Some of you may have read my post awhile back about Warrior Moments. What that really came down to, for me, is this…I hate bullying. In any form, really. I hate it when it's blatant and in your face. I also hate it when it's passive, such as not allowing people to be who they are, or to make their own decisions in their time, in their heart-space. I've known how to stand up for others being bullied since I was a young child. My grandmother who has too many years passed away now was the main why so that I learned how to stand up for others. I stood up for her whenever I had to, which was unfortunate for both of us but our roles to play at the time. I'm eternally grateful to have had her in my life and grateful for those lessons that I learned.
Standing up for myself in big ways but mostly the small ways that add up, has been a lifelong process that yoga has really helped me to dig down and find with an even greater ferocity. I think that we all can relate to that, though. Getting somewhere and then thinking, wait…how did I get here? Oh, because I compromised here and here…and here. Yoga has helped me define who I am and what I stand for with an even greater clarity. Trust me, it's still an ongoing process and I'm getting there but at least I have a roadmap now. Yoga can help anyone do this because of the beautiful way that it brings you into your body, into this moment, into this breath bringing you face to face with yourself.
What do I believe in? So much. But for the sake of this conversation... I believe in women's rights. I believe in women feeling strong and empowered and able to make their own choices. I believe in women's beauty and right to express that however they see fit. I believe women are more than capable and intelligent and have an important voice that should be heard loud and clear. I'm a human rights proponent period; men, women and children all valued and loved equally as human beings. But I'm very passionate about women right now, in particular, and their journey to find their voices and their particular version of power because many of us have been outside of our true power for a long time.
A woman's power is not generally rough like a man's but strong as steel and certainly can withstand the test of time. We are masters of time, masters of waiting, masters of holding our tongue until the time is ripe like a well hung fruit. No one knows how to sit with time, it seems to me, like a woman. This might be because of the history of things. Waiting for men to come home from war, from a business trip, waiting for our child to get better as we stay up all night beside their bed, sick with worry. Waiting to be noticed, to be forgotten, to be spoken to. And sometimes, we need to let go of the waiting and just go for it. Whatever IT is. And let our power find new edges.
We seem to be afraid of our own strength often and maybe that's because we've been told that it's not ladylike. I see my beautiful friends who are like lionesses should anything happen to someone they love but afraid to stand up for themselves or be seen in the spotlight. I heard a quote the other day that said something like, the difference between fear and excitement is that during one you hold your breath. They are the same thing. We need to turn that fear into an invitation to wade into the darkness and depth of the swamp with excitement and discovery as our flashlight into the night.
We are lionesses. We are goddesses. Our men are the ones we choose and we choose strong men who are capable of loving us whole, our weak and our strong parts. Our ready and our waiting. Our beautiful and our ugly. Our thick and gnarly scabbed and our raw sections of skin glowing with vulnerability. Because all of this encompasses our particular brand of beauty.
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