The intensive, or pre- and perinatal (PPN) psychology retreat, was held on very potent and positively-charged land. Myrna Martin and Ken, her husband, have been farming fruits, berries and veggies on that land for more than 30 years and they have been hosting process workshops for the last 16 years.
Myrna is a big proponent of home births. And rightfully so. When we have a relatively (and all births involve some strain and difficulty) smooth birth, and we can lay on our mothers with skin-to-skin contact for at least 15 minutes, and then when we (the baby) feel the impulse to crawl to the breast and nurse, we create the foundations for secure attachment. And if there is good support for both Mom and Dad, with a good birth keeper (midwife) present, many positive things can come from birthing at home. Of course having a skillful and properly trained midwife is necessary to know if and when transport to a hospital is needed.
Long story short, their land is just infused with safety and potency and the divine feminine. The principles of safety and confidentiality and comfort and being able to say no to anything and being able to call a pause whenever you feel you need one create a container which is very difficult to find outside of her trainings. And of course, the majority of her students have been women. This makes sense – women are more likely to be able to go to those vulnerable places, they are more comfortable doing emotional process work in general, and they are far more concerned about learning how to become a birth keeper. (Just for the record, Myrna does not teach midwifery, as far as I know.)
Taking all of this into account, I was very pleased that 2 other males participated in the training with me. And Ken was a teacher, so that made the male population 25%. That is much higher than I am used to in bodywork classes.
It is no wonder I was drawn to do Green Tara practice while I was (in the evenings) doing the training. Not that I know what I am doing in the least. But with that said, I taught the mantra to several of the women there and I also taught them the Om Ah Hung practice that we learned from Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen at the Tibetan Meditation Center in Frederick, Maryland. In fact, when I was doing Green Tara practice with one young woman in particular, I felt something very unusual – my body was very present and grounded while my awareness of reality expanded beyond what was normal. That was pretty cool.
I may have over-done it a bit. I offered astrology to two different participants in exchange for bodywork and a Taro reading. Plus I went hiking on Saturday and did kayaking on Sunday. With such full psychologically-churning days and full evenings, I probably could have spent more time resting down and purposely pausing to integrate. But overall I am glad for how things worked out.
I don’t have many goddess experiences to relate, but as I was winding down in Spokane Washington, having a leisurely lunch with one of the TA’s from the intensive (she was to leave the next morning), I had one little goddess encounter.
I’m not entirely sure why it occurred and I’m not entirely certain I was really grounded and embodied, but I definitely sensed a large feminine presence (a goddess) hovering over me in the restaurant and having her hands on the sides of my head. It was almost as if her hands were in a craniosacral type of hold. Whatever the case, I rested back and enjoyed the sensation for at least 60 seconds. My new friend, the TA may have been talking, but I was much more focused on sensing in to what was happening around and within me. And then the sense of the goddess’ presence was gone.
[Which goddess? I don’t know. She was altruistic and loving and gentle. She did not have much of a form that I could identify.]
And then I began my long journey eastward to Virginia. Home now, I can honestly say that the PPN work is indeed life changing!
Thanks for reading.
~K
Meditation Informs Healing Facilitation 