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Sisterhood Rising | Feeling empowered to heal yourself

There are more and more women’s gatherings being held – and each time I attend one, I am somehow shocked at their authenticity and power.

Perhaps it’s showing a weakness within myself, to assume that they would be full of fluff, or tainted with the energy of ‘trying to hard’ and everyone trying to sell themselves.

Women are ready to show up, and to do the work.  On the inside and outside.  We are also hungry, hungry for our great-great-grandmother’s wisdom. Not just the wisdom of childbearing or nourishing our families or herbal medicine, but what is underneath all of that.  The connection to the energy of the Earth herself, the life force that directs and fuels all their is.  And in the gathering is the power.  In the gathering we are forging the connection.

I spoke with a woman yesterday, and she expressed some interest in my Womb Healing Course.  She said, something along the lines of “I am well-trained in Ayurveda, I feel like I know alot about physical healing, but I want to know more about the virtual side of things.”

I knew what she meant, but I felt like it was a strange choice to words.  So I looked up the definition of virtual, because I was just thinking about it in relation to ‘online,’ a sort of fake world. The first listed definition is “being such in essence or effect though not formally recognized or admitted.”  She used this word, ‘virtual,’ in an attempt, perhaps in a modern way, to say, “I need spiritual healing!”

I told her that to me, it seems like a lot of the healing on the subtle layers of the body happen through intention.  I think our New Age-y downfall is that we’re looking for a mystical experience, something that feels out of body. And that somehow, this would be the real reality…the real healing, the stuff we’re seeking.

In my experience, all of the layers of our being are really just mished and mashed together, and it takes subtle awareness to create any sort of separation.  When we work with whatever layer is most tangible to us, we effectively affect the other layers.  In fact, we’re really designed that way, and that is the key to holistic medicine.

My work is outwardly, mostly on the gross, physical body, the food body, or annamaya kosha as we call it in Yoga. But what I find more and more is that it is the gateway to the subtle. Not JUST the gateway, as there is often much physical healing to happen, too!  And when physical healing happens, it’s like turning the key for those more subtle layers to come forth and also be healed.

I share vaginal steaming for healing from painful periods and pelvic pain, to healing from loss or trauma.  Uttar vasti for moving a woman’s cycle closer to the rhythm of the new moon, or for clearing up frequent infections.  Self Care massage for gently coaxing a tipped uterus back to her center, or releasing stuck emotions.  We are large, we contain multitudes.  (To butcher one of my favorite Walt Whitman quotes. 😉 )

For this Spring’s Womb Healing class, my intent is to show up, to invite a gathering, in which the power will come. Sort of like the ‘If you build it they will come,’ mentality.  There are a lot of women who might not be ready for a class like this – I talk a lot about how this stuff helps with painful periods, PMS, and more…but when I mention ‘herbal douche,’ they kind of give me a blank look, like they don’t want to do all kinds of work. Well, often, this does take dedication.  But it feels good! And it is so, so empowering to know how to help yourself, and other women.  To take back simple yet profound knowledge which can help in those in-between places where powerful emergency medicine isn’t the ideal fit.

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And, ya know, vaginal steaming can feel pretty magical in my experience.

More on the next time.

Love,

Adena