I wish I could say that I am shocked by the outrageous number of women posting #Me too on social media. After almost 30 years of doing healing and transformational work, I don't think I have ever had a single retreat in which at least one woman—and often more—had experienced sexual abuse, molestation or assault. Harassment, sadly, is so commonplace in our world that it doesn't even come up as an issue. It’s as if we have all accepted it as just the way things are.
In a retreat this past weekend, out of 26 women I would say that close to one-third had experienced some sort of sexual trauma. It's not that my heart has hardened or that I have gotten used to it. I was profoundly moved by the courage of one participant in particular, who was fighting memories of her two rapes during breathwork. "I have spent years trying not to remember that. I spent years dealing with that in therapy. I thought I was done with it. When will it be done?” she cried.
After expressing my support and acknowledging her courage in the willingness to go there again, I reassured her that it would not be in vain, that breathwork would get to the source of the trauma and help clear the body memory. During her last session she was able to, for the first time, give voice to her younger self and say “NO!” I was moved to tears. She beamed afterward.
I understand her skepticism. I realize that the possibility of healing past trauma by breathing sounds too good to be true—perhaps even ridiculous. But it works. I know. I know, not only from having witnessed countless examples of sexual trauma come up and be cleared over the years, but also from personal experience.
I wanted to honor and give space to all of the women for speaking up and disempowering their trauma by reporting "Me too."
I am convinced that the empowerment of women is the single most important thing that needs to happen in our world. To that we can connect all the other issues we face as a species. When women are in 50% of power we will have a very different relationship to war, distribution of wealth, how we treat the environment—to all of it.
That's what I mean by Soulful Power: how do we step into personal power in a different way, one that is not hierarchical, or depends on brute force, or requires pushing someone down or squelching them in order for us to prop ourselves up and feel powerful. That is also why the temple in which I am based and where I offer retreats and workshops in Miami is dedicated to the Sacred Feminine.
Enough!
It's time.
And…me too.