Showing posts with label Art of Feminine Presence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art of Feminine Presence. Show all posts
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Anorexia of the Spirit / Dear Woman
Dear Woman,
How would you live, if you knew you were beautiful and loved beyond any doubt?
How would you live, if you knew the rounded shape of your body was what nature intended,
That your body was meant to sing out in pleasure,
That NOTHING about it is wrong, or shameful or something to hide.
How would it be to enjoy, to savor and to celebrate in public, your healthy appetite, for food, for life, for sex, to be seen, felt, heard and touched?
How would you live if you could open your throat, your heart and your womb and let your own voice ring out, with passion, saying “YES” to all that makes you feel sensual and alive, and at one with the living earth--to making love with life?
How would you speak if the words “SORRY” or “I just____” or “Excuse me” died on your lips?
How would you occupy your body and your space at the dinner or the conference table?
How would you live if you were free to create, without the nagging voice of judgement?
How would you walk down a street, into a meeting with men or onto a stage-- if you knew that everything you birth is a blessing to this world: babies, art, great meals, poems, brilliant teachings, a wave of hope in the life of another, schools and companies and books and sacred gatherings?
Love,
Your Mother Father God
(c) Ellen Shapiro 2013
feel free to share as long as you provide the source and website link
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Rise Up O Women O Sisters O Guardians of the Goddess in men and women’s bodies.
Today many bear witness to the suffering of girls and women from violence and abuse. Around the world we speak, dance, read poems, act in plays, to attest to this horror, to declare that it must stop NOW.
We understand well that this is the result of patriarchy and a deliberate systematic disempowering of women. This is part of the disconnection of humanity from the natural world and the force of life itself which women carry as the birth-givers.
None of this is news. We’ve had 8-10 thousand years of this. What’s sad and shocking is that despite women’s great progress in some ways and in some parts of the world, this level of violence and terrorism against women continues. It is hard to measure since so much of this goes on unreported and unseen in the privacy of women’s lives, but could it be that it’s even increasing? Is this a backlash against the rising of women in so many countries and continents? Or is it simply that in our world of instant global communication this long buried well of pain and suffering is finally coming to light?
It doesn’t really matter. What’s important is that it's being talked about, that we are rising, that we are rising TOGETHER, and saying “Enough!”
There’s another conversation that needs to happen too--about how women themselves perpetuate the oppression of other women. Not through physical violence but through the way we project jealous and competitive thoughts and emotions towards each other.
We envy the one who’s thinner or more beautiful, we compare ourselves to impossible standards of beauty and find ourselves lacking. We compete for attention, men, money and power. I have often heard women, as well as men, affirm that women are catty and can’t be trusted.
If we’ve had the experience of being put down or torn down by our mothers, sisters, female classmates or coworkers, then we have even more evidence that women are not safe to be around and we can’t rely on them for support.
There are so many ways this insidious turning of women against each other can happen. How do YOU perpetuate this?
An ancient strategy-- divide and conquer-- is a very effective way to disempower any group of people and keep them fearful and separate.
I am NOT blaming the victim here. In fact, recognizing how we as women participate in our own disempowerment is our point of power. We can start to recognize the part we’ve been playing and take the steps to correct these patterns of competing, putting down, and failing to support other women. We can look at any places where we have failed to stand up for each other, and where we have sold ourselves and each other out in order to gain or keep the peace with men, even at a great cost.
I ask you to imagine now a world where mothers, teachers and all women feel safe in the world, where we are free of the fears of violence, rape, unwanted pregnancy, abuse and exploitation. Where mothers raise their daughters—and their sons, to cherish, honor, and celebrate the Feminine. Where women appreciate their own unique form of beauty, and the many expressions of the Divine Feminine through the whole range of women’s body shapes and sizes.
Imagine a world—it was birthed today--where women gather to celebrate, honor, appreciate, love, accept and welcome each other, exactly as we are. Take a minute to envision this, and then feel it in your body, dance it, move it, meditate on it.
I leave you with a very simple practice, one of the core practices of the Art of Feminine Presence to make this vision manifest in the world. Take the next three days to tell other women what you appreciate about them.
This beautiful movement of 1 billion rising….carry the seeds forward with this simple practice of appreciating other women.
Together, we WILL change the world.
Happy V-day to you and all of us with love,
Ellen
Today many bear witness to the suffering of girls and women from violence and abuse. Around the world we speak, dance, read poems, act in plays, to attest to this horror, to declare that it must stop NOW.
We understand well that this is the result of patriarchy and a deliberate systematic disempowering of women. This is part of the disconnection of humanity from the natural world and the force of life itself which women carry as the birth-givers.
None of this is news. We’ve had 8-10 thousand years of this. What’s sad and shocking is that despite women’s great progress in some ways and in some parts of the world, this level of violence and terrorism against women continues. It is hard to measure since so much of this goes on unreported and unseen in the privacy of women’s lives, but could it be that it’s even increasing? Is this a backlash against the rising of women in so many countries and continents? Or is it simply that in our world of instant global communication this long buried well of pain and suffering is finally coming to light?
It doesn’t really matter. What’s important is that it's being talked about, that we are rising, that we are rising TOGETHER, and saying “Enough!”
There’s another conversation that needs to happen too--about how women themselves perpetuate the oppression of other women. Not through physical violence but through the way we project jealous and competitive thoughts and emotions towards each other.
We envy the one who’s thinner or more beautiful, we compare ourselves to impossible standards of beauty and find ourselves lacking. We compete for attention, men, money and power. I have often heard women, as well as men, affirm that women are catty and can’t be trusted.
If we’ve had the experience of being put down or torn down by our mothers, sisters, female classmates or coworkers, then we have even more evidence that women are not safe to be around and we can’t rely on them for support.
There are so many ways this insidious turning of women against each other can happen. How do YOU perpetuate this?
An ancient strategy-- divide and conquer-- is a very effective way to disempower any group of people and keep them fearful and separate.
I am NOT blaming the victim here. In fact, recognizing how we as women participate in our own disempowerment is our point of power. We can start to recognize the part we’ve been playing and take the steps to correct these patterns of competing, putting down, and failing to support other women. We can look at any places where we have failed to stand up for each other, and where we have sold ourselves and each other out in order to gain or keep the peace with men, even at a great cost.
I ask you to imagine now a world where mothers, teachers and all women feel safe in the world, where we are free of the fears of violence, rape, unwanted pregnancy, abuse and exploitation. Where mothers raise their daughters—and their sons, to cherish, honor, and celebrate the Feminine. Where women appreciate their own unique form of beauty, and the many expressions of the Divine Feminine through the whole range of women’s body shapes and sizes.
Imagine a world—it was birthed today--where women gather to celebrate, honor, appreciate, love, accept and welcome each other, exactly as we are. Take a minute to envision this, and then feel it in your body, dance it, move it, meditate on it.
I leave you with a very simple practice, one of the core practices of the Art of Feminine Presence to make this vision manifest in the world. Take the next three days to tell other women what you appreciate about them.
This beautiful movement of 1 billion rising….carry the seeds forward with this simple practice of appreciating other women.
Together, we WILL change the world.
Happy V-day to you and all of us with love,
Ellen
Monday, December 17, 2012
Sacred Womb Space Healing Meditation
Seeding the New Earth, 12/22/12: Sacred Womb Space Activation & Healing Meditation
Align and attune your body with the power, grace and magic of the Divine Feminine. We will do this through gentle yet profound practices from the Art of Feminine Presence. Together, in safety and a space of blessing, we’ll make a deep contact with our womb space--the source of life, creativity and regeneration.
We'll let go of whatever needs to be released. We'll take in compassion, healing and joyful inspiration for our lives and for the seeding and birthing of the new Earth.
Time: Noon, Eastern time, 12/22/12. Dial in to: +1 559-546-1301 Access code: 279607
Align and attune your body with the power, grace and magic of the Divine Feminine. We will do this through gentle yet profound practices from the Art of Feminine Presence. Together, in safety and a space of blessing, we’ll make a deep contact with our womb space--the source of life, creativity and regeneration.
We'll let go of whatever needs to be released. We'll take in compassion, healing and joyful inspiration for our lives and for the seeding and birthing of the new Earth.
Time: Noon, Eastern time, 12/22/12. Dial in to: +1 559-546-1301 Access code: 279607
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