Practical solutions for people + planet
A Woman's Relationship to her Body
I was just listening to a workshop from the Bioneers 2007 Conference - Women Re-Imagining the World, moderated by our dear Akaya Winwood with some incredible panelists including Nina, Alice Walker, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Joanna Macy and Sarah Crowell (Wow! And it is an incredible workshop!) - and some of the discussion reminded me of our Women's Leadership Training. The question was regarding womens' relationships to their own bodies and to the animals.
I had such a profound experience when I gave birth to my daughter. I was at a crossroads in my career transitioning from highly analytic work to...I still didn't know. Then came the pregnancy. I KNEW what I wanted for that experience and was blessed enough that I got it. Moment of gratitude. I gave my child a drug free, totally natural entrance into this life. What I'd learned from EXCELLENT resources such as Birthing from Wiithin and the local doulas, midwives and ob's was that my body and my baby knew exactly how to give birth. All by themselves. No need for me to interfere. And I let them do the work and it was beautiful.
What a humbling experience to put the mind in the back seat and perform one of the two most mammalian acts a woman can perform - live childbirth. I never did feel more like an animal and it has humbled me by showing me in a most real fashion that I am animal, too. Not above animals in a heirarchy, but woven amongst them in a web.
The other revelation I had was that my power and my definition of who I am stem directly from being a woman. And one of the distinguishing characteristics of women is the unique ability to bear and nourish children, the feminine qualities of nurturing, connection and creation. I knew that in order to feel fulfilled, happy and effective I had to tap into those characteristics and tone down the masculine qualities that I'd been grooming all my life but which just didn't fit, not at the expensive of my beautiful femininity. They have a marvelous place side by side. My own personal patriarchy has perished, giving way to a more balanced me.
And I'm tickled pink about it!
I had such a profound experience when I gave birth to my daughter. I was at a crossroads in my career transitioning from highly analytic work to...I still didn't know. Then came the pregnancy. I KNEW what I wanted for that experience and was blessed enough that I got it. Moment of gratitude. I gave my child a drug free, totally natural entrance into this life. What I'd learned from EXCELLENT resources such as Birthing from Wiithin and the local doulas, midwives and ob's was that my body and my baby knew exactly how to give birth. All by themselves. No need for me to interfere. And I let them do the work and it was beautiful.What a humbling experience to put the mind in the back seat and perform one of the two most mammalian acts a woman can perform - live childbirth. I never did feel more like an animal and it has humbled me by showing me in a most real fashion that I am animal, too. Not above animals in a heirarchy, but woven amongst them in a web.
The other revelation I had was that my power and my definition of who I am stem directly from being a woman. And one of the distinguishing characteristics of women is the unique ability to bear and nourish children, the feminine qualities of nurturing, connection and creation. I knew that in order to feel fulfilled, happy and effective I had to tap into those characteristics and tone down the masculine qualities that I'd been grooming all my life but which just didn't fit, not at the expensive of my beautiful femininity. They have a marvelous place side by side. My own personal patriarchy has perished, giving way to a more balanced me.
And I'm tickled pink about it!
Tags: body, childbirth, feminine, women
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by juliana on -
For me it has been some time ago since i had my kids - both w/o drugs and with midwives; but i remember with the first one i read something from somewhere that i just repeated to myself over and over.....something to the effect that there was a monkey inside me that knows what to do if i can just stay out of her way. She was in there, and like you experienced Sue, she was ALL ANIMAL. It was extremely empowering to feel so fierce and strong and i emerged with a confidence that no person or situation could ever give or take away from me. For me, this sense of strength and courage became crucial later down the road when life demanded that i suck it up and survive tough times that threatened my ability to care for my kids. So seems like another example of intelligent evolutionary design for us oft confused humans.
The other really powerful experience i've had related to women's embodiment and our relationship to ourselves thru our bodies is when i was sent back to the country my father immigrated from for schooling. It was an amazingly normalizing experience to walk around and see masses of people with bodies and faces and physical attributes just like mine. Also, it was in the final years of life "behind the iron curtain" and there was NO advertizing, so no use/objectification of women's bodies and faces to sell stuff. I can't begin to descibe how liberating it was to just BE in my body and not be bombarded with idealized, airbrushed images of "perfect" women who looked nothing like me.
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Permalink Reply by Susie-Q on -
How powerful! I've often wondered if a trip to Ireland would do that for me. It would be great to be surrounded by pale-even-for-a-white-girl & freckled people for a while! And I just adore the bad teeth of my English relatives! Ahhh sounds like home!
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Permalink Reply by Jodi Medlar on -
I so enjoy reading what you have to say! Don't stop! I promise to contribute when I have something. You women are fabulous.
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Permalink Reply by Susie-Q on
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Check out Annie Leonard in Fierce Grace, another fabulous 2007 Bioneers Conference workshop. Her comments are right on with this discussion! I get the mother lioness things. Remember at our women's leadership training how I commented that I felt like a tiger?
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