The M word...

It seems that even in the XXI century women are still scared of the word menstruation. What is it with this word that every time we say it our voice goes soft and we end up whispering as if we were talking about something really awful?

This post comes after going to the Mind Body Spirit festival last weekend as Alexandra Pope and Sjanie Hugo where talking about menstruation and spirituality. I went there to support them and to help spread the word, talk about their coming workshops and books.

Hearing Alexandra and Sjanie talk about menstruation to a group of women was a really inspiring experience for me. I just finished my apprenticeship program with Alexandra so I saw this talk in a completely different way. So many ideas started popping up into my head about how can I approach this work in my own practice and the things I could offer to women.

It is amazing how still many women out there have no idea about their cycles and do not understand they could be working with them rather than against them. The sad thing about all of this is that the most common reaction when we hear the word menstruation is the idea that a women is in bed suffering with pain but we never think about menstruation in a positive way and we certainly don’t attribute spiritual connotations to it.  

The Mind Body Spirit festival is supposed to offer spiritual work but it doesn’t really offer deep radical work. Most things offered can be found in your main high street, book store, crystal shop, etc. but nothing as radical as menstrual work or cycle awareness. So it is amazing how the word menstruation on a well know event like the Mind Body Spirit where supposedly people are more open to this kind of things are still shocked when they hear menstruation and spirituality in the same sentence.

But I have hope just as much as Alexandra and Sjanie and many other women who are doing wonderful work on the lines of menstruation and women’s spirituality. I believe the more women start reconnecting with themselves and finding out the true meaning of their womanhood this work will start popping up in every high street. So let’s keep holding this vision together, let’s keep spreading the word.

And let’s say it one more time for those of you who are still a bit shy….

MENSTRUATION!!!

Wishcasting Wednesday!

I have joined Wishcasting Wednesday by Jamie Ridler Studios after seeing it at Jo’s blog and many other lovely blogs I enjoy reading and getting inspiration from. 

So here I am sitting in front of my desk thinking about this first wish: What do you wish to delight in?

The first thing that comes to mind is the fact I wish I had more time to delight in a morning practice, think about my dreams, write them down, do my daily meditations, smile and get ready to start my day!

I can see this happening very soon since I won’t have a full time job anymore and so this means more time in the morning to delight in a morning ritual which can set my day. I can’t wait for this job to end so I can start a new life, it feels scary but I just feel new things are coming my way! 

What about you, what do you wish to delight in? 

Belinda x 

Womb Blessing

Womb Blessing training workshop in London

It's already been twelve days since I took the Womb Blessing Training workshop and I feel the energies are still working through me. I feel the initiation/blessing has served as a firmer validation of who I am and my path, although there is still a lot to be done.  

The Womb Blessing training workshop was a very powerful, emotional and beautiful experience and it was lovely to finally meet Miranda Gray as we had been speaking about organizing something together for quiet sometime.

We are now 14 Moon Mothers in England which you will be able to contact for one on one Womb Blessings and Womb Healings. It was a real blessing meeting women from all over the country who are already doing some kind of work in the areas of sacred sexuality, menstrual work, rites of passage, Reiki, herbalism, family constellations, energy work, Divine Feminine, etc.

In our new role as Moon Mothers we will be helping Miranda during the next Distant Womb Blessing which I feel it’s going to be wonderful experience, not only because we are more women this time but because we might feel a stronger energy, who knows!

I really hope the number of Moon Mothers around the globe keeps growing as the more we are the more we will be able to help on distant blessings as well as on individual sessions, which only means we will be able to acompany more and more women on their journey.

As from yesterday we were 13,000 women registered for the Free Distant Womb Blessing. However, it seems women from the US and Canada are not very much involved, so if you are reading this and you are from this part of the world, please come and join us!

If you still don’t know what the Womb Blessing is, you can read about it here, and if you decide you want to join us just remember to register before the 3rd of May as registrations close that day.  

The Womb Blessing is a women only event, so why not gather with your best friends, family members and create your own circle of women. If you are in doubt about whether you should take part, just head over here, where you will be able to read what other women have been asking.  

I really hope you can join us!

Belinda, Moon Mother x

Having successful conversations about periods

It has been quite an intense few weeks but I’m really happy to be back with a guest post from a lovely friend and fellow student at Alexandra Pope’s apprenticeship program.

Jo Macdonald is the owner of The Red Box Company, an online shop that offers beautifully wrapped boxes full of essentials for a girls first moon. 

But Jo is not only making periods a positive experience by selling her products, she is also running A celebration day for girls, a workshop where she helps mums and daughters deepen their connection by opening to a subject that most mums and girls alike feel very anxious about.

I invite you to have a look at Jo's website and to find out more check her blog The Red Lifestyle where she post on a regular basis about periods, puberty, PMS and much more! 

Thank you Jo for sharing these wise words ♥

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In her amazing book A Blessing not a Curse Jane Bennett tells the true story of ‘a girl who had no knowledge of menstruation when she first started to bleed.  She felt utterly devastated and alone.  Having no-one she felt she could confide in, she committed suicide.’    

As a woman and a mother I find this story heart-breaking.  I’m sure you do too.  So many of us worry about how to talk to our daughter’s about periods, what to say, when to say it etc.  We can go round and round in circles worrying about it and forget that the only thing that actually matters is SAYING SOMETHING.  It doesn’t matter if you get it all right, it just matters that you START THE CONVERSATION. 

Girls who feel prepared and positive about their periods are more likely to:

~ have a more positive view of their body and self as a female

~ have a closer relationship with their family

~ delay first sexual experiences

~ suffer less with menstrual issues such as PMS

~ have an easier time during pregnancy and labour later on in life

Here are some of my top tips for having a successful conversation about periods and puberty with your daughter:

1            Puberty can start as young as 7/8 so the earlier you start preparing your daughter for the changes ahead the better it will be.  Age-appropriate conversations about growing-up and body changes set the foundation for a healthy respect and understanding of the changes ahead.  If your daughter is older, don’t feel as though you’ve ‘left it too late so why bother’ – it is never too late to help your daughter feel positive about periods and puberty.   

2            ‘Do as I say and not as I do’ just doesn’t cut it with periods.  Your daughter needs to see that you have a healthy relationship with your own menstrual cycle, or are at least working towards one.   Remember to use positive language.  If you refer to periods as ‘the curse’ or a ‘real drag’ you will be setting her up for a lifetime of menstrual problems as well as a negative image of her own body.  She needs to understand that menstruation is a normal and powerful part of being a woman so she can feel powerful in herself and respect her femininity.

3            Remember that your daughter is new to menstruation and needs as much information as possible.  Don’t assume that all of this will get covered in school.  Grab some books to read together, look on the internet, talk to others and check out all the different choices available when it comes to menstrual products.

4            If she doesn’t want to talk about periods then leave it for a while but do make sure you come back to the topic again as she will take on board the information you give her – even if it is drip-fed and she doesn’t say thanks!

For more information on successful conversations you can download my free book 7 top tips for talking to your daughter about periods and puberty

Your daughter only gets her first period once but will continue to menstruate for around 35 years.  It’s worth taking the time to make sure it is a positive experience and that her menstrual cycle becomes a positive, empowering part of her life not a curse.

For more information you can visit my website www.theredboxcompany.com    

     

Consciously celebrating your pregnancy

 

I feel truly lucky to be part of different online women groups as it gives me the opportunity to meet wonderful women from all over the world. Women who are willing to share their path with other sisters so openly…so, today I have a beautiful guest from Germany and I am so excited about it!!!  

She is a beautiful goddess, mama, doula and a holistic pregnancy and birth coach who runs a website called Happy Within where she guides mamas-to-be worldwide to an extraordinary, powerful, life changing pregnancy and birth initiation. She is the beautiful Nora Amala Bugdoll or Nora for friends like you and me!

When I asked Nora if she would be willing to be my guest she immediately said YES! I felt so blessed by her email, her words and when I finally received her creations, I was so astounded at the beauty of her writing and her painting!

Nora talks on a regular basis about pregnancy and the spiritual transformation that comes with it. I get asked many times about this topic on email and facebook, and I could tell you what I know about it from an intellectual point of view but I haven’t gone through it myself so I am not the best person to talk about it but Nora is. So, make yourself comfortable, grab a cup of green tea, relax and enjoy Nora’s words from her womb to us…

~♥~

When you are a woman who is conscious about the power that lies in her blood cycle, you won´t give up your body-soul-power entering a pregnancy. But mainstream pregnancy literature has nothing to say in this direction. So I am glad to share some insights and starting points today with you.

Our monthly blood is our body-connection to earth and part of our female wisdom. That's how it was seen in non-patriarchal cultures and how some of us decided to see it again. So when a woman does not give back her wise blood to earth but keeps it inside, she is growing a baby out of it, or otherwise keep it in her body and become a wise elder. This is biologically not true but its a really precise and empowering metaphor. So the woman is using her divine power to co-create this baby.

Pregnancy and Birth are a powerful initiation for your entire life and it will get more positive-powerful the more you are aware of it, although it will affect your entire life wether you like it or not and not only because you then will have a precious child but also because the way you will experience this transformation.

Modern society doesn’t encourage us to experience pregnancy from a point of personal power and responsibility, the opposite is true. But you can do it anyway – a path that will probably lead you more towards natural birth, breastfeeding, attachment parenting – your heart can guide you in these topics and if this isn’t you that´s fine too. Just stay in your own power, entering this new phase of your life. And this will be challenging enough, because everything changes. Literally every part of your body is affected and will change as well as your mind and psyche does and your baby does while growing inside your womb.

As the thread of consistency (in my mother tongue we call this the red(!) thread) in your pregnancy journey to connect with that strength you can use ritual and self-exploring through writing and drawing combined with connection which is a way to celebrate your path.

For that reason it is very helpful if you set up a pregnancy altar or a pregnancy corner. This can be a space that is dedicated to your own woman-power in general – to which pregnancy and birth are a part of. This corner or altar is there to help you remembering the power in you and reconnecting to it. You can add every touching positive empowering picture or everything that directly refers to pregnancy and birth from a point of women wisdom.

To be able to feel the connection and power during the ups and downs of pregnancy you will find it extremely helpful to deeply connect with other women. And if you connect from heart with other pregnant women or mothers you respect, you will feel probably more nourished and fulfilled as this is a connection every pregnant women at some level longs for. This is really helping your psyche in the transformation process if it is a woman-circle not only a fear- and comparing-centred chat with others. You can find this kind of experience in general spiritual women circles, in red tent gatherings and birth art cafe gatherings as well as in my virtual birthcircle.

A simple ritual you can do alone, as well as with a friend or a professional, is painting your belly. How about trying this out even if you still have your normal size belly. Just create a little self-love ritual around it, nourishing your senses: light some candles, play some music, maybe burn an incense  and embellish your belly with doodles and patterns. This powerful temple of life.

Later in pregnancy you for sure can´t wait to do this when your belly is rounded :) You really honour and cherish your body every time you are doing this.

And this is only the beginning. Get yourself a blank book or booklet and start a pregnancy journal. But the important things are not how much weight you gained and what symptoms you feel – although you can note this too. The important things are your feelings. Your sorrows, fears, thoughts. Take them seriously and write them down. This encourages your own wisdom, to show up and lead you to own insights for feeling better.

These are the simple steps to start experiencing a new and  life changing dimension of your pregnancy.

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If you want to learn more, visit Happy Within and join Nora's online birthcircle!

Happy International Women's Day!

Today we have a double celebration, yeee!!! International Women’s Day and Full Moon in Virgo!!!

Congratulations to all of us, to the women who read this blog and the ones who don’t, the ones I know personally and the ones I don’t too.

What does this day mean to you? What does it mean to be a woman? How do you celebrate it? How do you value your feminine spirit? And what are your own relationships with women like?

Today I ask myself how we can expand this feeling of love, happiness and sisterhood to the remaining 364 days of the year. How can we bring this feeling to the sisters we don’t know? To the woman we find on the road, on the bus, in the supermarket, in the queue to the cash point, in the office?  

Living in a masculine world has created and unhealthy competition among women, plenty times we are full of prejudices, jealousy and envy towards our sisters. Today, I want us to reflect on the sister who makes us feel like this and think of her as you, see your own reflection in her. We are all mirrors, so take a good look at yourself! She has the same body, the same ideas, the same fears. Help her, hold her, understand her, have compassion towards her, she is your own feminine spirit that yearns and looks for validation.   

Today we can change this idea and celebrate us, dance together as one. Let’s carry this feeling of sisterhood to other circles and not isolate ourselves in a small circle where we feel safe and comfortable. Let’s get out there and explore, because I assure you, that in that place where you weren’t looking you will find another women yearning for the same things than you do.

In the book The Double Goddess, Vicky Noble talks about the feminine duality and how this imagery of the double Goddesses can represent the two opposite sides of our cycle. One represents menstruation and the other one ovulation. This is exactly what I would love us to notice when we meet another sister, another Goddess. We could very well be in opposite sides of the cycle, however we are part of the same cycle, we are one.   

Today we have a full moon in Virgo, an earth sign and a feminine sign! This moon asks us to take action, to reap what we have sown, to leave once and for all the things that no longer serve us and are not align with our true life purpose. In the old days Virgo was related to

Ishtar, Innana and Demeter so we can say that these three goddess represent the Trinity so what else can we ask for in this day!  

Today is time to take firmer steps towards our goals, steps that will require thinking and planning. Virgo makes things tangible and the full moon is always a time of celebration, of action, revelation and inspiration. Wait for that wonderful idea; reap your dreams y see the positive results that this day can bring into your life.

I wish love in your hearts today and every day and don't forget to smile to that strange woman as she walks past!

Much love x

Belinda

Womb Blessing training workshop in London

Today I am really excited as I can finally tell you what has been cooking for the last month :)

For those of you who participated in the Womb Blessing last February would probably know more about what I am about to tell you. For those of you who don’t know yet about the Womb Blessing, here it is Miranda’s explanation about what it is:

‘This Womb Blessing attunement is a simple gift - a gift to every woman of any age and experience who would like to receive it - of energy to bring healing to our femininity, to our womb and its cycle, to our creativity and fertility, to our sexuality and spirituality.

The attunement restores our natural purity and beauty, abundance and love, creativity and magic, and our wisdom and strength. It frees us from the past, from limiting expectations, and guilt and hurt, and releases the soul-felt joy and expression of women's power and beauty. It is a beautiful blessing and restoration of light for women's souls in a harsh and masculine world.’

The 1st Womb Blessing last February given by Miranda Gray had an amazing participation of over 6,000 women around the planet!

The day of the blessing was an amazing day, it was so beautiful and sunny during the day and we had the most amazing silver full moon that night. The attunement to the blessing caused many women to feel joy and positive changes in their lives which prompted them to ask more about this beautiful energy work. How they could learn it or how could they pass it into other women.

2012 is the year of the feminine; we are feeling the feminine more than ever and this energy is grounding us deeply into mamma earth. For those of you who have been doing this kind of work for quite some time, 2012 feels like a firmer step towards who you are. For women who are new to this work, this year feels like a true awakening, they feel a sudden urge to change the old patters and express their natural femininity.

Whatever you are in your life, we all need this energy, we all need to come back to our pure essence, we need to heal personal and collective pain and we need to share our awakening and love with other women so we can all heal. Miranda’s role in the Womb Blessing is to be a channel of the Divine Feminine energy and with this Womb Blessing Training workshop, she hopes to pass this onto other women so we can all spread this beautiful loving energy onto more and more women.

It's beacuse of this that Miranda feels it is important to pass this energy and spread the blessing by teaching other women how to be the channels themselves and spread this healing onto more wombs.

The training workshop is a two day workshop where you will learn:

·         give a Womb Healing

·         give the Womb Blessing

·         teach women a simple self-healing technique

·         share with women the Womb Blessing meditation

You will also receive a ‘Moon Mother’ initiation / attunement on the first day which is a gift of the Divine Feminine energies and will make you a channel for this energy and vibration, helping you to cleanse your own patterns. You will be taught how to give a hands-on Womb Blessing to help women gently heal their femininity and their womb energy centre or ‘Sacred Grail’.

After the two day training workshop you will be a registered Moon Mother which means you will be able to give Womb Healing and Womb Blessings.

‘Working with the Womb Blessing energies changes us and changes our lives. Being a ‘Moon Mother’ is a path for bringing the spiritual energies of the Divine Feminine into everyday life and connecting women in a single, loving, spiritual, and female family.’

The training workshop is open to all women of all ages, with a womb or without, with a cycle or without, with a medically managed cycle or a natural cycle. However, it is not recommended if you are pregnant.

I am pleased to announce Miranda's first Womb Blessing training workshop will be in London

When: 14 & 15th April

Where: Tara Yoga Centre, 25 - 31 Ironmonger Row, London, EC1V 3QW (10 mins. from Old Street)

Price: £200 or get the early bird price £180 before the 7th of April.

For bookings and checking availability please email miranda.gray@footmark.com

For enquiries you can contact me on belinda.garciareyes@gmail.com or on 07758 160191

Miranda is planning more Womb Blessing Training Workshops around the country and around Europe, so please check her website for more information.

I hope to see you there!
With love
Belinda