Saturating in Feminine Beauty

Posted: October 24, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Beauty, Body Image, Feminine Power, Feminism, Movement, Objectification/Sexualization, Pleasure, Woman, Woman's Bodies | Tags: , , , , | 40 Comments


When women come together
Their bodies can reverberate
Creating a rich stew
Of yummy nourishment
And sisterhood

La Dance by Matisse http://tinyurl.com/o754yzv (wikimedia commons)

I’m floating in a warm pool surrounded by women. Eyes are closed. Hands gently lap the water. Movements are languid, barely making ripples. One woman sits underwater, as if suspended. Above the surface, her breath rises, forming bubbles.

We look like we are hibernating, which in a way we are. This is, after all, a retreat.

It’s just us ladies, so no pressure to pull in one’s tummy to create the illusion of flatness. No need to wear oversize t-shirts to hide soft upper arms or round thighs or skinny hips. No need to walk sexy or look hot. Each of us is resting, saturating in what it feels like to fully inhabit our own skin. We are hiding nothing.

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The Womb as Navigator, Executive Advisor, and Source of Feminine Power  

Posted: August 19, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Body, Female Power, Feminine Power, Feminism, Womb | Tags: , , , , , , | 49 Comments

I love to drop into my womb. I first learned about this practice when I started studying The Tantric Dance of Feminine Power™ over ten years ago. “Drop into your womb” is one of the instructions the teacher gives you before you can dance.

As someone who was used to connecting to my body from the outside-in—usually secondhand through the male gaze—I’d never thought to connect to my body from inside of myself, let alone to my womb of all places.

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What Lives in the Female Belly

Posted: July 15, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Belly, Body, Creativity, Feminine Power, Feminism, Woman | Tags: , , , , , , , | 71 Comments

I decided to name my blog “Stories from the Belly” for a few reasons. The first was that I wanted to tell the kinds of stories about being a woman that aren’t often shared out loud—true tales that might feel too shameful or painful or embarassing to tell anyone. Instead, a woman might store these stories deep within, locking them inside her body and forgetting they are even there.

I’d buried these types of stories in my belly for years. I didn’t even know that’s where I put them until I took a writing class with poet Jack Grapes more than ten years ago. Jack teaches students how to access the memories that we’ve buried in our gut, right in the belly.

I grew up having very strong feelings about this part of my body. My belly, like the earth, has always been round, never flat. Even when I’ve placed myself on a restrictive diet or felt motivated enough to work out five times a week, my belly is full and soft.

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