Know Thy Self
Journey with the Greek Goddesses
What does it mean to be a woman?
A very timely question! We are part of a society and a time that is slowly moving towards gender neutrality; a life without explicit differences or polarities. The soul has no gender and the call of the younger generation is to be seen as deeply knowing and feeling human beings.”You are not having a spiritual experience, you are a spirit having a human experience,” said Yogi Bhajan.
And at the same time, men and women are very different. Not just the ‘mechanical’ differences like breasts, uterus, hormonal balance, metabolism, and much more. Socially and emotionally too, there are quite a few differences. We all think we have quite an image of what is ‘feminine’ but this image changes according to the time and culture we live in.
With this six-part yoga program, I wanted to provide an inspiration for how we experience our own womanhood. You don’t have to be a primal mother like Demeter to be a woman. Nor do you have to go through life as sensual lusty Aphrodite to feel feminine. Women are incredibly diverse and extremely beautiful and feminine in their individuality.
The similarities are sometimes hard to discern in that wide colour palette. But one thing is clear. That we are sensual, sensitive, sexual and spiritual beings.
A number of sources have inspired me in this programme. Should you want to know more, I recommend you follow these links and do your own research.
– Book – The Goddess Within – Jennifer and Roger Woolger
– Documentary on the persecution of witches – Burning Times
– Documentary on archaeologist Marija Gimbutas – Signs out of Times
– Documentary on herbalist and Artemisia goddess Juliette de Bairacli Levy
– Podcast on the womb ’28ish days’ by BBC reporter India Rakusen
– Book with eastern take on female yoga Yoni Shakti – Uma Dinsmore-Tuli