Category: Women’s Groups

Women Working Together in True Harmony

~ womeninlivingness

by Sharon Gavioli, Registered Nurse, Birth Educator, Counsellor, Brisbane, Queensland

I attended an event for the celebration of the International Women’s Day held by Real Media Real Change (RMRC) in Brisbane, “Nurturing the Woman Within: Reclaiming Your Natural Rhythm Within our Modern Times”. It was one of a series of events presented around exploring how expectations and pressures women face today can impact our general wellbeing and how we can reconnect to our natural rhythms and to reconsider self-nurturing.

I attended due to my involvement in the Brisbane Esoteric Developer’s Groups offered by Universal Medicine, that has been running a women’s group over the last 2 plus years.  During that time, I have consistently attended this group and have come to understand that the way we are currently living as women doesn’t truly support our natural way of being, and that nurturing ourselves is essential for us feel the loveliness of the women we are. Continue reading “Women Working Together in True Harmony” →

Celebration of the Cycle of Menopause

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by Bernadette, Self-employed in Community Services, Australia

Last month I attended ‘the first gathering’ in Melbourne for a group of women in the cycle of menopause. If I’m honest, I attended because I have loved being with the women who attend the women’s meetings, the sharing that occurs and the unifying experiences that remind us of our true power as women – the power of learning to truly be ourselves, connecting to our ability to be still, to really feel our bodies and to appreciate and celebrate the well of wisdom they contain.

This specific Menopausal Women’s Group I attended because it was another opportunity to have this wonderful experience again… AND I was eligible because I biologically fitted the criteria (not that that was necessary)!

What occurred was profound for me.

During the evening I was moved by all the different ways in which women experience the cycle of menopause.

There were women who were parents of very young children sitting beside a grandmother who was just learning to say no to the demands of her adult daughter. One woman told of her 70-year-old pattern of rescuing her sister that she had recently broken, whilst another woman was facing risky surgery for cancer the following week. Continue reading “Celebration of the Cycle of Menopause” →

True Nurturing – The Way I Return to Me

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by Adrienne Ryan, Brisbane, Australia

I went to a presentation for women today hosted by Jenny Ellis and Mary Louise Myers from Universal Medicine. What was shared there about ‘True Nurturing’ inspired me deeply…

Nurturing is something I had begun to invest in by taking time to be attentive to what was needed to support me throughout my day. Before this, I can see how my way of life was designed to waste no time: a 2 minute shower, 5 minute dressed and ready to go, multi-task my way through many things at once, not wasting time painting my nails or spending too much time on my hair or paying too much attention to what to wear on an ‘ordinary’ day, and so on. In all this speedy efficiency there was no quality time, no space for just enjoying being with me – it was all about ‘moving on’, ‘getting things done’, ‘not holding other people up’, or ‘not taking up too much of their time or space’ and certainly not indulging in any perceived self-absorbed frivolous-ness or girlie-ness – these were just big unnecessary, indulgent, time wasters.

But today things are different. I have come to love making time to take my time getting ready for the day, tenderly and lovingly looking after myself, enjoying putting on makeup and clothes that highlight (not hide) my beauty and womanliness. I make time to take my time now, and because I do I get to enjoy the feeling of me – the loveliness that is within me – and I notice that I don’t want to brush this off, dismiss, diminish, play it down, reject or deny my innate preciousness anymore. Instead I want to honour it, embrace it and confirm the truth of it: I am worth TIME.

Today at the Brisbane Women’s Presentation I discovered Continue reading “True Nurturing – The Way I Return to Me” →

Nurturing According to My Body’s Rhythm

~ womeninlivingness

I have always understood ‘nurturing’ to be something very lovely and honouring that I do with myself – like having a bath with my favorite essential oils… or a bubble bath and maybe some candles and plenty of space and time to be with myself in a lovely and relaxed way, enjoying the warmth of the water around me.

Recently I went to an Esoteric Women’s Health (EWH) event presented by Natalie Benhayon: it was an inspiring presentation about Nurturing and being aware of the cycles and rhythms in one’s body. Natalie introduced something that I have never before truly heard or understood, even though it may have in the past been mentioned many times: that sometimes a bath with your favourite oils, bubbles or settings etc., may not actually be nurturing. Continue reading “Nurturing According to My Body’s Rhythm” →

The Mystery of the Migraine and Me

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by Francene Cartaar, Australia

Have you ever felt you were going a little crazy? – well, I have. My world shook in September 2001 when I started experiencing migraines with such force and power that I felt like my head was going to split open. This was the beginning of a decade of searching for answers and cures. Each time I would ‘plant’ myself on the table of a doctor or health practitioner with the belief that they could ‘fix me’.

Then I had an appointment with Serge Benhayon at Universal Medicine about 3 years ago. As well as being eager and nervous at the same time, I must confess to going to the appointment with the hope of being ‘fixed’ and ‘told the answers’. Never before had I experienced a consultation like this. Continue reading “The Mystery of the Migraine and Me” →

Who I Am Not, Discovering more of me as a Woman

~ womeninlivingness

by Julie Ferguson, Mackay

A little while ago I attended an Esoteric Women’s Group in Mackay. This is my experience…

As I sit here, trying to support myself to write what I truly feel instead of what my head is telling me, I realise how challenging for me this is.

The me I have become is all about how I look, the house I live in, the car I drive, the friends I have, the way my children behave or any of the million other boxes I feel I have to tick to show the world I’m doing just fine.

I feel vulnerable, fragile even to go here with myself, as I realise I don’t feel fine.

I breathe gently, allowing myself to feel how afraid I’ve become to simply be myself as I, like many women and men I know, have grown up with feelings of not being enough.  Continue reading “Who I Am Not, Discovering more of me as a Woman” →

My To-Do List

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by Rebekah Muntelwit, Sales Consultant / Interior Designer, Mackay, Australia

I have always been a woman of many to-do lists, checklists and tracking events etc. I have a goals list on my wall, a white board with things to be done, email notifications from myself, endless sticky note reminders and last but not least, two to-do lists on my phone – that I have with me constantly. As well as this I have things continually going through my head of what to do next (shopping list, count downs ‘till events and certain dates etc.).

And well, up until yesterday at the first Esoteric Women’s Group talk in Mackay, I didn’t really think that this could be contributing to the exhaustion and tiredness I frequently, if not always, feel! Continue reading “My To-Do List” →

A Swimsuit for ME

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by Felicity

I have read many stories of reclaiming from this Women in Livingness blog, but was hesitant to offer one myself as I felt I wasn’t quite there yet; that other women were doing it, claiming it, that is – living confidently as true women. Then I had a simple but profound experience that showed me what I have let go of, and how I am more honoring of me.

Recently, I had to buy some new bathers and I felt a few long-term insecurities just sitting there under the surface. I had no intention of indulging them, but I knew they were there waiting for a chance to go on a rampage, if I allowed it.

I went to a shop and picked out a few swimsuits to try on. One felt wrong as soon as I put it on. In fact it was so wrong because it was designed to press so strongly on my body as if trying to twist my upper chest into an ideal ‘look’ according to someone else, which felt like it was controlling my shoulders in some kind of compression. It fitted ok, but that was not the point. It just felt so wrong on my body because… well, because it didn’t allow me to be me. How huge to allow myself to feel this! Continue reading “A Swimsuit for ME” →

The Birth of A Woman

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by Dr Rachel Hall, Dentist, Kenmore Australia

Around 2 years ago a small group of Brisbane women began meeting approximately every 6 weeks to talk about and raise awareness of women’s health.

These meetings commenced by exploring that despite advances in healthcare and preventive medicine, women’s health was actually worsening, with ever increasing cases of breast lumps, breast cancer, hormonal problems, fibroids, endometriosis, problem periods and fertility issues.

This initial discussion gave rise to an interesting but very exposing concept that women’s health issues may stem from the way we are choosing to live our lives, and how we are as women. But what did that mean, and what did it look like? Continue reading “The Birth of A Woman” →

Women in Conversation

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by JK, UK

I have come to realise the power of expression, and the amazing potential that conversations with amongst women have to help every woman feel and reflect on their lives and the world around them – the importance of being earnest, and true to oneself.

Today whilst in conversation with other women, I realised for instance that two years ago I didn’t feel I knew how to be a true woman. I was born as a woman, I had a woman’s body, I could be a caring sister, a thoughtful daughter, a diligent colleague, a kind neighbour, but none of them felt like they were truly me, they felt more like roles I played. Today, two years on, having been inspired by other women and having had the opportunity for many conversations with women, I can feel that I am now starting to feel myself as a woman, in that I can feel tenderness, gentleness, and a loveliness in the way I move. I can feel a delicateness in the way I touch things, and I can feel a beauty deep within me – whatever clothes I am wearing on the outside. More so, I can feel a far deeper confidence as a woman, not that I now know all there is to be a woman, but that I have given myself the opportunity to give it a go, to experiment with the way I lovingly care for myself on a daily basis, and to be open to learning more about being a woman at work, or with friends and relatives, and in the way I am in the world.  Continue reading “Women in Conversation” →