How to find your true center of gravity
"The increase of intellectualization allied with a lack of actual womb experience means that women have been finding their center of gravity in their heads, rather than in their wombs and hearts... A woman's center is in her womb-heart not her head."
Anaiya Aon Prakasha, Womb Wisdom
Do you know where your center of gravity is?
As you move through life, both physically and emotionally, what part of your body leads the way?
I never thought about my center of gravity until I studied acting in my twenties. The essence of good acting is to find the character in your body. You can’t think your way into the character’s body; you have to invite her to move in your body. And the greatest insight you can get is to locate her center of gravity.
My brilliant teacher, Sherman Marks, sent us into the street to observe people walking. Our assignment was to notice what part of someone’s body leads the way.
So I went to a busy Hollywood corner and waited for people to walk past. I was shocked at how easy it was to see people’s centers of gravity.
- Lots of people walked with their heads jutting out from their shoulders as if they couldn’t quite keep up with their thoughts.
- A few walked with their heart pulling them forward. They looked pretty vulnerable. And several, especially some older women, looked tired.
- The corporate types swaggered from their core, almost daring someone to get in their way. I got out of their way.
- There were a couple women I couldn’t figure out. I could see they were walking with a sense of self-confident joy, but they were moving from a place of power I had not yet experienced.
Sherman told us to mirror the people we were observing from behind, slowly feeling in our own bodies their center of gravity. And then, notice how moving from their center of gravity changed our experience of being on that street.
- Walking like the head-walkers gave me a headache.
- Mirroring the heart-walkers left me feeling loving but also a little frightened.
- Walking with a swagger made me feel like a bully.
- Walking like the confident women made me feel confident. Happy almost. But I still didn’t know why.
Now, at last, I do. All those delicious acting memories are surfacing as I dive deep into the creative power of the womb in all her phases: maiden, mother, and myrrhophore. (Myrrhophore is the sacred name of the lineage of priestesses, a far more delightful and evocative term than crone, don’t you think.)
As you know from reading my blog, my task as a prayer artist is to transmute prayer out from under the tight constrictions patriarchy has placed on her, and let her expand naturally until the power of her love creates a whole new kind of structure, a web of reverence, inclusion, and love.
It’s a big blanking task, I know.
But it’s also the most creative and exciting thing I could possibly do. I am having the time of my life creating whole new kinds of prayers, like They Are All Our Children, and radical new kinds of prayer intensives, like Healing Your 3 Wombs.
A funny and very unexpected thing is going to happen in this intensive.
As you explore the creative beauty of your womb, releasing all the restrictions placed there by patriarchal attitudes about blood, menstruation, childbirth and menopause, you’re going to find your true center of gravity.
And it’s not going to be your head!
It’s not your fault if your center of gravity has been your head.
In patriarchy, the highest value is thought. Our religions, educational systems, corporate structures are all set up to reward logical thinking, getting the right answers, performing well, reaching goals. In short, everything the patriarchy needs to stay in power.
But there is a different kind of power and it’s far far far more powerful.
Laura Walker, a mystical astrologer I adore, said last week that “creativity is your lifeboat.” I wrote that in my journal and kept returning to it. Mulling it over and over.
Like my acting exercise memory, “creativity is your lifeboat,” surfaced as I was practicing the radical new anointing I received for this intensive.
In the anointing you connect with your dragon power—divine feminine power—and draw it up your entire body and over your head to connect with cosmic star power and then you bring that sacred marriage of creative energy down, down, into your head, heart, and finally womb.
As you do, you bring your heart into your womb, creating a new organ, your heart-womb. And it’s from within this new organ, that creative seeds emerge.
Before I offer any new practices, I experience them myself.
Sure enough, when I followed the 3-day process of the dark moon that Keren Brown will lead us in at the conclusion of Healing Your 3 Wombs, I got pregnant!
A gorgeous new seed was planted in my heart-womb that I will be bringing to life in the next few months.
I can feel that from now on with my center of gravity deep in my heart-womb, I will move through life with the sweet kind of confidence and joy that comes from giving myself to love.
Keren, Emma, and I invite you to come and dance with us. I mean that literally.
We’re going to be doing a lot of delicious, fun dancing as we feel our center of divine gravity dropping into our heart-wombs so we can all give birth to more love.
Join us! We open today, Monday, Sept 9. All details on the intensive page:
to dancing through life from our new heart-womb center of gravity!
Janet
PS If you had a problem registering, it's been fixed!
PSS: It doesn't matter where you are in your womb adventures. Even if your uterus has been removed, every woman still has a vibrant wombscape capable of vast creativity. Come and dance it into being.