mean welcome to new connection where you can tune in and grow i'm your host bikie thompson you may be familiar with new connection magazine for conscious living which is spent enjoyed by readers in the pacific northwest for more than twenty years now we're excited to bring new connection to life in your home on new connection we welcome authors practitioners and visionaries to share new ideas for alternative health spirituality and personal growth today i'd like to welcome to new connection tammy lynn kent who's the author of wild feminine finding power spirit and joy in the female body to me also is a women's health physical therapist and founder of holistic health care for women tami welcome to new connection thank you i'm so excited to be here i like the title of your book which is wild feminine and i think as a woman there's something very attractive in that to be a wild feminine woman so what is this wild feminine energy that we all hold in our bodies you know well i first i first discovered it by accident because i was a women's health physical therapist and i was working with the body and primarily as women's health physical therapists are working in the pelvic bowl so it's this inherently deeply creative center but i initially approached it more as a physical therapist thinking that i might fix symptoms or help people with public imbalances which the work does do beautifully but what happened was i started tuning into the energy because i'm also an energy reader and began to listen to this creative energy in the center and was so amazed by the beauty that i would find in every woman no matter where she had been no matter her relationship with her body no matter if she had experienced difficulties or trauma there was this beauty that was intact and it's her creative center and it's the creative energy that runs through us as women and so i began at first just trying to understand what i was seeing because i hadn't really seen the truth and then i would say you know there's lots of stereotypes in our culture about what is fair and what that means but what i was seeing was more of a deep sense of presence that was beautiful and whole kind of like in the church that you might see in an undisturbed area where you go and you witness the beauty and so as i came and began to learn more about this essence in the body and studied it and wrote about it which was kind of long term process because i wrote for several years before i actually had a book i wanted to use more language that could describe it so i find that in the in the female pelvis we even sometimes the words the organs themselves when we talk about them in a clinical way it doesn't really cut sure the poetry the beauty the mystery that's there and so i started using being a writer i started using language poetry words that might express this more adequately and wild kept coming back to me wild feminine and for me that's really thinking more of the earth's energy and the wild intact places how radiant and beautiful they are and that we also have this essence in our bodies as women we then carry the earth cycle in us with our menstrual cycle that's tied to the womb i mean tied to the moon your womb bleeding times but also just the creative seasons you know the spring and summer and fall and winter a woman's energy will be different and reflect that so wild for me was really a word that could more deeply describe when we tapped into this whole would that we would body and so i wanted language that women could start to relate to to help them remember and for me words became a way to kind of tune in and tap into this deeper essence and find our way there and it also became a way for me to explain how to get there through meditation and visualization and over time with spending time working with women one on one and with working with this deep essence in my own life i ended up writing a diagram that's in the wild some in a book on it and i call it the wild feminine landscape public bowl and of course i'm thinking physically with the fashion the muscles where i'm working but that can also be this the way that we embody our lives that happen it's the patterns that we do on a daily basis that the ways that we live the things that we're creating the more physical forms that take give shape our lives and then around that we have more of that energy and that's where things are a little bit more fluid and you can have the energy of emotions of mental patterns around and you can have the energy of the  ovaries of the womb or the actual body itself and so for me when i'm talking about the feminine i'm inviting women to come down and explore this physical realm and where it meets the energy and then around that we have the spirit and answer energy so those are the even more profound and energies that we can begin to tap into to access more fully this current that runs through us it's a very detailed system of celebrating a woman it sounds like and i like that it's a very natural way and earthy way of looking at your creativity as a woman i think so often images in society can be demeaning are over sexualized for women is an overcharge but it seems like with calling it a wild feminine it's just being human and it's almost being a human animal like we are more expansive excepts exactly what you're saying and that's what i was finding when i first was tapping into this energy and then i was looking at the way i understood feminine is more of a gender stereotype and that's so narrow and a lot of the images we see are very narrow and they take the femininity and put it into this narrow box and yet i would tap into this place that was expansive and very unique individuals like a radiant star in each woman that the more she could tap into this place or herself and begin to bring expression to it the more full and robust and radiate she became and so it's this fullness and it's this landscape that we can create with us women and so for me it was really a roadmap you know because i had the opportunity over time a sitting with over a thousand women which is a lot of women and most people won't have that experience so i also felt a duty to put it down on paper to say this is how you find your way there this is where you may get blocked and this is how to work with those blocks on a physical and energetic and then an even deeper calling and spirit and blessing energy to help you it's really a beautiful pathway and i think of it like an energetic map that women can go to and then began the work of finding their way into th space that's beautiful well part of your journey in helping women to celebrate their femininity you experienced a miscarriage which it sounds like really helped you develop this morning and more into and particular on a physical level just really getting touch with that place and then also in mothering and really wanting to be a creative dynamic woman and mother and kind of integrate my life so i kind of began there and then the next being that came to my body was what i called my spirit daughter i had a very mystical experience of miscarriage and it was very spiritual i had a vision several of them actually kind of told me what was happening and that it would be a loss but that her spirit would be with me and there would be an energy that would be with me and it was the first time i really understood that this is a doorway a sacred doorway and women and you can tap into it even if you haven't had children it's just we aren't talking about it like that so we aren't even thinking about it like that it is this place where we connect through our bodies to the spirit around because every person enters in this place it's a powerful doorway and because in miscarriage you have an entry and then you also have an exit so you have a coming in of spirit and then you have an exit a dying in your own body it's a profound experience and for me it was like a direct link to the spirit realm again through my womb i really understood the process of life that we come into a body and then we leave but because it happened in my womb it was so powerful and i felt like when when i say she because i actually did have a vision of sort of a female duty rising up out of my body and i share some of the story in a while feminine but i haven't even told the full story yet so in this part of the vision i saw this beautiful radiant goddess writing right it's you know and really when she left she took a real burden of pain that i had been carrying of grief of probably losses that had been in my family for generations that were blocking my joy blocking my connection to the spirit around and it felt like she took from me so i was so grateful i felt this lifting this huge lifting of grief and so i began to explore the whole process of grief and what it looks like when we grieve and the other thing i was this women were often carrying grief in this culture in general we don't have rituals to clear grief on a regular basis of some cultures understand that women hold the grief and carry the grief so they do ritual to release it and a lot of women in this time that i see as clients  d kind of more western society who are to hold it and not even really knowing they're holding it seems normal they they walk around feeling kind of a heaviness and they think that's normal so for me it was like the first time this huge weight had been lifted from me and death is a doorway time so you really get to open and expand and it's a time when you can clear things a birth is like that to these doorway times we have opportunities to clear so this huge shift happened for me and it became such a blessing because all of this energy came in and part of the reason it became a blessing is because i could really tuning into that part of my body sometimes it doesn't feel that way for a woman she feels very lost in the grief or if she has a miscarriage there because it is a doorway a woman can actually get a little bit hung up energetically so one of the things i now know to do with women is i say come to me after you have a miscarriage because then that in our society usually a woman will just here come back when you're pregnant again so there isn't really a holding that happens and then there's an energetic difficulty that can happen because it's such a doorway and i think women actually get hung up a little bit still kind of holding on to that life and they don't can't really move forward they don't feel quite right and they don't know why so i've sat with many women since who have helped with this process of coming back and to their present time so so when i allow that to lift that i could really bring in that blessing energy and then it does become a blessing and the other thing i had that was really profound was an image of all these spirits waiting to come in and i asked this  i honor you how can i remember you and the words i heard or teach women to know and love their beauty so that you can restore this sacred place within because i think all souls really desire to come into a place where women are more tapped in to the awareness of the potential instead of a place that might hold shame you know done a lot of shame around the public bull and so that limits the ability of a spirit to bring their full radiance and so the more we honor this as a sacred space them are the souls can come in with more of their radiance fully activated so that was a really profound experience to see that i just saw the soul stretch as far as i could see they were sitting with her just saying please help the women that's beautiful i think that's such a beautiful way of looking at the experience of miscarriage because it's  so traumatic and painful for a woman but then to look at it as it's a doorway it's the amazing thing about being a woman you are a doorway not only for getting a life but also experiencing death and yes i think as caregivers we and help in that way because we can see when we tap into that center it's a real place for visioning and also to you know with miscarriage it's just i think part of it is that there's an energy that comes in with that being and because women aren't quite sure what to do with that when an energy of a spirit essence comes in and is more spirit than the body there can be an energy that still comes in and blesses the woman and her life with her relationship with that soul so another thing i tell him to do is really ask how does that soul wan remembered how do they want to be acknowledged how to they want to give expression to their energy and from meanwhile feminine really carries the essence of that soul imprint and so women can also understand that there's there is a loss and grief and they have to move the grief there is also a blessing if they will bring that energy and continue to give expression to it it's really beautiful well as well as being a doorway for life which is a wonderful blessing as a woman it's the pelvic ball it's also that center for creativity that's how can we access that to be more creative as women so there are so many ways and what i love one thing i love is as wild salmon and has gone out as a book women are talking about it and there's a whole book club section at the end so women are gathering and having the experience of reading the material together and then i have a long term book club who is from all walks of life and they're choosing to read it now too we're reading it together so i'm reading it so you know as if i never see them just reading it and so what's really fun is to see how women can can interpret that and it's very expansive so there are so many ways so i think of it as really a woman tuning back into her center and maybe unplugging a little bit you know a lot of times we've learned to use creative energy by just plugging our creative energy into the forms that exist so it might be into a particular job or it might be in a certain relationship structure might even be in roles mother is one of those life is another where we get kind of limited based on the structure that we've kind of learned maybe unconsciously and so if instead we come back to the center and we really work with the energy there we can begin to more dynamically co create our lives and so our our creative energy is really meant to flow through every aspect so instead of just being one  and one way there we have this deep creative energy that wants to be given expression to and when we tap into that it will even inspire us we might shift how we're working we might shift the way we're mothering we might shift the way we're partnering you know the way we're inhabiting our body as a woman and so it can be used in day to day life from even you know i look at sometimes lists of things to get done but instead of just going through those lists like a taskmaster i will talk a little bit more about feminine masculine energy in a minute but you can get into this kind of non creative way of living all back and i'll really sense what's the next thing for me to do so i let this flow come through my center or i might stop completely and go out and just really appreciate the sunshine or the rain dropping or the flowers that have just bloomed you know where's the and and where am i and how do i lie in that energy just to what's happening right now around to me so it can be a more fluid way of living they can see inspiration can help you heal and really it's it's up to each woman to tap into that and give expression to it that's really wonderful well you're talking about a woman holding feminine a masculine aspects in her body so women's left ovary and then her right overy they have different aspects to the feminine masculine and i love some of the terminology that share how we can tap into again i really wanted to be playful and be more creatively expressive about you know we talk about the ovaries and again they start some clinical but they're very spicy they're very fiery they have real personalities i call them a woman's girlfriends because when we would tune into that one i would work with a client we tune into the energy they're funny and they have a lot to say and they can really make our life more fun and so it's really about fire energy within a woman and the left ovary tends to be more of the dreamy intuitive feminine ovary it's more right brain left body and so i call her the muse she's the one who gives us the inspiration in life and so you know too often we can see that it's nonproductive critically in this culture and so we don't make time for her but actually if we go to those activities so things that help us feel kind of dreamy and fluid and more it's a more holistic side to kind of see the whole wholeness and of life when you tap into this side it's worth doing because it really fills us and often gets off our inspiration of how we're going to manifest our energy in the outer world so making time for that feminine is really important and then likewise on the right side we have more this masculine energy and that's right over i call her the cowgirl and i  one point might be more cowboy boots or cowgirl hats or just different ways or you know flashy jewelry or something she's more expressive in the outer realm and so we need both we need that masculine what i was saying about the task nastar you know on that happens a lot where women are feeling like they've got a lot to do they've got a lot on their plate women today are very tapped they're very busy and so they all has i think of our lists and so again without the feminine the right the right side over you can be going but it can be this taskmaster where you don't get to rest and you don't get to have time for things that really fulfill you on and around and so it's important to just you know talk to your call girl and just say you know i so appreciate your out of fire but let's tune in to the left ovary and they really should be working together because then get that refill when you bring that leftover and that kind of brings you know refills here well and it also does bring inspiration that often is the visual the visualizing part of then bringing something into form so likewise if you spend too long in the feminine dreamy realm you don't get things done you can get a little lost there so we need growing at that masculine has this ok time to put it on paper time to put it out in the world time to take shape we've done enough dreaming let's bring it out into them to transform and sew together a woman needs bowl to people i've noticed you know when i when i ask people if they have more of a preference for the outer realm and kind of networking connecting they tend to be more right over there from a comfort zone the right ovary the left ovary those women are generally a little bit more internally focused maybe quieter sometimes but deep and you know we we need both aspects but it's also good to know you know where where do i come from and why i have more comfort in one realm i think it's good to know your strengths and then also encourage yourself to bring both in and and so there's a list in wil and in the ovary chapter just about right over your left ovary activities but i think it can be fun to kind of make your own list too and really just say what is it that really helps me get into that spaciousness of the left ovary and for some people it's cooking or gardening for me it's writing i'll sit in meditation and ritual i love it and actually my children bring me over there a lot too and then and then what about the right over you what really brings that to life for you what do you do in your life that really gives fatality to that and you want to make sure that is really connected to your own soul expression so it's not just doing it for the sake of doing but what are you putting steps into that really matters to you on a soul level i think women are deeply creative but one thing i would say is women need to do a little bit more reorienting to the to that internal place to their bowl to who they are so what they want to give expression to so they make sure that their they are giving some direction to their creative energy and a way that feels deeply aligned with their soul expression i like that because it really makes me think about things that i have never thought about  so that's really wonderful and you know one woman wrote a blog on line about she's a star trek fan and she was talking about how it reminded her of the starship and that they're there she showed a picture of there's these lights that look like ovaries and so i thought about that you know really steering your starship you know when you tap into both energy fields you really give fire to your creative life i think it's a nice way to look at women is this creative force the giver of life and to me that's very empowering and the other empowering thing is when women gather together and they create a community and you talk about this in your book of creating resources for women how can we do that a richer life together i think you know again it's realizing that each one of us has our piece and that piece has a place in the collective so there's a lot of emphasis on individual and that can be really isolating women need community they need to connect with one another and part of the hesitation around connection to sometimes feeling worthy so i think the more that women tap into the beauty in their center and they really cherish themselves and they really honor who they are what they're bringing the more they can be seen and they can feel satisfied in their connections because they're being more visible and radiant so it's first starts i think with that internal place of really aligning with your energy cherishing that energy and giving expression to it and really knowing what is it that you want to bring to community and then knowing that there is no scarcity there is abundance and every person is beautiful radiant soul bringing their peace and the more that each one of us brings that radiance the more that we can bring the shifts and the vibrancy as a collective so it's really important that we tap into that beauty and then we bring it to the center and i think of the resources that each woman really lighting up her home the fire and bringing that to the circle and everyone has their own unique gifts and together we're more whole that's really beautiful can you share with us because working with a thousand women that must have given you a very unique perspective can you share some of the stories from women and how they've learned to access this beautiful creative part well i would say you know sometimes they're coming because they have a pain or a challenge or even a trauma that they're wanting to heal and so i would say you know over and over again each person might have it might even be similar experiences someone might have had some sort of trauma but on paper you know this person and this person have said similar thomas but it's kind of how we imprint i s different so it's really the stories of what has inspired me is knowing that each woman coming to her own center is the healing and so each woman coming to that place where she might feel afraid at first or hesitant to tap into that center as soon as she comes down and begins to walk around the one thing i do with women is a meditation i just kind of share that where i invite them to come into their center and first feel the connection at the base of the bowl with the earth so we can even kind of do this right now as we're talking and feel that nice earth connection because we get so busy we move out of our earth connection so it's tapping back and kind of slowing down a feeling that base ball connection and really aligning with the earth then i want to come around to kind of sweep bull out and so you know at first they're coming with a story usually and you know if this happened or that happened and i want to heal around it and so i hear the story and i hear what they're saying but i bring them to the ball and the ball really guides us and so invite them to take a walk around it so the first thing might be there has the chance to go there the next thing might be as we're sweeping around so we can go you might just imagine in your mind's eye that you're taking a walk around this ball in your sweeping it out and you can clear it like there is light or water just moving down to the center so going around your ball and then women will find that maybe they are sweeping part of the ball that can be a place of a a dent in the circle or a place where they don't feel as clear so i don't like a lot of slowest time and where they had difficulty to really spend time there either clearing or just being present just being with just noticing even noticing the sensations so i make it all the way she might not feel empowered in her life she might not feel it she can be visible or she might feel like she's not creative you know and as soon as we tap into that fire and get those sparks going she's in a different plane altogether she's just playing with her energy and she's realizing i've been limiting myself by these old imprints or these old stories which are real and they have an impact but below that is the energy just waiting for you to discover and to connect again and so then i invite them to go deep center and plant a seed or two in the womb so if we go deep center in the bowl that's a place where that door we were talking about with spirit and also say you know think of an intention or two just for today it might be to connect more deeply with my body to have my radiance visible in all areas of my life it can be whatever to heal this piece that i came in for so they set that in their center and immediately their energy just starts look beautiful like a crystal that is so beautiful and the last thing i do is invite them just to walk around and bless it so bring blessings to the body and that's one of the most wonderful having you here today a new connection thank you so much thank you so much it's been a pleasure being here thank you thank you you can learn more about women's health at our website at new connection journal dot com join us next time a new connection where you can tune in and grow