Have you ever tried to discipline yourself to a particular practice – morning meditation or yoga & just had so much trouble making it work. Life gets in the way, you’re busy, you put it off for a while and all of a sudden that intention just drops to the wayside and you find yourself checking your emails and cleaning the house, instead of spending some quality time with you?
I hear you! Navigating the discipline to show up and devote to yourself is a tricky line. Particularly when you’re a woman in a woman’s body. A body that is constantly changing. A body that’s designed to feel deeply, and to cycle through different phases.
Today we’re speaking about Feminine & Masculine Devotional Practices – what’s the difference between them is.
Living in a woman’s body means things are constantly changing.
Hormones, thoughts, emotions, circumstances. We’re juggling a million different things and as incarnations of the feminine, our bodies are designed to FEEL DEEPLY. Sometimes we’re not connected with that ability to feel, and we long for it. Sometimes we feel too much, so we try to switch it off.
Either way, the dynamic and cyclic nature of these bodies do make it challenging to stick to a regular devotional practice which I think we’ll all agree, is healthy for our sanity!
PLUS most of the traditional practices for self-care and personal devotion are masculine in their nature. Meaning their inherit fit with a woman’s body isn’t always the medicine we need.
Several years ago I sat for 10 days straight in meditation. I paused to eat and sleep, but for over 8 hours every day, I sat and meditated. I was one of the hardest things to do in my life. It challenged me like nothing else. And it was hugely beneficial. But it wasn’t natural to my body.
Returning to the real world I had these ideas I would be able to continue to do my meditation practice. But I just didn’t, I never found the time. Too much was happening, life was too busy.
This doesn’t surprise me. Because meditation, like most practices, is very structured in their approach. You need a specific period of time to practice. You need silence, a calm space away from the world.
And many of these practices also ask us to empty out of our emotions and feelings. To just drop the attachment to the drama playing out in your mind/body/life. To drop the intensity of feeling and desire that exists within you. It’s actually REALLY challenging for a woman to empty herself and just be EMPTY.
These 3 requirements – a practice with a rigid structure, emptying out and spending a specific period of quiet time – are awfully challenging for a cyclic, dynamic, feeling, busy woman to do! Yeah?
Which means, many of us find our personal practice fall by the wayside.
When really, what we need is a FEMININE devotional practice. A practice that is just as dynamic as we are. A practice that helps us to embrace & explore our inner emotions and feelings – which sometimes are chaotic.
A practice that isn’t structured. A practice that doesn’t require an empty, quiet household. A practice that isn’t going to take an hour. A practice that is as dynamic and cyclic as us.
This kind of Feminine Devotional practice is the medicine that has absolutely changed every single thing about my life.
At the heart of a feminine practice you’ll notice 3 key things:
- No structure – the structure of a feminine practice is not like the structure of a yoga class. Instead of having some time, instruct you how to move, you’re invited to find the internal sensitivity to let the body lead. This is incredibly important because it allows us to know ourselves, and to move how WE truly move.
- The second key aspect of a feminine practice is that it embraces feelings and emotions – the feminine is feeling. We have more emotions and sensations going on within our body that we often don’t know what to do with. A Feminine practice doesn’t ask you to ignore this critical dimension of yourself, it asks you to become more confident and skillful in navigating your internal universe, which is perhaps the greatest gift a woman can have
- The third key is that it can be done anywhere – students who do the Primal Feminine Flow movement practice tell me they do on their yoga mats, in bed, in the toilets at work, at meetings, on the bus, and everywhere in between. We women need something to support us in the in-between movements of busy life.
These modern feminine practices are for the modern women.
But there is one trick.
The challenge some women have with feminine processes is that – we have to be embodied.
It’s possible to move your body. And not be in your body.
It’s possible to dance. And not be feeling your dance.
Just like it’s possible to meditate. And not be in your body.
These kinds of dis-embodied ways of practicing ultimately don’t help much. Which is why we need to be aware of the key pillars to do our practice – whether it’s masculine or feminine – the embodied way.
If you’d love support in implementing an embodied feminine practice into your world check out Primal Feminine Flow at www.primalfeminineflow.com a practice that hundreds of our students from around the world using as a feminine tool of devotion.
And now I’d love to hear from you. What form does your self-devotion currently take? Or what are you excited to commit to. As always beautiful conversations blossom over in the comments here at www.jennaward.co
Leave us a note & explore the PFF practice.
Thank you so much for joining me. For more episodes like this make sure you sign up at www.jenanward.co and remember – the world needs more embodied women. You woman are so important and unique in the contribution that you make to your community, your clients, and the world.
