Feminine Essence

Hello to all,

I was recently given a most wonderful birthday gift...a weekend at the Kripalu yoga center in the beautiful Berkshires. I had no idea what to expect. I checked in, put my things in the top bunk of the womens dorm room I was staying in, and zipped over to a gentle yoga class. As soon as I gave up all of the chatter in my mind and anxiety of actually getting there...I started to give in to the silence and flow of my breath. By the end of class I had already teared up....I remembered how important it is to give myself time for silence and breathing....something that seems so simple! After an amazing organic and vegetarian meal, the program I was signed up for called "Goddess to the Core" began. We talked about where women lost their core, their connection to self, to Mother earth, and to Spirit. We practiced moving energy from our core....the room was full of women ages 30-60 and only 2 of us were 25. We were all ecstatic when we found how easy it was to access the power from an area of our body that most women are completely disconnected from and that I certainly have neglected for most of my life. We even broke boards with old beliefs written on them....and every single woman did it...with lots of support from the cheering goddesses and powerful rhythms of the drums to help them channel their energy. My board read "I give away my power" with my new positive belief written on the back: "I OWN my power"....I lifted my foot, HAH'ed....and my board snapped in half like a piece of styrofoam. What a breakthrough!

Throughout the weekend, we laughed, we cried, we HAHed (loud!), we chanted, we took a hike in the pouring rain and I remembered how good it feels to lay down on the grass and just be with nature. Most importantly, we learned how to breath. I ended my weekend with a yoga dance class...AMAZING...a swim in the lake, and a walk through the labryinth....where I took a moment to admire the lesson of a butterfly....the symbol of transformation...a creature who has no choice but to change and evolve....who lives off of mother earth's leaf as a caterpillar and off of her sweet nectar after her shift into a new body.....who sees the earth from the perspective of an ant and then from the perspective of a bird.. I am reminded that when we surrender to our highest self, our butterfly within, we can reach new heights of awareness and see the world in a new light....releasing the old and bringing in the new gifts that now have room to manifest in our lives. The feminine essence is all of these things to me.....acceptance, transformation, commitment, beauty, wisdom, grace, balance.

I thank my Jersey 5 family for sending me to such a life-changing event...I thank Kripalu for providing an empowering and restorative environment...I thank Sierra Bender for creating and birthing her book and workshop, "Goddess to the Core"...I thank Mother Earth and Father Sky for providing me with all that I could ever ask for...and I thank my own intuition for always following the path that feels right...even when my mind can't make any sense of it!

Namaste, Blessings of peace and love,
Feather