So as you may have noticed if you follow my teaching that life has been a busy crazy joyous and bumpy rollercoaster over the last few months. Thanks for staying tuned ;oD.
I have to slip this in as a caveat, and if you know me in person, or have been to class, it is never clear or concise what may blurt from my wise self either teaching or writing. "Life is like a box o chocolates, you never know what you are going to get" and so the saying goes. Caution ahead, tricky subject....trudge gently.
I've noticed something from the most recent journey down these uneven tracks of life, I've begun to embrace my cycles of writing, noticing that I do more writing, speaking my truth, dancing my body, creating projects and writing down the bones of ideas in my moon cycle. My knowingness cycle starts about ten days before flow and continues just day or two into my cycle. It's fascinating, and I've really begun to honour this beautiful rhythm my wise body has been nudging me to notice for quite some time.
Now some may cringe that I'm writing about - YES, menstruation. (I can hear some ooohhh, omgoodness is she really writing about "that"?) Did you look behind your shoulder to see if anyone is watching you read? Did you cringe? Did you notice something within yourself nod? Was there a judgement? A quickening? A quietness? A remembering? If your a man have you stopped reading all together and does the secret world of a woman's tempo need to remain in it's locked-and-hide-the-key-box? If you are a woman are you standing on the box with the key in your teeth? If you are past the cycle of luna, have you honoured the new rhythms your body is offering? Is there shame/joy/beauty/love/embarrassment? What do you FEEL in your body right now?
Be Curious.
Close your eyes and take a breath in, and notice. Just like my last post, notice breathing, stilling, thinking, judging, quieting, and the breath as it flows in and out of your body. Your wise and knowing body. Keep going........a few more breaths.....................
Then read:
"How might it have been different for you,
if, on your first menstrual day your mother had given you
a bouquet of flowers and taken you to lunch
and then the two of you had gone
to meet your father at the jeweller,
where your ears were pierced,
and your father bought you your first pair of earings,
and then you went with a few of your friends and your mother's friends to get your first lip colouring; and then you went, for the very first time, to the Women's Lodge,
to learn the Wisdom of the Women?
How might your life be different?" (From Circle of Stones - by Judith Duerk)
I can tell you about my first time, but there is not much to tell, I was so very young in grade 5 and it was a non-event rather dismissed, and I was told that I would have to start buying my own supplies. I imagine that this is what it would have been like for my mother(s). What was it like for my great great great grandmothers? I wonder.
I can tell you that when my daughter had her first cycle we celebrated in a quiet sweet way and I embraced her changing from the tender young girl into a blossoming growing woman. We had a loving talk about what the cycle signified.
So if there was harm, can begin you rewrite the story about what the cycles signify for you? Can you heal the wounded parts, the shame parts the tender parts? Can you watch the unfolding of your creative cycles, your un-filtered cycles, your mood/feeling cycles? Tracking your cycle is helpful. I used to draw a moon next to the date it started in old journals. Now I use an app on my phone.
Men you have cycles too...cave cycles, brave cycles, tender cycles, I know you know.
I want to know what your rhythms are, how you see the cycles of your month, and are you more tender at a full moon? Or more fierce. Notice.
Try the following yoga meditation and yoga sequence in your next flow, masculine or feminine and then write, write & write some more. See if you can connect with your body. Honour your body. Dance it, embrace it and learn to walk in all of it.
I have to slip this in as a caveat, and if you know me in person, or have been to class, it is never clear or concise what may blurt from my wise self either teaching or writing. "Life is like a box o chocolates, you never know what you are going to get" and so the saying goes. Caution ahead, tricky subject....trudge gently.
I've noticed something from the most recent journey down these uneven tracks of life, I've begun to embrace my cycles of writing, noticing that I do more writing, speaking my truth, dancing my body, creating projects and writing down the bones of ideas in my moon cycle. My knowingness cycle starts about ten days before flow and continues just day or two into my cycle. It's fascinating, and I've really begun to honour this beautiful rhythm my wise body has been nudging me to notice for quite some time.
Now some may cringe that I'm writing about - YES, menstruation. (I can hear some ooohhh, omgoodness is she really writing about "that"?) Did you look behind your shoulder to see if anyone is watching you read? Did you cringe? Did you notice something within yourself nod? Was there a judgement? A quickening? A quietness? A remembering? If your a man have you stopped reading all together and does the secret world of a woman's tempo need to remain in it's locked-and-hide-the-key-box? If you are a woman are you standing on the box with the key in your teeth? If you are past the cycle of luna, have you honoured the new rhythms your body is offering? Is there shame/joy/beauty/love/embarrassment? What do you FEEL in your body right now?
Be Curious.
Close your eyes and take a breath in, and notice. Just like my last post, notice breathing, stilling, thinking, judging, quieting, and the breath as it flows in and out of your body. Your wise and knowing body. Keep going........a few more breaths.....................
Then read:
"How might it have been different for you,
if, on your first menstrual day your mother had given you
a bouquet of flowers and taken you to lunch
and then the two of you had gone
to meet your father at the jeweller,
where your ears were pierced,
and your father bought you your first pair of earings,
and then you went with a few of your friends and your mother's friends to get your first lip colouring; and then you went, for the very first time, to the Women's Lodge,
to learn the Wisdom of the Women?
How might your life be different?" (From Circle of Stones - by Judith Duerk)
I can tell you about my first time, but there is not much to tell, I was so very young in grade 5 and it was a non-event rather dismissed, and I was told that I would have to start buying my own supplies. I imagine that this is what it would have been like for my mother(s). What was it like for my great great great grandmothers? I wonder.
I can tell you that when my daughter had her first cycle we celebrated in a quiet sweet way and I embraced her changing from the tender young girl into a blossoming growing woman. We had a loving talk about what the cycle signified.
So if there was harm, can begin you rewrite the story about what the cycles signify for you? Can you heal the wounded parts, the shame parts the tender parts? Can you watch the unfolding of your creative cycles, your un-filtered cycles, your mood/feeling cycles? Tracking your cycle is helpful. I used to draw a moon next to the date it started in old journals. Now I use an app on my phone.
Men you have cycles too...cave cycles, brave cycles, tender cycles, I know you know.
I want to know what your rhythms are, how you see the cycles of your month, and are you more tender at a full moon? Or more fierce. Notice.
Try the following yoga meditation and yoga sequence in your next flow, masculine or feminine and then write, write & write some more. See if you can connect with your body. Honour your body. Dance it, embrace it and learn to walk in all of it.
Play with the movements, hold some postures that feel right for your body longer, stay with the moment to moment experience.
Meditation before or after Savasana : DON'T FORGET SAVASANA!!
Just for Now, without asking how, let yourself sink into stillness.
Just for now, lay down the weight you so patiently bear upon your shoulders.
Feel the earth receive you, and the infinite expanse of the sky grow even wider as your awareness reaches up to meet it.
Just for now, allow a wave of breath to enliven your experience. Breathe out whatever blocks you from the truth.
Just for now,be boundless, free, with awakened energy tingling in your hands and feet.
Drink in the possibility of being who and what you really are – so fully alive that the world looks different, newly born and vibrant, just for now. ~ Danna Faulds
Until my next cycle...be kind. be gentle. listen within.
Meditation before or after Savasana : DON'T FORGET SAVASANA!!
Just for Now, without asking how, let yourself sink into stillness.
Just for now, lay down the weight you so patiently bear upon your shoulders.
Feel the earth receive you, and the infinite expanse of the sky grow even wider as your awareness reaches up to meet it.
Just for now, allow a wave of breath to enliven your experience. Breathe out whatever blocks you from the truth.
Just for now,be boundless, free, with awakened energy tingling in your hands and feet.
Drink in the possibility of being who and what you really are – so fully alive that the world looks different, newly born and vibrant, just for now. ~ Danna Faulds
Until my next cycle...be kind. be gentle. listen within.
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