Vagina Biography by Naomi Wolf

At last a mainstream author Naomi Wolf, who wrote The Beauty Myth twenty years ago, has written about the yoni and its central place in women's sense of identity, power and creativity. Gradually some of my work in tantra and bodywork is coming in from the margins! I first learnt yoni healing on my  extended tantra training in 1996. Since then, neuroscience has advanced so much that we can now begin to understand why this work is so powerful.

Of course, it is resisted. Naomi's new book was called "dotty" by a reviewer in The Observer. There is a huge resistance to any biological level explanations for everything; fearing that people are being put in to boxes and restricted. Tantra is clear that the masculine and feminine are radically different; but complementary and any one individual can have a mixture of both (never mind intersexual and all the different sexualites that exist). Tantra is also clear that the feminine is the active principle of creation; all of life and all abundance comes from her and the only true response to that, is one of honouring and worship.

Unfortunately, the yoni; or rather a woman's relationship; to it, to her sexuality and to her body, are fragile - particularly in puberty and therefore easily damaged by guilt, shame and fear from parents and society and the media's crazy and confusing depictions of women. Plus of course the overt sexual abuse that comes the way of a significant proportion of girls and young women.

Neuroscience has helped to clarify how trauma gets embedded in the body and some of important but hidden connections. For example did you know that you have more serotonin receptors in the belly than the brain? The vagus nerve, an ancient system separate from the spinal column nerves connects the primitive brainstem to the heart, to the belly and then in women, to the  cervix. Head, Heart, Belly and Sex really are connected.

The book looks at tantric massage as sexual healing and give her experiences of sessions. It connect this to history, mythology, neuroscience and to society.  So, huge congratulations to Naomi, who, through the accident of her particular neurological condition came to give her attention to her body in a new way and ask some questions that science and tantra can answer. The yoni and the belly, the creative second and third chakras are the keys to creativity and power for women. I have been doing this work for over 15 years; now it is coming in from the dark. For sessions see www.shivoham.asia .     Namaste.

New Moon and the start of Navaratri - Celebrate Shakti in all her forms!

Today is the start of Navaratri, a ten day festival to celebrate the feminine, Shakti and the forms of her wisdom and virtue in our lives.  It starts with the goddess Durga which can be seen as a form of Kali who destroys impurities and things that no longer serve us.
For the first three days you can meditate on this or perform pujas connected to Durga.  She is often seen as fierce and has weapons like  bow and arrow and spear riding on a tiger to ruthlessly seek out what is not serving us any longer.




For the second part of the festival the goddess is Lakshmi who is seen as the Mother and is often seen as connected to spiritual wealth.  She is often depicted on a fountain of milk holding symbols of wealth and abundance. Much more serene than Durga!



For the last part the goddess is Saraswati who represents wisdom and knowledge. She is generally shown playing a rudra vina a stringed instrument as she is connected to music and the arts.

On the tenth day all forms are worshipped and in some areas pubescent girls are particularly revered as beginning to embody the virtuous qualities of the goddesses, who are companions of Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma.

So, find a woman, and the goddess inside yourself (men and women) and revere her. If you know a young woman; next week particularly celebrate her femininity.