The Woom Society Where Dreaming Is Healing

I founded Woom Society because women deserve loving and tender support throughout their journey to mamahood. 

Traditionally, doulas are focused on the nine months of pregnancy or the immediate postpartum period. But what if you had someone who could be there with you from day one of your decision to start trying for a family? To help you build your team — for the physical, spiritual and emotional preparation — all the aspects that are so critical to the conception journey. 

When I was trying to conceive my daughter, Una, it took us nine months of trying, which is less than the average time it takes most couples to conceive. But that didn’t matter to me at the time. I was still spiraling with “what ifs'' and I was relying on my “executive brain” — a term my doula uses whenever I’m trying to control the situation as ‘Lyla the Marketing Director’ and not ‘Lyla the Fertile Woman and Mother’ — to make a baby happen on my timeline. But that’s not how this process works — it’s not about control. It’s about surrender. It’s about love. It’s about hope. It’s about the inner conversations we’re having with ourselves on a daily basis that matter — are we speaking to ourselves and our bodies lovingly? 

Before I was pregnant and throughout my first trimester, I was looking for guidance that could give me a sense of harmony, love and support. I was looking for someone to mother me the way I wanted to mother my child. I needed to learn how to speak to myself and to my body like the beautiful vessel of magic that it is. I needed to stop being told statistics around the possibility of miscarriage and to be “cautiously optimistic” — the exact words I did not want to hear from my OB when I was just a few weeks along.

I had an interaction with a new friend recently. She was telling me how shocked she was that a friend of hers was openly sharing her pregnancy news at five weeks pregnant. I walked away from that conversation wondering why she was judging her friend instead of turning that into a time for support, celebration and hope.

What does it say about us when women shame other women for being vulnerable and hopeful? We're told by our doctors not to share our pregnancy news until the second trimester when the chance of miscarriage significantly drops. As a society, why are we teaching women to suffer in silence? As women, why are we accepting it and worst of all, perpetuating it? This isn’t meant to be a generalization of all women or everyone in society — but it is a widespread issue and it’s keeping us from experiencing and processing our joys and our losses in ways that are healthy and meaningful. 

What if there was another way? 

We’ve seen celebrities, like Chrissy Teigen, bravely share their stories of pregnancy loss with the world — and it was such a powerful and healing moment for women and families everywhere who have had similar experiences. That’s not going to be the norm for everyone — and that’s okay. But it’s a start to shifting the culture — and that’s what we have the ability to start doing right now.

My practice is focused on helping women during conception and early pregnancy — the time when we feel the most alone and scared. Those isolating months of treatment during IVF, the hours spent late at night scouring the internet for the best fertility foods and supplements, or the anxiety of waiting for the eight week scan. 

Woom Society will teach you calming and positive visualizations that carry you through those times that are untethering. My goal is that you experience this journey more relaxed and more connected — to both yourself and your future child.

When I found my doula, I learned through her first-hand how visualizations can heal our mind, body and soul. I now specialize in the use of visualization as a tool for wellness, connection and healing across the entire journey of mamahood — fertility treatments, conception, pregnancy and postpartum.

The tools I’ll teach you are as simple as daydreaming — and the community you’ll gain by joining Woom Society will stay with you forever. Because you deserve all the loving and tender support in the world. And trust me, dreaming is healing. 

Are you ready to be more relaxed and more connected? Sign up for a 1:1 session with me here to get started.

Lyla Sultan O’Connell is a California-based Marketing Director for a Fortune 100 company turned Visualization Doula. She founded Woom Society when she realized that the conception and early pregnancy periods are often overlooked with no support and a time of high anxiety and isolation for most women. Her mission is to break the stigmas associated with trying to conceive and pregnancy loss, once and for all. She specializes in helping women, like herself, who are inclined to use their “executive brains” to get through this sacred journey — in a more relaxed and more connected way.