
WHAT IS SPIRITUAL ACTIVISM — and why you should be practicing it.
*When you connect to the silence within you, that is when you can make sense of the disturbance around you* C.G. Jung
Meditation and silence practices have the potential of being social change tools. Let me tell you how.
HOW MEDITATION HELPED ME (and literally every human that practices it)
About 20 years ago, meditation and I found each other.
I was coming from a deeply dysfunctional home. Alcoholism, psychological and physical abuse, codependency. You name it. My family history makes any soap opera feel like a rom-com.
I was very lucky and got somewhat adopted by a matriarchal family of extremely powerful women. Jungian psychologists that lived their lives like artists and shamans at the same time. These women nourished me, literally and emotionally, taught me to run naked, put me in a women’s therapy group, encouraged me to dance under the moon with a flowing skirt and held my deep sorrow. And taught me to meditate.
After a year with them, after a year meditating, I felt strong, sunny, joyful and full of hope. And brave enough to face whatever I had to. And pursue any dreams I had. Meditation, changed me profoundly, uncovering my real self beyond trauma. It made me free.
Clearly it didn’t erase trauma from within me, it takes a lot of time and therapy and love, but it was extremely helpful.
I’m not going to list here the immense height of benefits that practicing meditation and silence bring to humans, but I assure you that it makes us better, more balanced, happier, freer, less stressed and better able to make decisions. And here’s my point, more willing to go beyond ourselves and contribute to the world.
The YIN/YANG IMBALANCE ON EARTH
The Tao Te Ching, sacred book to Taoism, explains that there are two main guiding forces on earth: Yin, representing the feminine. Nourishment, equality, empathy, receiving, darkness, horizontal relationships.
And Yang; the masculine. Achievement, action, striving, conquering, light, vertical relationships.
Forever women have been silenced. Busy taking care of kids. Not allowed to develop fully as human beings. Killed because of raising their voices. Unable to participate in politics. Uninvited to lead big corporations or rn marathons. Raped, underpaid, harassed, embarrassed, punished. Numbed.
Nowadays a new way (that we add up to all the traumatic ones previously described) to keep women unfocused in materializing their dreams is physical beauty. The patriarchal beauty standard pressure has us all very concerned and dizzy. Using up our bandwidth and energy on comparing our thighs with a random instagram model. Or feeling bad about not being perfect. In general. As if that existed.
And yes, in the past century the situation has improved, but still, men, and masculine energy has a huge advantage over it’s feminine counterpart; there is a profound Yin/Yang imbalance on our Earth.
If you ask any Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor what that means, the answer will be clear; sickness.
To balance out the worlds energetic landscape we therefore need more women contributing to society. More feminine voices and songs and laughters.
We need more women in power, deciding over the future of our cities and countries. Implementing policies, building bridges and peacemaking.
Because Earth, on the verge of the 6th mass extinction, needs women’s qualities, yin qualities -crearly more and more men are harnessing these too- to overcome this impending crisis; mothering, nurturing, empathy and the ability to hold horizontal relationships.
MEDITATION AS A SOCIAL CHANGE TOOL
Now, understanding the awakening and freeing qualities on meditation and the need for more yin energy in our world, we should make use of meditation to awaken women. Boom!
To free us women from different kinds of slavery we are held into and hold ourselves into.
To get our messages and hands and brains out into the world.
To get passed patriarchy and the culture of comparison.
To find a meaning beyond ourselves creating a spiritual practice that makes us feel connected and inspired.
To really help all women, in all socioeconomic strata, develop fully in what in their bones yearn to become.
It may sound simplistic. Have another think.
SPIRITUAL ACTIVISM
So now, picture this.
You go to a silence practice or meditation class, and leave feeling amazing. You decide to implement this as your daily routine. Because meditating should be like brushing your teeth. And you start to feel increasingly incredible, so when you go for Sunday brunch you tell your 3 best friends about this. And they too give it a go. So the same happens to them. And they too, tell enthusiastically 3 friends each.
Very soon, 1 billion women would be connected to themselves and awakening.
And the world would be a MUCH better place.
I am aware this is just a theory, but, have you met anyone that wasn’t profoundly transformed by meditation?
Feed on that. Give it a try.
DISCLAIMER: Super happy if men meditate too. Awoken men are also needed.
