birth mother’s surname and now Daddy’s first name 🇮🇪 - McNeil, she’s one of the clan now, and we can dress her up in a tartan babygrow! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ——————————————————- Arrived 3rd May 2025 weighing 6lb12. (Just in the nick of time… a day before her 42 week deadline for induction!) Parenthood here we go, woop woop!!!! 🎢 Swimming in a bubble of love ❤❤❤❤❤

@ 41.5 weeks Baby still enjoying hanging out in my womb… so more time to make instagram videos. Heading for acupuncture today so hoping that makes a difference! #thirdtrimester #birthpreparation