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{"id":388,"date":"2012-05-29T16:06:57","date_gmt":"2012-05-29T16:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedivinefeminine\/?p=388"},"modified":"2012-05-30T17:08:33","modified_gmt":"2012-05-30T17:08:33","slug":"it%e2%80%99s-all-about-the-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedivinefeminine\/2012\/05\/it%e2%80%99s-all-about-the-body\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s all about the body"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Laura Paskell-Brown <\/strong>is a PhD student and teacher in New York city. She runs a circle for her young female students, to help them get in touch with their own intuition, their bodies and the leaders inside of them all. She is also on the Young Leaders Council of Women of Spirit and Faith<\/a>.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

This morning the voice in my head screamed: \u201cPick up the phone stupid. You should<\/strong> because she\u2019s your friend and she needs you. You\u2019re a bad friend if you don\u2019t!\u201d \u00a0My body just says \u201cno.\u201d\u00a0 She says it gently. I could easily miss it, if I wasn\u2019t listening. \u00a0She knows I must give from my abundance and not from my core. \u00a0She is right of course.<\/p>\n

Yesterday head-voice bellowed: \u201cYou need<\/strong> to work eight hours today because that\u2019s what people do. If you don\u2019t, you\u2019re lazy!\u201d \u00a0My body was not so silent this time. \u00a0She moans loudly, almost audibly, to tell me she\u2019s tired. \u00a0She asks me to ask head-voice what purpose will be served by this nose-to-the-grindstone mentality.\u00a0 Head-voice is angry but has no real response.<\/p>\n

The \u201cYogi\u201d tea that I drink daily comes with a little message lovingly attached to each teabag. \u00a0The one I keep getting over and over at the moment says: \u201cDevelop your intuition\u201d. \u00a0Sitting in the room at the Women of Sprit and Faith<\/strong> retreat I suddenly knew that my intuition could not be further developed until I learned to listen to my body.<\/p>\n

My history of ignoring \u201cbody\u201d has been a long one. \u00a0As a teenager I didn\u2019t know that the feeling I often felt was thirst \u2013 it had to be pointed out to me. \u00a0As a young woman I put myself on the pill and \u2013 just as humans use umbrellas and indoor shelters to hide from the elements \u2013 I was disconnected from the ebb and flow of my own seasons. \u00a0The irony was that my desire for sexual liberation cut me off from the very thing that could give it to me: connection to my own body. \u00a0The pursuit of freedom led me to its opposite.<\/p>\n

On day two of the retreat I felt mental anguish. This was not new; now that I meditate daily I am well acquainted with these obsessive and painful thought patterns. \u00a0But there was a new awareness: the bodily sensations that accompanied these thoughts. \u00a0I felt a jamming in my blood, as if my veins had become an LA highway at rush hour, filled with road raging motorists. I wanted to scream. My throat was tight. My muscles achy. \u00a0I could not free myself from this.<\/p>\n

Thankfully a seasoned leader heard my silent scream. \u00a0She said \u201cEverybody out of the room. We\u2019re going to the river.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0Standing in front of the water she told me to express what wanted to be said. \u00a0As I screamed body\u2019s feelings into the river I became more free. \u00a0This was not articulation for the purpose of clarity, but of freedom. Pure and simple.<\/p>\n

I learned that day: \u201cbody\u201d needs to be listened to if I am to become the woman who will lead others to do the same. \u00a0This is a matter of life and death for \u201cbody\u201d and for the planet She walks upon.\u00a0And She knows it. Even when head-voice is too busy or angry to notice.<\/p>\n

After the water ceremony we returned to the same room and \u201cbody\u201d relaxed into it. \u00a0She said: \u201cYes. You can rest your bones here for a while. You are safe. You are free.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing I know for sure after the WSF retreat is\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026it\u2019s all about the body.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"