Hello! my name is Ashley AKA Mama Yum
First and foremost, I am a heARTful mother of two spirited boys, mothering with intention and integrity to heal a broken world.
I am a professional NURTURER, combining 13 years specializing in Holistic Child Development, holding a Teaching Credential in Early Childhood Education with 20 years in the Healing Arts as a bodyworker, meditation teacher, ceremonialist, and Advanced Theta Healing Practitioner. I am a Integrative Trauma Coach, Certified Innate Traditions Postpartum Care Practitioner, Ayurvedic Doula, and Community Supported Postpartum Facilitator. I center my work around Mothers and their beloveds.
My quest is to protect and preserve the sanctity of childhood by helping stressed, overwhelmed, exhausted and reactive parents move beyond their limitations, unconscious beliefs/emotions/patterns and generational cycles of wounding and hardship, replacing them with more empowered, thoughts and feelings so we can all thrive. We work on small, manageable shifts in lifestyle and utilize tools, techniques and the power of Integrative body-based modalities and Advanced Theta Healing to create Energetic Wellness and Spiritual Vitality, shifting mindsets so that parents can meet the needs of their children in a more present, patient, and playful way.
Our choices in navigating Preconception, Pregnancy, Postpartum and Parenting are amongst the most important decisions of our lives and lay the foundation for the health of the rest of the years ahead. I offer guidance through private sessions, workshops, group series, mediations, and ceremonies. I live with my beloved husband and two young boys in the magical realm of Asheville, NC. ROR acknowledges, with respect, that the land we are on today is ancestral land of the Anikituwagi, more commonly known as the Cherokee. We recognize the Cherokee as the native people and original stewards of this land. Equity is of the utmost importance to us. We offer scholarships, group discounts and I LOVE TRADES. ROR is committed to donating to local charities that support underserved communities. While our work centers women, our offerings are inclusive and we will happily change our language to meet preferences.
Our choices in navigating Preconception, Pregnancy, Postpartum and Parenting are amongst the most important decisions of our lives and lay the foundation for the health of the rest of the years ahead. I offer guidance through private sessions, workshops, group series, mediations, and ceremonies. I live with my beloved husband and two young boys in the magical realm of Asheville, NC. ROR acknowledges, with respect, that the land we are on today is ancestral land of the Anikituwagi, more commonly known as the Cherokee. We recognize the Cherokee as the native people and original stewards of this land. Equity is of the utmost importance to us. We offer scholarships, group discounts and I LOVE TRADES. ROR is committed to donating to local charities that support underserved communities. While our work centers women, our offerings are inclusive and we will happily change our language to meet preferences.
CARE AND COMPASSION ARE UNIVERSAL NEEDS.
The evolution of my work started when I, myself was a child. I learned early on that I was to help others break away from suffering, this is my dharma. I have always been deeply connected to Source and I knew that I had many unique gifts. I was giving hands on healings and ceremonies in early childhood, it was obvious that I was born with a nurturing spirit, as I demonstrated great care and compassion for the world around me. I had two loving, extremely hard working parents. My gorgeous mother taught me how to create beauty upon the earth and the importance of nurturing. My father demonstrated how to be a Maverick, an innovative powerhouse and how to think for myself. Both taught me the value of play.
In my youth, I was a supreme athlete. At 12, a series of serious physical injuries significantly altered my life. At 14, I was in a terrible car accident. That became a karmic theme in my life for far too many years. In high school, my life took a radical hit with illness, extreme trauma, and physical and sexual abuse. This left me with incessant cycles of toxic relationships, decades of chronic illness and pain, a 20 year eating disorder, autoimmune issues, and extreme insomnia. In reflection, for every hardship there has been an enormous lesson and subsequently, a conscious upgrade. These life experiences led to me completing a B.A. in Religious Studies with an emphasis on Culture and Conciousness Studies as well as becoming certified as a Massage Therapist (LMT), Energy Worker and Meditation Teacher. I owned a Healing Arts practice for a decade and spent many years listening to the wounded stories of others. My experiences fueled a desire to work in the world of diplomacy, generating a path towards benevolence.
After spending many months in South East Asia, traveling, volunteering and studying in Wats (temples) I had the realization that the path to real peace must be nurtured in childhood. I headed back to the States to earn a Teacher’s Certificate specializing in Holistic Child Development, then spent many years serving in the classroom as a Lead Kindergarten Teacher and Parent Educator. I was on a quest to find the most beneficial and balanced educational philosophies, so I invested deeply with my training in Waldorf, Lifeways, Montessori, Pickler, R.I.E. and am still tenacious in continuing my education. For many years, I taught children and held body/energy work sessions for adults. While I was supporting others in various ways, my personal life was a disaster. Still fighting to get out of a venomous long-term relationship, I was exhausted and depleted. My health started spiraling downward. I became increasingly ill. It took me years to be diagnosed with chronic lyme and several more to understand how to come back to wholeness.
When I least desired or expected it, the most marvelous miracle happened by way of a kind, highly evolved, phenomenal human named Drew, whom I am now blissfully married to. We had severely life-threatening complications with our first child while in utero which is a very long rabbit-hole of a story. It was then that I became privy to how much birth impacts the rest of our life, leaving lasting imprints that carry on into adulthood. The statement “peace on earth, begins with birth”, lives in my heart daily.
My son, Zavier Maverick was a catalyst for me entering into birth work and becoming an Innate Traditions Postpartum Care Provider and Ayurvedic Doula, first serving survivors of human trafficking. Since then, I have combined two decades of my knowledge in the realm of healing arts with 13 years in child development and birthed Raising Our Rootz. While striving to survive and navigate the complications from Zavier’s birth story, we found out we were pregnant again when “ZZ” was barely 11 months. Shocked and scared, we held ceremony, prayed, and trusted. Zeo Santo was born healthy and became (still is) the medicine our family needed.
Of all the many modalities that I have received and provided, it was not until I started addressing my underlying emotional issues, and later finding Theta Healing (subconscious work), that I felt myself truly and fully begin to heal physically, emotionally, and mentally. I am constantly amazed at how profoundly this modality has worked for myself, my children, my husband, my relations, and my clients. We can address trauma in countless ways, but until we acknowledge, clear, and then repair the root memories and beliefs hiding in our subconscious field, they will remain and hold us hostage in a perpetual spiral. I feel healthier in all parts of my being at 40, then I did in my 20s. I no longer bear the weight of my emotional baggage, nor suffer from chronic pain or insomnia. This is why I offer integrative wellness practices focusing on somatic, subconscious and energetics, to nurture body, mind, and spirit. My work is supplemental to other therapies.
When we heal ourselves, we heal our children and our lineage. It is through the lens of compassion; witnessing and understanding our resilience, that ignited my passion to support children and parents. I have poured my life forces into my mission so that we have the resources needed to thrive.
If my Bookings page is down, please contact me: [email protected] 828-470-7741
