One of the most universal experiences I hear from women I would identify as "EMERGING WOMEN" (i.e. women who do NOT fit in a box, women who are desiring to reclaim sexuality and spirituality on their own terms) is this sense of...

• being stuck,

• trapped,

• held-back,

• pinned-down,

• imprisoned,

• silenced

• frozen

by some internal force.

I get this.

For me it felt like an impenetrable glass ceiling.

I could see freedom, but I had NO access to it.

And try as I might through all the self-help and therapy I was none the freer.

Which made me feel like there must be something wrong with me.

You may have felt the same at some point on your journey towards embodying your truest self.

Heck, you may have felt this today,

• What's wrong with me!?

• Why can't I get it together/figure this out?

• Why do I still feel like a girl inside instead of a woman?

• Why does it feel like I'm drowning instead of thriving?

• When will all this (yoga, sage-ing, therapy, etc) lead to me feeling better about myself?

Turns out there is good reason why women struggle just to feel okay with who they are, but it's not because there is anything WRONG with us.

Dr. Valerie Rein, renowned psychologist from Columbia University, says it has everything to do with trauma.

And listen to how she defines trauma:

Trauma is any event or circumstance that made you feel unsafe in your fullest authentic expression.

Raise your hand if you ever feared your fullest authentic expression may be a wee bit too much.

• Too sexy for your church

• Too happy for your family's history of depression

• Too angry for your good girl roll

• Too ambitious for your circle of friends

• Too sensual or erotic for your marriage

• Too smart for your classroom

• Too opinionated for the office

• Too glamorous for your income bracket

Even if this trauma was a small "t" trauma that happened to us when we were just kids (see my example in the downloadable PDF worksheet below), that trauma is still stored in our body, i.e. in our unconscious mind.

And it's not just our personal traumas that we carry with us...

We carry our ancestral traumas (the traumatic events that happened to our mothers, grandmothers, on-down the family-line)

and

our collective traumas (the traumatic events right now happening to women around the world) with us as well.

In other words, our nervous system is on overload just trying to make-sure we stay alive.

And to a child, not belonging equals death...

so whatever parts of our authentic self-expression threaten our belonging, those are the parts of us that get "locked-up."

And guess which parts those tend to be?

The parts of us most fluent in pleasure, creativity, authenticity, and power.

Dr. Valerie calls our trauma adaptations our Inner Prison Guards. It's an effective metaphor. Looking at women's experience through this lens, makes that universal feeling I referenced above make a lot of sense.

"Our biology dictates that we prioritize safety over thriving," Rein says. "As long as our unconscious feels it us unsafe to be visible, powerful, successful, happy, brilliant, and authentic, our prison guards will tell us stories to keep us safe inside our defined roles and identities," Dr. Valerie Rein.

So if Sex, God, Money (our topic from last week) feel triggering, it's because we as women have a lot of trauma around power--- and sex, god and money all hold a tremendous amount of energy and power.

But here is the good news!

Your soul has never been traumatized.

Your soul holds your wholeness perfectly intact. It's right here, with you, even now! Closer than you think.

And...listen to this:

A woman's wholeness contains her capacity to love and be loved.

The greater the capacity for love, the greater the steward of energy and power.

The more awareness you bring to your body, your emotions, your thoughts and your coping patterns, the more free you will become. Guarantee it. That's what this Emerging Women series is intended to do...

To assist you in your own awakening, by giving you the prompts and paradigms to break free.

The worksheet in this week's workbook will help you become more conscious about your own patterns.

If you use it, it will guide you through tracking the traumatic (as defined by above) events in your life so you can begin to see clearly

• how they imprinted upon your self-image (your thoughts and belief about yourself)

• your emotions (feelings),

• your body (sensations) and

• your the habits that keep you "safe." (coping mechanisms).

Remember:

To emerge means to become manifest, apparent; to move out from under and come into full view.

That is what we are doing.

We are emerging women, moving out from under dark prison cells, learning to see ourselves clearly in ways we never have before, making way for a brand new future, where IT IS SAFE FOR ALL OF US TO SHINE.

Last week I introduced 3 power centers in a woman's life: her relationship with Sex, God and Money...

This week I addressed the problem for you and what keeps us in a dysfunctional, i.e. powerless relationship with Sex, God, and Money...

Next week I will unveil my favorite (and most effective) solution!

And it won't be what you expect.

Oh no, the problem is heavy and dark and so is the toll it's taken on our life, but the solution is anything but!

I can't wait to share it with you.

See you back here next week, dear emerging women. For accountability, hit reply and let me know how ready you are to break free from the inner prison!

Grace & Peace & Jailbreak Vibes,

Morgan