28 Aug 2018 | Views : 499 |
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Bangalore
Into The Feminine Heart Men's Moon Circle co-facilitated by Women duo from the She Stands Tall Project envisions to create a sacred, open and safe ritual space that allows men to step into, hold space for, and express their deep vulnerability, sensitivity and feelings that they usually don't get an opportunity to share or mirror or express. The circle is hosted around the New Moon evenings.
Women facilitators holding space for men's journey is something completely new - anywhere in the world. It is not an easy journey and we recognize we are taking a huge risk and challenge into our own vulnerability as women. But we believe we are onto something based on our first experience of circle making on May 15th. Our strong foundational wisdom of She Stands Tall Project also, makes it possible.
And with encouragement from the men who attended and the experience they had, we are willing to continue with few more circles till we feel it is time to close this journey.
WHAT TO BRING: any feeling or thought or experience you have not been able to share or express.
- There are no active men circles happening in Bangalore,
- We as women, in our process through our own journey in the women's moon circle, recognize the urgent need for spaces that support men to step into the calling of their heart, share vulnerably, become aware of the internalized patriarchal wounds, and be willing to witness and mirror the value of sensitivity in self, for self and other men.
- We have also, become present to the knowing that internalized narratives of patriarchal masculinity, power and deep peer judgements make it difficult for many men to embody their vulnerability, and mirror their heart with each other. Additionally, we have learned from men, that they find it difficult to become present in the rhythms of their own heart because of fear of not being able to control the flooding of emotions that have been buried and numbed within for so long.
- We hope that these women-led men's moon circle will support any man out there willing to witness and learn from our feminine process. As women facilitators, we promise to create a non-judgemental empathetic space of deep vulnerability, and then on become witnesses to your process and hold space for whatever emerges for you to enter your feminine heart.
- We hope that our men's moon circle will make it possible for more and more men to step out and host men's circle in the city on their own.
Rekha Kurup - Founder and Director of SSTP
Madhura Srinivas - SSTP core team member and founder of Sajeeva Art Space.
While I was earlier sure of my ability to communicate effortlessly in a Men's Circle, I was surprised, for the atmosphere was a completely new one than anything I'd experienced before (no surprises there, in retrospect). I tried to "just be", as the grounded instructions encouraged me to focus on the feeling. And my, that was tough. Where was all my feeling when it finally found another space to express? Along the way there were also some threads of conversation that made me slightly uncomfortable, they gnawed at my ideas of political ideology. However, I trusted in the growth that listening almost always brings and hope that it guides me further on too. By the end, there were so many things that I wanted to share and some questions, but I thought it fit to stay in the silence once again. The thoughts may find flight as always, but I rather encourage my soul to peer around more. Without the doubt, such spaces are of the utmost need, and I am grateful to you and everyone else who supports and has supported this journey.
1. Understanding Patriarchy by Bell Hooks
"Patriarchy as a system has denied males access to full emotional well-being, which is not the same as feeling rewarded, successful, or powerful because of one's capacity to assert control over others. To truly address male pain and male crisis we must as a nation be willing to expose the harsh reality that patriarchy has damaged men in the past and continues
to damage them in the present. If patriarchy were truly rewarding to men, the violence and addiction in family life that is so all-pervasive would not exist." - Bell Hooks.
2. The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida and other works.
3. The work of Terrance Real
The reclamation of wholeness is a process even more fraught
for men than it has been for women, more dif cult and more profoundly threatening to
the culture at large. - Terrance Hall
4. Redefining Masculinity work by Justin Baldoni -- to figure out ways to be not just good men but good humans. In this warm, personal talk, he shares his effort to reconcile who he is with who the world tells him a man should be.
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