Shakti Rising: recovery and empowerment for young women |
Across the way, a ways away, was the booth for this organization, and that psychedelic butterfly was blown up large as the backdrop. But it was the woman staffing the booth, and my busyness, that drew me and kept me away. I knew her from somewhere... and she is "muy mujer" (very woman)--a sort of Lara Croft or maybe even a Jessica... no, but definitely like one of the Spanish TA's here--everything you would want "woman" to become--beautiful, vivacious, and powerful. And you can't touch her. I can't anyway. She's not Feral. Muy mujers are masters of the feminine game... they are not androgenous. (?) Not that feral is.
I think I first saw her at a Kundalini yoga pot-luck party in December 2004 given in Point Loma next to or near to the house my grandparents used to live in.
I saw her again as Steven and I were walking back to his place after following a secret pedestrian route through balboa park. Past the Boy Scout Camp, across the evil highway 163. She was on a street corner of a quiet dead-end street, talking to a friend, next to a car.
Had I known I was going to ponder her so much, I would have said something. I had not visited "ShaktiRising.org" at the time.
It seems like it could be a cult around the one who calls herself Shakti... wait a second... oh, how I misread. Shannon Thompson does not call herself Shakti. Shakti is:
Our life force, a creative, moving feminine energy that lives in all of us;
Rising: Flowing upward, to ascend, to set in motion.
Well, after searching the site to find out what the organization does, and for pictures of the woman I saw, I am left with a feeling of, how wonderful. Half my readers would agree that I could benefit from such a thing for men... There is the mankind project, and Lo! there is a San Diego Center.
It appears that training costs $650--for a weekend--, here's what it does:
The New Warrior Training Adventure is a process of initiation and self-examination that is crucial to the development of a healthy and mature male self. It is the "hero's journey" of classical literature and myth - the process of moving away from the comforting embrace of the mother's feminine energy and safely into the masculine kingdom. It is a journey of the soul during which men confront their dependence on women, their mistrust of other men and their need to be special.
Well, what I read at Shakti Rising sounds better:
We know that the most powerful actions we take are the daily choices we make about our bodies, our health, our well being, that of our families and ultimately, our environment.
Here's a better page for Shannon. She may be an SDSU student "She is currently enrolled in a joint Master’s Degree Program for Social Work and Public Health."
I'm very impressed. I don't know what to say. There don't seem to be any pictures of the one I saw. It seems like it would be wonderful to be in the environment of that house. With such an emphasis on health.
Just last weekend I felt very tired and did not want to move, and weak... I have some ideas about what to do better... but often or sometimes, I feel like I'm just hanging on. "social change vs. personal healing" At the same time, I'm having opportunities, and I think, if I can last, then in 3-4 years I can focus on the holistic natural dream, and stop sleeping on a deteriorating synthetic carpet. Ah. I don't know.
Added by colin #442 on 2005-05-10. Last modified 2005-05-10 02:04. F0 License: Attribution
Location: World, United States, California, San Diego
Topics: community, health, men, spirit, women