Sometimes, things are beyond description, just needing to be
experienced and felt. Such was the
speaker at our recent Wow meeting. After
a lovely and unusually healthy potluck meal, we gathered to listen to Tarnie
Fulloon, our speaker. Lucky us.
Tarnie has an interesting story that many of us can identify
with. Raised on a farm in Australia, she
learned at an early age to be strong and responsible, often taking on what
would be called “manly” tasks of heavy physical work, even at her petite size. She decided early on that she would not need
a man to take care of her, that she would be able to do so herself, and thus
began the limiting of her access to her feminine side in favor of the
masculine.
How does this connect to her presentation? Tarnie teaches that we women are
over-committed and over-responsible because of our abiding so heavily in the
masculine part of ourselves. We plan, we
push too hard, we over-achieve, we give too much, and we people-please. We end up feeling that we are never enough,
we feel shame, and we become critical and judgmental. We live someone else’s idea of what our life
should be and we allow the voices of others to drown out our own. We feel disconnected, resentful, anxious,
numb, dead inside, and tired of living like this. Sound familiar?
The key is to reconnect with our feminine side, which allows
us to live a more creative life, choosing what we enjoy and what nurtures us. Instead of listening to the voice that says
others are more important, we learn to access who we really are, who we are
meant to be. We must let go of our inner
critic, live more in the moment, and let go of the “what-ifs”.
Tarnie teaches that, to accomplish this, we need to reconnect
with our body through movement and meditation.
Losing our connection to our body causes us to lose ourselves. We resist going from our mind to our body out
of fear because the mind requires the status quo to feel safe. Through movement and meditation, it is so
much easier to be in the moment, to feel
our bodies, to access the “real” us.
Tarnie led us in a body meditation by having us stand, close
our eyes, and start to move our bodies.
First our shoulders, then our arms, hips, and feet. Meditation isn’t easy, meditating for more
than two breaths is success, but this movement meditation allowed me to be in
the moment, stop my thinking, and be free of concerns and worries instantly. After our exercise, Tarnie asked us how we felt
and the ladies answers were: calm,
confident, strong, joyful, happy, loose.
Imagine that, a few minutes of such a simple exercise and our sense of
ourselves became more peaceful and more centered.
Feeling out of sorts or wondering what exactly is your place
in life? Feeling overwhelmed and
exhausted? Wishing you could have more
joy in life? Contact Tarnie and learn to
find yourself and become the woman who is strong and creative, can master a job
and still feel joy in relationships and life.
We were all quite changed by our limited time with Tarnie. It can happen for you, too! You can reach this magical and delightful
woman through her website at http://www.tarniefulloon.com/
