Power Grab

When I was fourteen years old I went to terrifying violent and dangerous Jr. High School. 

As a twelve, thirteen, & fourteen  year old girl I was regularly grabbed and sexually assaulted in the hallways between classes on dares by groups of other twelve, thirteen, and fourteen year old boys. 

There was no protection and this went unmonitored. 

I lived in a kind of numbed out defensive enraged terror. 

At this point in our country, with the violence of the destruction of our sacred parks and government institutions “by the people and for the people,” and the enormous transgressions of human rights and terrorizing of our beloved immigrant citizens and new hopeful travelers to our great nation–I feel like I am once again in Jr. High and I am being defiled on a dare. 

But this time I have something I did not have then, in my preteen silenced horror and fear. I have the knowledge of these truths: that isolation in hard times can be severely damaging and that reconnecting with others, in fact gathering together, can take away the stigma that there is something wrong with us when something bad is happening. 

And so many bad things are happening.

My intensive program “The Whole Body Recovery Program” is a very powerful way to be in connection for a year with the same group of women. We meet in a small group cohort to witness and support each woman's transformation and recovery from loss of self. Each woman has her own reasons when it comes to loss of self, but it is through the alchemy of group work that people truly change. 

Whole body recovery groups do this by learning how to give and receive accurate reflections of each other. Accurate reflections are how we develop identities as infants and continue to develop identities throughout our lifespan. They are observations of a person’s true essence. As Jean Baker Miller says, “growth-fostering relationships are a central human necessity and disconnections are the source of psychological problems.” This is why people need to reach out to one another. So that we don’t blame ourselves when we’re overwhelmed or lost or separated from our resources.

After my traumatic Jr. High School experience, I ended up at an alternative school for troubled youth. It turned out to be a profoundly supportive community for me to heal in and discover my true life’s calling (spoiler alert-I became a professional dancer) . And we had a women’s group that met every week. We gathered and shared and I learned that I was not alone. Many of the teen girls in the group had already experienced endangerment through being sexually victimized.  Before we even knew who we were, we were dealing with this. In this group we worked. We worked on how to identify safe people. We learned to identify allies in the room and in the community-and we learned to identify danger and speak up for ourselves when being put down and objectified as a female. 

We had safe older women (in their 20s) to check out our perceptions with. I developed my own voice there- learning to speak and listen and laugh and cry when I or someone else was going through something. And we were always going through something because we were young women out on our own discovering who we were and learning week by week to actively reclaim our bodies for ourselves. 

And I think we need this now–during a big event, like a sexist racist poor-people-and-humanity-hating power grab.

When our human rights as women are being torn to shreds, when it is outrageously deadly dangerous to get pregnant and health care and social security are not a promise anymore—I think we need to ACTIVELY RECLAIM OUR BODIES.

And to support each other thinking and growing and coming into clarity. 

How are you going to show up for your family or community if you don’t do something to connect with and strengthen yourself right now?

We need to be centered and able.

We need a supportive practice and community that can walk with us through our own recovery and take us on the path of continuous connection to body, mind, and soul.

We need this because we will be needed.

We will be needed more than ever by our family, our friends, our communities, and our earth. 

We are embodied guardians of this planet. 

Let this be our time to come together and make outrageous beauty side-by-side. 

Interested in the Whole Body Recovery Program ?

Read Below ….

If an intensive immersion where you get to focus on recovering a sense of self and being supported appeals to you, maybe the Whole Body Recovery Program is what will empower you to change how you’re feeling inside.

If you are like most of the women who join the group, you have already tried many things, therapy, workshops, medical interventions- that did not get to the depth you needed to change the way you feel at your core.

At this juncture I am only taking women who have the resources (of time, money, and self-reflection) to invest in this year-long commitment to themselves. This is a lengthy commitment to your self-development and embodiment process alongside a small cohort of women you meet with for the year.  You do not have to figure out how to emerge from the challenges and obstructions you are facing on your own. 

The Whole body recovery program is waiting to guide and support a small group of women while you recover a deep sense of ease with yourself. This program offers layers upon layers of support. When you leave you will have a new sense of yourself and of your body as your best friend and ally. 

Is this the right path for you to reconnect with yourself? 

Reach out to schedule a discovery call. 

The cut-off for this cohort is April 1, 2025 and I won’t be opening another for some time.