Power – What Power???
During a yoga session with a buddy this morning we were talking about a man’s pelvis – I was thinking about why men are so afraid of the power in their pelvis. And it IS powerful. Often I find men hold their pelvis in a discharge position so that the pelvic bowl cannot hold all of their fierce, passionate and intense emotions – they merely leak out if expressed at all, or reified in the body.
Holding the pelvis in a charge position, creating a curve in the lower back, means that we are coming from a more grounded place and are much more able to lead with our hearts and not our heads. It is very difficult to do both leading with a charged pelvis and your head. I brought up the fact that since the 80’s or even before that, men are portrayed in the media as buffoons and incompetents – very powerless beings that need the women in their lives to set them straight. Try watching TV for an hour and really look at the commercials – I really detest the way men are represented AND it is not the type of man I want to become. In this culture we get our role models from the media (yes, it is sad!!!) and the message they are sending us is that men are weak. NO NO NO – I will have none of it. We are a growing movement of men that are creating change one body at a time, empowering men to take charge of their bodies to become self-referent and NOT extero-referent (in other words, not defined by the external world).
A Japanese friend of mine, Gary, is such a wonderful teacher. We all call him Strawberry Gary because he grows hundreds of acres of strawberries down in Watsonville for Giant and a few other companies around California. He gets bodywork weekly as a part of his routine, just like his weekly haircut or shopping for groceries. He’s by no means wealthy, he merely makes getting touched a priority in his life. I love that about him. He also has a built in steamroom at his house in Prunedale, another way he pampers himself daily. Gary introduced the Love Gloves to me a number of years back, one day while we were lounging in his steamroom after a particularly grueling workout. You can find them at The Body Shop in the Castro or at any Long’s Drug Stores for about $6 – and they come in all kinds of fun colors to match your lifestyle. You put them on in the shower, soap them up, and vigorously scrub up your body toward your heart center. Afterward your skin is so soft and smooth because the gloves remove dead skin cells and toxins that are excreted from your body (the other way is through your breath – but we’ll get to that in another post).
The last few classes have been full, and I can remember exclaiming in the middle of one session “God, I love men!!!” In the moment I was filled with the beauty and sexiness of men of all shapes and sizes – I could see something erotic in each and every one of them. This is the secret to an open eroticism in our lives because every man has something about them that is sexy: perhaps the hair on their forearms or the nape of their neck, or their cocky smile, or chest hairs running down a man’s belly, or even cute ears (yes, this I notice too). Ah, and there is the good stuff as in the above pic taken at my surprise 50th nude birthday bash at the Heartwalker Studio. Any guesses who’s behind me?????? It’s all good………..