“There is some kiss we want with our whole lives, the touch of spirit on the body.” ~ Rumi

What a ride it is, this life lived in a woman’s body. The moment we think we have found a shelf to rest on, a sort of “aha, so this is how it works,” we are again thrown into new territory. Once we think that we have finally worked through, healed, moved beyond those old wounds, another scab is brutally ripped off exposing once again our undefended heart. As yoginis, feminine spiritual practitioners, we learn to breathe and open through it all.

Yogini practices are not attempts to fix ourselves, or to get rid of anything, they undress us, bring us more nakedly here, right into the heart of this moment. Yes, we all know how spiritual practice can lead us down a road of ambition, of comparison and plastic concepts, but spiritual practice can also be the fertilizer, the water, the sunlight to a blossoming already happening within you. You learn to breathe and open through it all.

Even when every inch of you wants to run the other way, when the pain seems too cruel to bear, even when the jungle of entanglement seems way to thick. You stay.

Even when you fail, when you find yourself crawling knee-deep in rancid stories, even when you betray yourself, again. Your being keeps opening through it all.

Your holy being unfurls like a flower, through the unbearable, through the longing, through the doubt, through the silence, through the fear, through the stunning simplicity of each breath.

Your roots cease to cling to mirages of certainty, instead they draw their nectar from deep within the movement of life, from within the magnificent pulse of Shakti.

A future goal of perfection will never make sweaty, hot and holy love to you.

Why chase a frigid lover made of plastic, when right here, right now, intimacy itself is yearning to love you to pieces, to love you all the way in.

Let’s go for the real.

Want to practice?

Practice—Shiva/Shakti Dancing

Bring your awareness to the movement of breath in the body.

Stay here with your awareness for a few breaths.

Now shift your awareness—from the movement in the body, back into awareness itself.

Move back and forth from object to subject until separation dissolves.

“Every living being perceives subject and object, but the Yogini resides in their union.” ~ Vijnanabhairava Tantra

Chameli Gad Ardagh is the founder of the Awakening Women Institute. She is a pioneer on contemporary feminine spirituality, and is inspiring women around the world through her breakthrough methods for awakening and empowerment of women and girls. She is especially appreciated for her passionate love of mythology and storytelling as a method for illuminating our hidden strength and beauty. She is the initiator of a global network of groups for women, creator of two home study multi-media sets and author of three books on feminine empowerment and spirituality. Chameli was born in Norway and now lives in Northern California with her husband Arjuna and two sons. Chameli is offering a Global Shakti Sadhana December 1-21. Read more about it here.

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