Vagina Dialogues
Affirming and Celebrating Female Anatomy!

for any woman searching for a connection between her sensuality and creative expression…a freeing and energizing experience …a satisfying connection with the water and paint to the flow of water and blood through our own bodies. Tracy, Cornell graduate

Take this workshop to learn how to listen to body wisdom and accelerate healing. This is a workshop for women to reconnect with the "yoni." "Yoni" is an ancient Sanskrit word that expresses the magic and mystery of the vulva, the vagina, the clitoris (and its 18 parts!), and the uterus as a "gateway" into and out of the spirit world. Yoni is an ancient global and spiritual concept that reveres the power of a woman's sensuality, sexuality, and creativity.

Many women have pelvic health issues and, as a result, creativity, dance, humor, and vocal expression may be shut down. This workshop is specifically for women who want to affirm, reconnect, and celebrate their female anatomy through a fun medium of watercolor painting. You will be given basic watercolor instruction and yogic support to allow your inner expression to bypass the inner critic.

This workshop was inspired by the revolutionary feminist/artist Judy Chicago, who was inspired by Georgia O'Keefe and was the first to portray the vulva as flowers, butterflies, caves, and seashells. I painted the "yoni flower" to the far right above. It is the second watercolor I ever painted, and I call it "Mother Birthing Daughter." When I envisioned this painting in February 2004, it was to illustrate how mothers can pass on yoni healing to their daughters, and in particular, I wanted to honor my daughter. I did not know that this workshop would also be born from my painting process.

Using the medium of water, the element of the second chakra (creative/sexual energy center), you will explore your conscious and unconscious issues that live there through your painting process. You may be surprised what you find and what you resolve!!! Painting your yoni as a flower is a beautiful and powerful way to celebrate, honor, and make peace with your yoni issues.

Fairies & Yoni Flowers
for Teens/PreTeen Girls
For teens I modify and adapt this workshop to introduce the yoni through the concept of fairies (or pixies, the precise name for beings who are guardians of the flowers in the classification of Magical Beings, so my son informs me). In this workshop for girls, we craft pixies out of pipecleaners, yarn, and fake flower petals. We discuss the biology and healing potential of plants and their flowers through traditional and alternative medicines such as flower essences and homeopathy. We explore goddess heritage and the variety of goddesses from around the world and what they have to offer girls and feminists in the 21st century. If there is time, each girl will watercolor paint a self-empowerment image of herself as emerging goddess. All girls who participate receive a copy of a pamphlet called Love Your Body and Your Yoni Too: A Guide for Girls Becoming Women. All teen workshop materials are available for parental preview.

The
Soul Mission
Tools to Manifest your Dreams

The very thing that you love the most, the very thing that would make you soooo excited and soooo happy that it would seem too good to be true, is the very thing that the Divine has for you to do within this life! from “The Heart of Interview with an Angel,” by Stevan J. Thayer and Linda Sue Nathanson

Why are you here? What is your soul purpose? What do you want to happen to feel fulfilled in this lifetime? What is the art of being and allowing? Clearing the chakras helps clarify and manifest your soul purpose. In this workshop, we will spend the first hour talking about the chakras, how they work, how they get blocked, things you can do to clear them.

Looking at the 4,000 year old story of the Sumerian Goddess Inanna, we can find strength, courage, and inspiration from the story of her descent to the Underworld, which is not unlike the search for Self. To really know, honor, and respect oneself, we must go within to know, accept, and bring light to the darkness and wounds within (self-hatred, self-pity, neediness, lack of self-worth, unresolved anger or resentment, grudges, feelings of powerlessness, shame, heartache, fear of being hurt again, ...)

In this workshop, we will begin a process of self-exploration and envisioning. We will practice self-awareness to identify emotional blocks, resistance, and negative messages that block us from creating what we want to attract and manifest in our lives. We will explore some of the ideas that come from Rick Jarow and Abraham Hicks (the "Art of Allowing"). We will make a collage to focus on an area of our life (career, lifestyle, relationships,…) that we want to transform, improve, or manifest. Creating a collage, clarifying what we want, setting feasible goals, and focus are useful tools for making our dreams come true.

SOUL MISSION BACKGROUND INFO

Download or print the following:
*Yoga of the Mind
*Innana & Soul Mission Concepts
*Life Mission & Vision Homework

Beyond Belly Dancing for the Sacred Priestess in You

Finding the sacred feminine within is simply a matter of becoming conscious of and honoring ALL that is feminine within you. This class can open and transform your dancing. We begin with a yoga class to open the hips and an invocation of goddess energy through a sacred priestess dance I perform. Learn belly dancing basics, yoga basics, pelvic health tips, chakra awareness, claiming and using space, how to work with different chakra energies, how to discern authentic movement from fear, how to stay present, how to connect to a dance partner, and how to unfold your divinity through dance so that your dance is a meditation. Explore your sensuality and creative expression UNINHIBITED in this safe and sacred space of women and get a glimpse of the priestess within you. I also integrate the ideas of Gabriella Roth (flow, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness) who teaches that dance is a prayer.