Calm Minds and Confident Moves: Mindfulness and Career Change Tools from the Big MOB Meet-Up

Career Change Coach Dana Stevens and Kat Yousefi from Nafas Yoga speaking at the Big MOB Mum Meet Up

Does this sound familiar?

👉 Your days blur into childcare, work, house admin, and very little time for yourself.
👉 You come back from maternity leave and realise your old job just doesn’t fit anymore.
👉 You’re juggling so much that you’ve forgotten what you actually want, or who you are outside of being “mum.”

If that’s you, you’re not alone. And it’s exactly why the Mums Who Build community exists.

At its heart, the Mums Who Build community is about transformation. It’s about more than motherhood. It’s about reclaiming confidence and direction, creating financial security through growing careers and businesses, and doing it with the support of a community that truly gets it.

One of the ways we bring this to life is through our weekly Big MOB Meet Ups. Every Friday mums come together in East London, to reset, refuel, and leave with practical tools for personal and professional growth, plus opportunities sparked by connecting with other inspiring women who truly get it.

This week, we welcomed two brilliant women, Kat Yousefi founder of Nafas Yoga and Career Change Coach, Dana Stevens, who shared grounding practices and career-changing wisdom that every mum can take away.

Finding Calm with Kat

Kat opened our session with a grounding movement and breathwork practice designed to invite more heartfulness into our bodies and minds. Connecting with our heart can help us feel greater kindness and compassion towards ourselves - something that can often feel difficult for mums.

Through a guided meditation, gentle movement, and breathwork, Kat helped us get out of our heads and back into our bodies. She weaved in techniques such as Box Breathing and Nadi Shodana (alternate nostril breathing) to bring calmness into the day. Best of all, the practice was simple and practical - something that can be done at home or woven into even the busiest of days for a mini reset.

As Kat explained, “it was about giving the mums tools they can use again to support themselves as they navigate the highs and lows of motherhood and perhaps start to embark on their return to work.”

Kat also shared her own experience of changing career after having her two girls and gave us her top tips for navigating work and motherhood:

• Do what makes you happy: if you’re happy, your child will be happy.

• Set really clear boundaries: and make your mental and physical wellbeing a priority.

• Don’t give up: running your own business can be a hustle. It’s hard, but it can also be hugely rewarding. Having autonomy over what you do, when you do it, and who you work with gives you flexibility to be there for your family.

Her message was clear: grounding practices and conscious choices about work are both powerful ways mums can support themselves through change.

Career Change, Confidence, and Boundaries with Dana

Next, we sat down with Career Change Coach, Dana Stevens, who works with women at career crossroads. She sees mums every day who come back from maternity leave burnt out, stuck in jobs that no longer work, or feeling like they’ve lost a part of themselves.

Dana’s approach is different. She starts with the life you want to create and then helps you build a career around that vision. She covered:

• Boundaries & self-prioritisation:  saying no when you need to, and sticking to it.

• Advocating for your needs: asking for flexibility in a way that benefits you and your workplace.

• Mindset shift: reframing the juggle so it feels more sustainable.

• Rebuilding confidence: after maternity leave, time out of work, or burnout.

• Embracing change: because motherhood shifts our identity, and that’s not a weakness.

Boundaries and Advocacy: Making It Work in Real Life

One of the strongest takeaways was around boundaries. It’s not enough to set them, you have to stick to them.

That might mean:

• No work on Wednesdays.

• No emails after bedtime.

• No meetings outside your chosen hours.

These aren’t indulgences. They’re protective rhythms that stop you burning out. And if you don’t respect your own boundaries, no one else will.

We also spoke about advocating for yourself at work. The secret is to frame your needs in a way that also supports the business.

For example:

• ❌ “I need to leave early because of childcare.”

• ✅ “If I start earlier and finish at 4pm, I’ll work at my most productive times and make sure all key deliverables are done before the end of the day.”

• ❌ “I can’t manage the commute every day.”

• ✅ “If I work from home on Tuesdays, I’ll save commuting time for deep work. When I’m in the office, I’ll dedicate that time to collaboration.”

• ❌ “I can’t check emails in the evening.”

• ✅ “If I protect my evenings, I’ll be sharper and quicker with decision-making during the day.”

• ❌ “I just can’t manage full-time right now.”

• ✅ “If I move to four days, I’ll cover my core responsibilities in a sustainable way. It also creates an opportunity for the business to redistribute or develop other talent.”

By framing it as a win–win, you’re showing your needs aren’t a burden but a route to better productivity, focus, and retention. That’s good for you and for the company.

Why It Matters

Between Kat’s grounding practice and Dana’s career wisdom, the theme was clear: mums need to stop running on autopilot and take time to reconnect with what really matters. That means:

✔ Asking: what kind of life do I want to create?
✔ Identifying our top priorities.
✔ Setting boundaries and sticking to them.
✔ Advocating for our needs with clarity and confidence.

And we don’t have to do it alone.

Join the Movement

That’s what Mums Who Build is all about. Through our weekly Big MOB Meet Ups, our MOB+ membership, and Business and Career skills workshops in Stoke Newington and Crouch End,  with Notting Hill launching September 2025, we’re creating safe, empowering spaces for mums who are ready to take action and design lives that feel right for them, not just what society dictates.

Want to be part of it?

• Join MOB+ (£4.99/month) for 24/7 peer support, resources, and practical tools to help you grow your business, career and financial security.

• Come along to a Big MOB Meet Up - every Friday at CRATE Walthamstow. Babies, toddlers, and older kids welcome.

• Look out for new MOB chapters, including Notting Hill launching in September 2025.

• Discover Our Why

A Little Extra from Kat

If Kat’s grounding practices spoke to you, she’s kindly offered a special gift for our community.

• Use the code MOB to get £5 off any class or event for the next 3 months.

• Explore her schedule and offerings here: nafas.yoga

Because protecting our wellbeing isn’t a luxury — it’s the foundation for everything we’re building.