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A while back, I unfollowed most insta-yogis, stopped attending yoga festivals and basically decided to blaze my own trail because of what I was seeing in the yoga scene: An infatuation with form that denies us of our depth.
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Contorting the body seemed to be another way to project our unattainable ideals of perfection, and overriding the truth of what we are feeling on the inside.
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As a deeply feeling woman, it didn’t sit right with me.
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Not to mention - Women menstruate. Women bear children. We are cyclical.
A yoga practice rooted in deep listening rather than imposing an agenda on our body is essential.
Being a woman comes with enough baggage about who we "should" look and move our bodies.
When the way we move our bodies becomes a performance, we lose access to the native, instinctual way of being in our body.
It is also concerning to me that the new wave of feminine embodiment is often tarnished by this obsession with appearance.
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It paints a pretty picture (and I am all for beauty!!), but not the whole picture.
Let's get real about a few things:
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Being “feminine” includes our primal and untamed parts as much as our soft and sensual parts - and everything in between.It includes blood, birth and bones, as much as it does rainbow roses, love and light.
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Embodiment practice doesn’t always look good. It is about authenticity, not performance..
It doesn’t always feel good either! In fact, coming into our body reveals undigested emotions and highlights uncomfortable truths..
Safe spaces where we can feel and express all of our feelings is vital for our health, well-being and spiritual connection.
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These are the spaces I am passionate about creating.
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Keeping certain parts of ourselves at bay, especially when it comes to upholding some spiritual ideal, cuts us off from our inner power.
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Normalising feeling and all facets of the human experience is empowering, especially for women born of a patriarchal world.
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When we shift the focus from form to feeling, welcoming the full spectrum of our experience, we unlock and unearth a wellspring of shakti -creative energy.
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This energy is HEALING. It is our inner medicine.
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When we reclaim the very life force that courses through our veins, it becomes available as our own inner resource.
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The life force we liberate includes our sexual energy, which we can harness, express or contain as we choose.
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Most yoga practices totally deny women the opportunity to access their inner power in this way, which is why I created Shakti Yoga.
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My devotion is to offer you the keys to unlock this power, energy and wisdom - all expressions of shakti -from within yourself.
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My passion and gift is to create sacred space where we consecrate our creative energy and experience the power of practising within a circle of women which supercharges the benefits of our practice.
I am so incredibly grateful for every woman I have ever sat in circle with.
Lastly..
Despite what I shared about the new wave "feminine" movement, I want to acknowledge there is also a huge surge of REAL feminine wisdom emerging and incredible leaders and teachers - and I want to name and thank some of the teachers I’ve learned from and am inspired by :
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Chameli Ardagh, Maya Tiwari, Uma Dinsmore Tuli, Maya Luna, Michaela Boehm, Sally Kempton, Lama Tsultrim Allione - to name a few! Most of them have social media, incredible books, blogs, and online teachings that I can wholeheartedly recommend.
I'd love to know your favourites in the comments !
