Wild Woman Sharings from Sofiah Thom

It’s important with any practice that we allow ourselves to let go of our thoughts and emotions, so we can be an open channel for our authentic expression. In the beginning when I am paddling, my thoughts are more active, once I allow myself to move through the monkey mind, there lies a stillness underneath. The gentle rocking of the Ocean helps magnify the stillness within.

I surrender to the great life force and I am moved, through sound, breath and inner vibration, I float on my paddle board and become one with this great life force that is me.

I am reminded how important it is to create the space in our daily lives to connect to our inner selves, to let go of the monkey mind and be at peace with who we are deep within.

I feel this is relative to our retreat coming up in February, Awaken the Wild Woman Within, for me, this retreat is about allowing ourselves the space to express our authentic selves at all times. Before we can be an open channel of pure consciousness, we must accept all of aspects of ourselves, including the ugly parts we may have repressed, it is time to free up the emotions, allowing them to release.

We are perfect as we are, we all possess a primal, instinctive, powerful nature which wants to be seen and heard, in order to be whole and happy as we walk through our lives, we must accept and express all of our parts of our inner nature.

I hope you can join us tapping into our power and expression, connecting with our raw passion and authenticity as we Awaken the Wild Woman Within.

Gratitude I AM

A little something I wrote before anyone arrived in a few moments of cherished solitude on the Day of Gratitude I hosted at Muse Home Nov 20, 2010






Gratitude I Am

Sitting with sunlite streaming into me
The mists floating
Gently hovering above the stillness of the lake
Hiding the mountain tops
Shadows of trees melting into their sensual embrace

Gratitude I Am

Tears of acknowledgement flowing
for every step of the journey that has led me
Here Now

Quietly reflecting on this life
My heart has been busted sweetly open
Again and again and again

Tears of rage have brought me compassionate understanding
Fears of losing have taught me the richness that I Am
thru Vulnerability's bitter but sweet deep kisses

Gratitude I Am

Depression has taught me the mysterious ways that darkness calls forth lite
Anxiety has shown me to rest thru exhaustion's paralyzing inertia
Grief is still teaching me the preciousness of each moment
Grief reminds me to listen less
to fear, depresssion and anxiety's strangely seductive songs

Gratitude I Am

Dancing mind births surrender into stillness
The lines on my face etch my time passing
like a wild tempest wind
Fast and furiously earth shaking

This home allows me to be the grace I am thru the sharing of space that is my bliss

Gratitude I Am

For the passing of cycles
Fall into winter
Forgivenss into compassion
Anger into Soft sadness
Stillness into Divine Union

Gratitude I Am

For the friends who have listened to my stories
Again and again and again

For the mother who carried me in her womb
gifting me this life
to be challenged
to be overjoyed
to be witness and witnessed

For the creatures great and small
that amaze and captivate my heart with awe
The four leggeds and winged ones
The creepy's and the crawlies
The enchanted ones of the sea and the underworlds
For this earth and all it's abundance and ever unfolding magic

For the gifts of rhythm and song
And all that they have allowed me to experience as bliss in union with Creation

Gratitude I Am

For my unbalanced intensity that humbles me
when it rages thru me like a tidal wave
reminding me my work is far from done
Reminding me that I am

For what some call my "overexpressiveness" and all that it represents
as one being being real and authentic in this under expressed society
where so many are afraid of truth and heart felt sharings
For the facade that I refuse to wear that "societal" appropriateness dictates

For the scared insecure little girl
who is as much me as is the Warrior Queen
As fearless as I am, so too are the depths of my fears

Gratitude I AM

As above, so below
For the duality and it's suffering nature
reminding me to discipline myself more to choose acceptance of what is

For this home I sit in now and all that it has already been home to
love, life, music, community and warm fires..

For the teachers in every being I meet
For this moment now

Quietly sitting with sunlite streaming into me
The mists floating
Gently hovering above the stillness of the lake
Hiding the mountain tops
Shadows of trees melting into their sensual embrace

And tears flowing like sweet nectar
to soften all of me into the
Gratitude I Am

Women's Wisdom

Last night's Women's Wisdom Prayer Share was such a clear and sweet reminder of why I am so committed and in love with being together in creative community! Each of us is so blessed with powerful life experiences and each of those experiences teach us a piece of wisdom that we sometimes just sort of tuck in to our selves without thinking much of it. When in circle and someone pops open, and the tears come, it is a rare and special opportunity for us to reach out and share our nuggets of wisdom with that person and that has been happening so beautifully and organically at the Women's Prayer Share that Muse Home has been hosting!

Having the lovely Una Viggiani, visual artist and facilitator, who is also working with me on the retreat in Costa Rica (Awakening the Wild Woman Within) with us last night allowed the women to express visuallly the gratitude and embodiment that we are cultivating as we move forward in these times and for me definitly brought up my fears and insecurities around visual expression. Ooh..

I am so grateful for the community of women, not just here in Boulder, but worldwide who understands and values the heartfelt work of transparent sharing and baring of our hearts and souls. I honor you.. sisters of the world..

On Vulnerability

One of the pieces that has come up for me over and over in these past few months, that I'm feeling to share this month is the concept of vulnerability. As humans, with big open loving hearts, we are vulnerable. In our culture we seem to have a fascination with strength, youth and impermeability. What I've been learning, more than anything else this summer, is that our true strength lives in our ability to be vulnerable, over and over. It was like a light bulb one day for me on Jesus's teaching of "turn the other cheek." Love is always loving. Vulnerability doesn't have to mean weakness in the typical definition. I'm learning that true vulnerability means being receptive, open and continuing to love in spite of the infinite hits we take to our hearts and minds. It means recognizing and honoring our tenderness, and taking care of ourselves when we need rest and quiet and sanctuary rather than just closing down, overdoing or filling the hole. Vulnerability allows a certain grace as a willingness to accept life for all of what it is and it is nothing to be ashamed of!

Sanctuary

Sanctuary within my skin
The rhythm brings me in again
To pray at lotus feet upon which I stand
as movement lifts me into my own Promised Land

The temple I am
this form holds the formless
merging worlds above and below
My body teaches me
what I need to know

Silently hovering in ether's embrace
one arm drifts down
mesmerizing
I am entranced
I am danced
I am bedazzled by the glow I feel
Igniting spirit thru flesh
Nothing else is real

Sanctuary within my skin
Temple I am
Without and within

Return My Queen

Return to me
Your throne sits awaiting you
Atop my skillfully filled skull
overflowing with mindless chatter
Until the moment you arise in me

Then like rivers of glass
enchanting me your eyes meet mine
Remembrance is so divine
And all time stills as you pour into me like wine

Sweetened by life's tragedies
Tainted by none
Deepened by tears of grief
Shined brilliant by the sun

Magically appearing
In the midst of cold black night
My Queen, your majesty I behold
Your presence is my insight

Even the blackest lump of lead
Returned to fine spun gold...
Even the aging heart of death
sprouts the seeds of young in old

Passing from one form to another
Wise crone, tender mother
Sacred whore betrayed by lustful men
Let's love again and again come in

Return to me
Sister of Grace and of Mercy
Your sword is sharp and quick to fall
where truth goes astray..

Warrior Queen
My Heart is yours
Forever More
Return to me

Stray no more.

Creekside Muse

I never want to leave you
once I've sunk back into your embrace
Your tender stillness empties me

Time becomes like a lost happy child
wandering aimlessly
exploring the forests of possibilities
with curious eyes and an innocent heart
Known to no one

Here by creekside's constant cooing
my heart cracks open
I am soft
spilled into tranquil pools
where rocks like my heart
are softened to sand
washed away into the vastness that is your love
My body melts
My body vacant but for you

The willow's swishing soft hair-like tendrils
brush gently against my skin like a lover
The one you are for me
Stirring me to stay longer
I succomb willingly
opening to your breath again and again..

Nothing is as this
No place else is home
My beloved lives here
Naked, unadorned, freely dancing in the wind
Turning white fluffy clouds into magical imaginations of the mind
hovering above me as this earth spins
Turning leaves and water and air into symphonies of perfect grace

I never want to leave you

Dancing Coyote Canyon Family Gathering

Prayers emerging in this bright sunny mountain valley

From beneath blanketed lodge, voices of many, sometimes joining together in song

Sometimes one single prayer offered and held sacred by all inside and out

Fire raging in the warming day crackles and offers soothing sweetness to this valley

Aspen sing praises twirling like dainty ballerinas graceful in sight and sound

No time

No place

The dance of rememberance is moving thru us

Home is here

Still point awaits the song of creation breaking forth from it's sweet depths.

Home we are together..

Together we are one loving breathing dancing musing swirling surrendering into the NOW

------------

The First Dancing Coyote Canyon Family Gathering this weekend was a gem of an experience! Thanks to Ahva and Matthew and Pattie for all their hard work and organizing of this sweet treat at the end of summer! The Rhythm Sanctuary community came together Sat night for a Muse Ceremony and it was such a personal treat for me to share and experience this activated family of movers and shakers and poets and magical beings! The bliss was running high and the aspen littered valley sang with us by offering a little smattering of late night rain just at the perfect time when we were all inside, cozy and warm! Bodies groovin, voices singing and the popcorn poetry that came forth was truly Muse Inspired magic in the making!

Can't wait for the next one! And definitly, if you need a sweet spot for a retreat, check out http://www.dancingcoyotecanyon.com it's a fabulous place, and Matthew who owns the place is a rare gem of a being to work with... totally in service to goodness and easefulness. He resonates joy thru his true love and light in every moment! Dancing Coyote Canyon is only about 2.5 hours from Denver and a worthy and scenic drive!

Thanks to all of you for sharing your love and light!

Moment of Stillness

Your breathe makes me quiver
like aspen leaves do
with the most subtle whisper of your essence
dripping thru the air

You delite me in ways indescribable
Sensually stirring me beyond the physical
Stilling me
I am captivated
Speechlessly in awe of your embrace

I can not move
yet all of me is flowing
I can not think
yet all of me lives in knowing
I can not breathe
yet your breath sustains me

I am yours and you are all that I am

Waves of fleecy swaying grasses hypnotize me
holding me captive
Enraptured by the way you kiss me
body, mind and soul

And in these moments with you
the rest is silenced

I am whole
Full beyond fullness
One beyond Oneness

With you Beloved
I am free
I am home
I AM

Cheri Shanti
Aug 26, 2010

Sacred Space Jam: Sister Muse Sweetness

Magical Mystical Muse works are by far the most powerful medicine I have found for the dis-ease of Modern living. Co-creative, playful, deeply moving, prayerful, transformative and invoking the spirit of oneness, Muse experiences allow us to be witnessed, to hold space, to share and to meet in a profound way. Most of our lives are spent in the mundane, talking about our daily challenges or joys, our lives, our jobs, our frustrations, and often there is a certain level of superficiality to the exchanges, "Hey, how are you?" "Good.." because there isn't time, or because there aren't words to express the depths of what may be really going on for us in this wildly spinning world where the changes that are happening are fast, furious and sometimes totally unruly and insensitive to our more childlike, deeper, curious essences. This world can be so sweet, and so cruel all in one day.

Muse Experiences where we can let go, unwind, sing, dance, cry, lay on the floor and belt out our pain or our joy, writh in ecstasy or in sorrow, drum, pray and just simply be our true essence in the presence of others are a reprieve from the mundane, and a medicine that is deeply needed in these times. Last night I visited the Sacred Space Jam at the Starhouse and was right at home in the sweet and delightful facilitation by founder Karen and Michael Travers. I felt last night that I was in the presence of the Master Musers. Profoundly moving, the bodies, voices and music wove their way in and out of high states of trance and intense booty shaking. Many offered at the end of the night that the highlight was when the moon came shining thru the windows of the perfecly placed Alchemical temple we know as the Starhouse in Boulder, CO. The crystal bowl, the hang, and a circle of voices praying their hearts out carried us into the silence that closes the practice. Certainly, I too felt that magic as the crystaline point of our hearts, souls and bodies merging in service to the Muses that service us!

These practices are opening us into our hearts. I am honored to meet another sister carrying the torch of creative free expression and look forward to sharing every month at the Sacred Space Jam in Boulder! Don't miss the next one, and look for the Muse Practice which will be returning to fill in the spaces in between the Sacred Space Jams.