Stress to Success: Week 4

This week's objective: 
Begin to identify the sources of emotional stress, physical tension, and places where you’re fighting your own body... so you can shift out of the emotional/neurological roller coaster ride and get pregnant feeling peaceful and vital.
The Ups & Downs of Having a Female Body
  • What we are taught as girls (weaker, meant to be quieter, certain jobs are meant for us - children's lit; school age socialization is well underway to be caring but mostly of others, to be sweet, quiet... girls who are all these things are rewarded in all kinds of subtle/not so subtle ways; taught that our moms hate their bodies, they look in the mirror a lot more than men, our looks are important, and now girls of younger and younger ages are wearing makeup, shaving their legs, trying to be as adult as possible, while adults are trying to be as young as possible - also by wearing makeup, shaving legs/arms/bikini); taught that tears are okay, but only because you are the weaker sex (many women struggle with their emotions), and that the worst insult to a boy is to be called a girl. pussy, why don't you go cry about it, etc. 
  • Unsafe in our bodies - ambivalent about male attention, even if there are no sexual traumas; the confusion about whether my body is inherently good or not begins to show in vague sesnse of unsafety
  • Body image peaks at age 8 (!!!!)
  • Religious v. cultural programming about being a girl, a teenager, a woman
  • The barrage of negative and confusing messages our bodies absorb
  • Double binds around sexuality (be sexy but not a whore, look good but not too good, if men love you women will hate you, your sexuality is dangerous but also essential, your body is gross but also desirable as long as you..., you have to look like you're not trying to look good, be needy but not too needy, be feminine but also masculine, 
  • "The Curse"
  • Feminine v. Masculine energies in the workplace


Being a Man - Not So Simple Either
  • New surges of body image problems for men
  • Male programming



Conflict of Parts - An Energetic Pattern 
  • What is it?
  • reproductive organs
  • stomach
  • shoulders/back
  • a few client examples
  • experiential exploration in your body


A Word About "Age" & Fertility - Full Article Here
The widely cited statistic that one in three women ages 35 to 39 will not be pregnant after a year of trying, for instance, is based on an article published in 2004 in the journal Human Reproduction. Rarely mentioned is the source of the data: French birth records from 1670 to 1830. The chance of remaining childless—30 percent—was also calculated based on historical populations.

In other words, millions of women are being told when to get pregnant based on statistics from a time before electricity, antibiotics, or fertility treatments. Most people assume these numbers are based on large, well-conducted studies of modern women, but they are not. When I mention this to friends and associates, by far the most common reaction is: “No … No way. Really?”


The "My body is broken" Program 
  • If you have some of the above issues running in your neurology they're setting you up to struggle. 
  • Other versions of the same idea: my body has betrayed me, my body is old, I have to "overcome" my body's weaknesses, my body holds no wisdom
  • Traumas that reinforce the program - health issues, messages from your doctor, messages from your internet research/articles, "old eggs" from the french literature
  • Health impact of these stories - food, posture, circulation, immune, breathing, cardiac, neurological, endocrine ->> all directly impacting each other
  • Health issues reframed - what happens when there are new cultural stories about our bodies? new personal stories? 
  • Uninstall this bugged program!!
Phenomenal Woman
BY MAYA ANGELOU

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size 
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips, 
The stride of my step, 
The curl of my lips. 
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman, 
That’s me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please, 
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees. 
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees. 
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes, 
And the flash of my teeth, 
The swing in my waist, 
And the joy in my feet. 
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered 
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them, 
They say they still can’t see. 
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back, 
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed. 
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud. 
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels, 
The bend of my hair, 
the palm of my hand, 
The need for my care. 
’Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.



Maya Angelou, “Phenomenal Woman” from And Still I Rise. Copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, Inc.
Journaling Activity
  1. What body stories do you have about women's sexuality, what's appropriate, what's too much?
  2. What ideas do you have about men and what their bodies should look like, do, and remind you of? 
  3. What stories do you hold about your own body's weaknesses? In other words, what do you perceive to be your own weaknesses?
  4. How does any of this impact your health/fertility? 

Theta Treatment 
(have you updated your treatment list lately? Add "Theta" with a few descriptions of the steps to your list.)