The Wild Woman's Way

"As pragmatic as it is compassionate, this intimate, humorous, and ultimately relaxing invitation to re-wild yourself, stripping away all that is not your true nature, will leave you inspired and curious to discover the wild woman within" (Lissa Rankin, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Mind Over Medicine).For many women today, achieving a successful career, a fulfilling romantic relationship, and a rewarding personal life can feel like an unattainable goal. The pressure to "have it all" wreaks havoc on our bodies and emotional well-being, and also creates unrealistic expectations. Toxic comparisons and the need to perform enforces damaging ideals of who and what we should be, making it harder for us to connect with who we really are.But what if there was a way to break free from these patterns and beliefs? What if you could free your body from stress and trauma, tap into your inherent creativity, and connect more authentically with the people who matter?In this life-changing book, intimacy expert and counselor Michaela Boehm shares practical rituals and exercises to show you simple, everyday changes that will revolutionize your connection to yourself, your life, and your relationships.Beyond the outdated stereotypes of femininity lies the ancient wisdom of the Wild Woman archetype, a path to reconnecting with our "body intelligence."In this book, you will learn to:- Re-wild yourself by connecting to who you really are and integrating body, emotions, and mind for powerful expression in the world.- Switch effortlessly between "doing" and "being," allowing you to access both empowered success and personal fulfillment.- Unlock creativity and intuition through understanding how body, heart, and mind can work together.- Engage in relaxed, body-specific exercises that help you connect with yourself and your chosen relationships.

"The most practical and inspiring guide yet to self-care for a woman's physical, spiritual and emotional needs."

Auteur

Michaela Boehm

Échantillon de lecture
The Wild Woman’s Way

Introduction

THIS BOOK IS FIRST AND foremost my passionate love letter to the body: an invitation for each of us to remember the innate wisdom of our bodies—not our looks, or our various shapes and sizes, but the living, feeling body as a portal to unlocking who we truly are.

Our bodily genius is a premier decision-making tool, a navigation device extraordinaire, an agent of release and healing, a wisdom-carrier of deep insight, and a holder of secrets and mysteries.

This book is a call to come back to our wild, undomesticated “original nature,” which, combined with an untamed heart, knows what is true for each of us. It is a call to return to the inborn genius that guides our passion, whispers in our ear with longing, and reveals itself abundantly when we allow our bodies to show us the way.

This is a deeply personal book, born from my own explorations, struggles, and victories, infused with my passion carried over the span of more than twenty years of teaching and mentoring individuals and couples in the realms of relationship and sexuality.

I am focusing here on women’s bodies, for a few reasons.

First, I am happily living in a woman’s body—yes, I said happily!—and as such am continually traversing both the fertile lands of feeling embodiment and the turbulent seas of unfeeling numbness. I am also the lineage holder, a keeper and teacher of the ancient wisdom of a Kashmiri Tantric tradition that has been passed down from woman to woman for thousands of years, and, as such, am dedicated to empowering women’s understanding of their bodies as a devotional vehicle. I see the current cultural emergence of the sacred feminine as a beautiful opportunity for exploration and growth, and, at the same time, a movement fraught with the dangers of gender wars and false entitlement.

I am writing this book mainly for women. I also hope that men will benefit: in their relationship with their own bodies, and by gaining a different access to and understanding about what it is like to be a woman in the twenty-first century.

I personally love men, and am fortunate to be surrounded by wonderful, talented men with generous hearts. This is not a book to set men against women and fuel a battle of the sexes; it is instead an exploration of what defines us as men and women, what unites us, and how to become whole and serve one another as we traverse these extraordinary times.

Never have we as women in the West had more opportunity, more choice, and more freedom. Granted, we still have a long way to go, yet compared to any other time in history, we have the greatest options and choices to forge our own paths and determine our own destinies. At the same time, with these opportunities come new challenges and distinct difficulties: the demands of life have created unprecedented levels of stress, pressure, disconnect, discomfort, and dis-ease in women.

We women are now, more than ever, able to have the careers we want, whether that is to be an entrepreneur, a CEO, a full-time parent, an educator, or a social media sensation. We make our own money and our own decisions. We vote, we march, and we support our causes. We have more freedom today than ever before to determine the kind of relationships we want—and freedom to determine if, and how, we will birth and raise children, and to make decisions about how our households will be taken care of.

With all these options, there are a dizzying variety of versions of “Woman” to which we can aspire: Boardroom Executive, Mother, Entrepreneur, Martha-Stewart-like Homemaker, Vixen in the Bedroom, Visionary, Academic, Artist, Yogini, Leader, Goddess, Scientist, Earth Mother, Warrior. We are told we should “lean in,” “drop out,” and, on top of it all, “be forever young and radiant.”

Then there are the spiritual choices. We can practice yoga, chant, dance ecstatically, meditate in a vast variety of traditions, go Zen, swirl like a Sufi, discover the Goddess or reclaim God, take “plant medicines,” and embrace a variety of pagan traditions. We can follow one teacher, or piece all the above together into our own á la carte menu of spirituality.

We can even combine our quests of spirit and sex through a variety of ?Tantric explorations. The options to work on our feminine wiles have vastly increased, from wrapping ourselves around a stripper pole, to “vajazzling” our previously private parts, to sex-toy parties and hands-on classes on how to achieve multiple orgasms.

Regardless of what we choose (and regardless of how tired we are), we are also women who want meaningful relationships and fulfilling sex lives, with all their inherent benefits and responsibilities.

The good news: amidst such a multitude of options we are free to choose what resonates with us. The bad news: it’s confusing, overwhelming, time-consuming, fraught with many pitfalls, and requires constant discernment.

No wonder we often find ourselves confused, stressed, and unsure of what to do and how to be. Even though there are abundant choices, there are subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) pressures from society, spiritual and communal dogma, our own belief systems, and the habit patterns of our past that tell us that we have to be Superwoman to be loved, or that our real choices are narrower than we thought them to be.

More than ever, it’s time for each of us to ask ourselves:

Who am I out in the world?

Who am I when no one is watching?

What does my unguarded heart yearn for?

Who am I when everything is stripped away?

How does my body want to move when I am alone?

What would I do if nothing was required of me?

These are the kinds of quest…