*Photo by Silvana Denker

Dear Sister,

As you may know by now, our Reclaim Your Power program will be starting soon. 

I am passionate about this work, and believe that every woman can benefit from the experience in Reclaim Your Power. Because I believe every woman deserves to feel fully in her power and potential, no matter what her history or life experience has been. 

In the next several blog posts, I will be offering you some stories from the women who have been touched by this program.

Today I'm going to talk about our relationship with our bodies, and share one woman's story about how she was able to shift hers to one of power and pleasure after a lifetime of the opposite. 

Do you ever feel disappointment or disgust about your body? 

If so, you're certainly not alone.

-70% of women age 18-30 years old dislike their bodies
-89% of girls have dieted by age 17
-42% of girls in grade 1-3 want to lose weight
-1,000 women die each year from eating disorders due to malnutrition, heart attack and suicide

These are heartbreaking statistics, my sisters. But how can we expect any different? 

We are surrounded by a world where women feel that there is something inherently wrong with our bodies from day 1, and everything in the media and culture around us supports this lie. 

This madness is keeping us from actually enjoying a full and rich life, and keeps disempowering women so they feel like they could not possibly be beautiful exactly as they are. 

An important step in reclaiming our power as women is learning to listen to our bodies, rather than seeing them as something we must change and fight against. No matter who we are or what our bodies have been through in the past or present, we deserve to feel safe and at home in them.

When we begin to shift our perspective towards our body to one of love and respect, versus judgment and criticism, we can finally begin to receive the gifts of our body. 

This is no small task, as we have been taught from day one we have to look a certain way in our bodies in order to be loved and acceptable. Or that if we have been through trauma or pain in our bodies, there is something wrong with us. And therefore we don't deserve pleasure, love, comfort...

Many of us start out from the getgo feeling disconnected from one of our most precious and powerful resources, and so a lifetime of struggle results. 

One of the weeks in the Reclaim Your Power program is exploring the Lover archetype. Here we do powerful processes and have conversations that create a relationship of honor and respect with our bodies. This allows for the opportunity to come home to our bodies as a place of power, pleasure, and wisdom... no matter what our weight, age, or history may be. It allows us to relate to our sexuality from an empowered place, rather than one of shame. 

For some women (definitely myself at points in my life) seeing my body as my friend and ally seemed VERY far from the truth. And sometimes it is still hard, I admit. This is deeply ingrained stuff we are talking about here that doesn't go away over night.

However I have come to know that no matter what, this is the truth: Our bodies are a gift to us, and receiving pleasure and joy within them is our birthright. Reclaiming our power as women means reclaiming one of the most powerful resources we have... our bodies. 

It's time for the madness to stop. But it's going to take a whole lotta love and compassion, that's for sure. 

This is but one of the topics of the 12 weeks we explore in this program, and each week allows for us to reclaim and empower a part of ourselves as women, from our bodies, to our leadership, to our mothering, to our intuition, to expressing our voice.

Each step is a way of saying YES to all of who you are, both the shadow and the light, with no parts left behind. 

I have shared here a video about one of our past participants, Chong Lee, who is a women's lifestyle business expert and coach. 

She shares here about her experience in the Reclaim Your Power program, and her story about an unexpected and powerful shift she had around her relationship with her body and receiving pleasure. For someone who had never been able to do this before, it was a huge gift and transformation for her and all those around her. 

Learn more about her story here... 

And if you are ready to embark on this journey of reclaiming your power, too...

You can learn more and join us here.

To your Power,

Laura
xoxo