Sex and the Sacred Girl
by Lisa Sarasohn
Author of
The
Woman's Belly Book
Unleashed in 1962, Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and
the Single Girl helped launch a revolution in
women's sexuality. The book declared that women
have the right to seek sexual pleasure for ourselves.
The "sexual revolution" continued into
the '70s, opening the field for women's self-expression
even further.
Now's the time to take the revolution to another
turn: understanding that women's sexual energy
is sacred.
"Sacred"—what does that
mean?
What's sacred is what's necessary for our survival.
From the beginning, humanity's survival has depended
upon women's sexuality. Every tribe's survival
has depended upon women's capacity to give birth,
to bear healthy children into the next generation.
Our ancestors understood women's birth-giving
power as kin to the Power of Being that creates,
sustains, and transforms the world. Their images
and icons of the Sacred Feminine celebrate women's
awesome ability to regenerate life. In woman's
body, the Great Goddess becomes manifest.
Carving celebrating the Sacred Feminine on
a cave wall
in Laussel, France c. 25,000-20,000 BCE
Lovemaking is a ritual that celebrates the Goddess,
an erotic dance of give-and-take drawing masculine
and feminine into union. Eros is the power of
attraction that tempts polarities together, embraces
the universe, lures us toward life.
Your sexuality is one expression of your erotic
life force, your core life energy. The source
of this energy is your body's center, what the
Chinese call the "Gate of the Mysterious
Female." When you activate your body's center
with movement and breath, you ignite your inner
source of vitality. You amplify your life energy
as a whole.
As one woman reflects, "I'm claiming my
wholeness as a woman that I’ve never had
before. Energizing my belly has enabled me to
gain an openness and release of sensual, sexual
energy and healing. I feel increased connectedness
to the feminine."
This life we live is a grace. Our sexuality is
a sacred trust. As we fully own our sexual energy
as a generous gift, we can understand it as pro-creative
power in the largest sense. Our sexuality is not
only our capacity to bear children. It is, as
well, our power to promote creation in any dimension
we choose.
In these times, humanity's survival depends less
upon the capacity to bear children and more upon
the conditions into which our children are born.
Survival depends upon women birthing new ways
of being and doing that promote peace, justice,
and sustainable economies on our planet.
How do we start?
With movement and breath, we cultivate the pro-creative
power seeded in our "Energy Garden,"
our body's center.
We know ourselves as sacred beings and respect
our sexuality as a sacred force of nature.
We realize that we're sexy—at our juiciest—as
we express the truth of who we are.
And, we direct our pro-creative power not only
for sacred pleasure but also for personal and
planetary healing.
Spice Up Your Sexual Pleasure
Drawn from The Woman's Belly Book: Finding Your
Treasure Within, this breathing pattern helps
connect your body-centered source of vitality
with your sexual energy center, the second chakra
in the physiology of yoga.
"A majority of women prefer reading a good
book to having sex." As I recall it, that's
what one survey discovered. When I mention this
finding to friends, they nod with a knowing look.
With all the responsibilities of work, home, and
family, many women are exhausted by the time they
finally get to bed. More women than you might
imagine mourn the loss of their interest in sex.
What is sexual pleasure? It's the play of sexual
energy, one expression of your life energy as
a whole. When you have more energy, you experience
more pleasure.
Your belly is your powerhouse, your life-energy
generator. Energizing your belly with movement
and breath ignites a healthy delight in the pleasures
of sex.
1. Sit or stand comfortably. Or lie on your back
with a pillow under your knees to ease your lower
back. Give your belly room to breathe by loosening
your belt, unzipping your zipper. Rest your palms
lightly upon your lower abdomen.
2. Feel the gentle rhythm of your breath, allowing
your belly to expand as the breath enters in,
allowing your belly to sink back toward your spine
as the breath travels out.
3. Locate your belly center, the point a few
inches below your navel and in toward your spine.
As you breathe, picture the breath entering your
body through the crown of your head, flowing down
into your belly center and brightening the globe
that’s glowing there. Stay with this image
for five to ten cycles of breath.
4. Continue breathing in through the crown of
your head, directing the breath down to your belly
center, now breathing out through the center front
and back of your lower abdomen.
5. Stay with this image and pattern of breathing
for ten to twenty cycles of breath. Experience
the sensations occurring in your body.
6. Gradually return your attention to your whole
body and to the present moment.
Lisa Sarasohn is a yoga and bodywork therapist,
author of The Woman's Belly Book and the instructional Honoring
Your Belly video, both available for order at Wise Woman Bookshop
The year 2012 heralds a revolution in human consciousness. The signs suggest that the Sacred Feminine will be informing, and reorganizing, every aspect of human experience. As we embody the Sacred Feminine, we'll be equipped to participate in - and shape - this evolution of human awareness with wisdom and grace. This course is the first part of an ongoing process in which you'll embody the Sacred Feminine by energizing your body's center with movement, breath, image, story, and voice. As a first step, this course focuses on befriending your body's center and learning ten yoga-based moves which will form the core of your practice. 
MP3 digital download - David Winston. 8th International Herb Symposium 2007. Run time 1:37:21.
