Mama Gena intro and signing up to Mastery

From a previous post you read about the School of Womanly Arts and my incredible weekend in the Miami Sister Goddess Reunion.  I am sure by now you know it did not end there.  How could it? How could I pass the opportunity of getting a taste of what all of these women had?  This course was held in NYC. This is where I live, could it be any easier?  So on January 20th I went to the Mama Gena Mastery Introduction.

The Intro was called a "Life Unbound" and it was fun, exciting and filled with NY woman who were as curious as I was to see what the course was all about.  I spoke to my dear friend Monique about it and she also came with to check it out.  The excitement after the Intro was undeniable and everyone was walking towards the back room to sign up for this incredible adventure.  I also wanted to sign up but my only concern was that the course would begin in March and go all the way through Mid-June and I was a bit skeptical at the thought of doing this while I was pregnant.  Only one person would be able to answer this question so I waited to speak to Mama Gena about her thoughts on the matter.  As soon as I asked she said that it would be absolutely perfect for me to take the course for I would be surrounded by woman that had gone through the same thing and would love and support me through it.


Also a very important documentary that I watched affected me tremendously by learning that a babies life starts in uteral and the environment the mother places her self in is particularly important during her pregnancy.  This sounded like the perfect ingredient.

My girlfriend Monique signed up, Tina, Line and Merry had already signed up and my dear friend Inna would be in Team Pleasure which are the people that assist through out the course.
I said F* it, signed up and followed my intuition once again.  I am starting to see how following ones gut makes life so much more fun.

My adventure with Mama Gena started on March 05, 2011 and that first weekend was mind blowing and incredible.  Over 200 woman from all over the world signed up and came.  The furthest one out came from Katar. Others traveled from Denmark as well as Canada and from all around the US.  There were woman from all backgrounds, ages, sizes and personalities.  I can not really give too much away but it was transformational for many including myself and this was the first weekend!

I heard and saw things that I have never seen before.  It's an interesting fact that in our society there is not much real education on honest female related topics that really explaining our history, our struggles, our truths & our previous limitations.  We have all of these ideas of how a woman should live their life however they are built and based on sad conditioning from previous rules, laws, regulations of ideas meant to keep us down, bound & controlled.  This is a forum which allows woman to explore everything that being a woman is, was and can be.  I truly believe that this type of education is necessary for every woman in the world.  My 200 sisters and I were now part of it.

  

The first three months

The first three months of my pregnancy incredibly enough were like any other day.  I was blessed to never have felt any of the typical symptoms of pregnancy which is why a lot of the time I temporarily forgot I was pregnant.  I had tons of energy, no nausea, no moodiness, no vomiting, no pain, not much weight gain or body changes but the total and complete opposite.   Of course no drinking alcohol, very small amounts of caffeine, lots of fruits, no spicy food, goats milk, no lifting heavy things, pre-natal vitamins and overall healthy living.  Even after my first sonogram where you get to see the first glimpse of life (which is insane) with the little heart beating shown by a flash of light going in an out, it was still very surreal.  

Around this time I was beginning to have all kinds of crazy thoughts and feelings.  On one hand I was feeling a bit paranoid since my very old and old school OBGYN insisted on my high risk of miscarriage because of my age on the first three months and on the other hand the idea of being pregnant freaked me out beyond belief and I felt so wrong for feeling that way.   I think there are three types of reactions to this news from women:  1) is immediate joy 2) is first insanity, insecurity, and then joy 3) all of these at the same time. I am here to tell you that either reaction is completely normal so do not beat your self up for any feelings that come up.  IT'S A HUGE DEAL.  Of course you are going to have a huge reaction to it.  

I do believe that having a close, loving group of friends and family is very important during this time so you can release all of your mind junk out for clarity.  I will be for ever grateful to Marisol & Ursula for listening to my craziness during that time since they both have kids and they each guided me out of my madness with many loving conversations.  I will also like to thank Monique and Inna for listening to me without judgement.  Thank God(dess) for great friends.

I would also like to note that signing up to Baby Center and receiving an e-mail about how my baby and  body is changing is what worked best for me.  I purchased many books and I attempted to read them to get informed however as soon as I read something negative, I closed the book and put it away.  

There was a time where woman just had babies and trusted their bodies fully to take them thru the process.  That is what I am attempting to do.  So far it has worked fantastic!

The final ingredient

This was the final ingredient that created just the perfect amount of excitement for me to dance with the idea of making a baby.  It all started with my girlfriend Cristina and her baby shower in South Beach.    Flight was booked and off i went.  I had a great time seeing her again, met her husband, friends and saw her beautiful family. My reservation was till tuesday so we all had dinner, went out with her friends, managed to have a very important client visit from a side project I was working on and even snuck in an Empowered Woman's Summit held in the City of Miami.

In the midst of all of this my amazing friend Inna (Shapkina) and I revisited a conversation regarding something called "The World Wide Sister Goddess Reunion" for the School of Womanly Arts which was happening the following weekend in Miami.  Now Inna had mentioned this to me before but I was not sure that something called Sister Goddess Reunion would be my cup of tea.  Just because I adore Inna and fully trusted her judgement I considered it.  I then thought I was already in Miami and since I was not under any time constraint I extend my South Beach stay for another 4 days.  I sacrificed and stayed longer to meet up with my super fun friend Inna for yet another interesting experience.

So I needed a hotel room since she was already staying with a friend at the Raleigh.  She went on some SG website and got me the phone number of a girl named Tina that was looking to come and needed a roommate.  I called her up, we totally connected on the phone and voila......we confirmed our stay together at a hotel next door.   Everything was working out to perfection.  Friday morning came, I packed my bag and moved over to the next hotel.  Checked in and then walked over to the Raleigh to meet Inna and her friend Erin.  This is where the Mama Gena experience really started.  The Raleigh is the hub or home base for everything Mama Gena in Miami.  As soon as you walk in pink boas & hundreds of woman take over this hotel.  There is an air of fun and excitement beaming from ever face.  It is very difficult to describe the entire weekend since there was so much going on from the day class in the Convention Center, to beach days, night events, lunches, dinners, hotel pool parties and everything in between however one thing I can say is that it left me in a state of ecstasy.  Inna, Tina, Erin and myself had a blast all weekend long.  Along the way we met Line from Denmark and Merry from Pittsburg along with hundreds of other amazing woman.

Everyone had their own particular reasons for being there but one thing we all had in common was the feeling we all shared from such an amazing weekend.  The truth is that many woman do not support each other, and being surrounded by so many positive uplifting fun sexy women was unlike anything I had every experienced before and such a breath of fresh air.  It was wonderful to experience another magnificent side of the female persona and I was forever grateful for being given this gift by my incredibly wise sister Inna.
I left Miami with such a high from beginning to end.


I spent 10 extraordinary days with incredible woman and when I got home I was so excited and full of energy it was contagious.

Two weeks after these 10 ecstatic, incredibly fun days I went back to Miami with my husband and we made a baby.  I really believe that the high of the entire experience, the woman I met, the possibilities that opened up, the things I learned, had all to do with the energy generating in me at the time of conception.  INCREDIBLE!!!
More on SWA later :)

My two pregnancy inspirations

I can not continue to write this blog without mentioning two of my sisters from another mother that oh so inspired me during their amazing pregnancy not so long ago.  My two dear amazing girlfriends Cristina and Patricia.  They both became pregnant a couple of months apart last year and were very much a big part of my life during their pregnancy.  One lives in NY and the other in Miami.

PATRICIA

My lovely sister Patricia and I met while taking a Flamenco Class in NYC some years ago.  She is one of the loveliest women I know and we quickly developed a great, amazing friendship.

I adore her and her husband Julio as well as their beautiful new born  baby girl Emma.  They have one of the most amazing marriages I have ever seen and now they share that love with their adorable baby.  What a perfect love story.

CRISTINA

 My other lovely sister Cristina and I went to college together and over the years we lost each other as it happens in life and then found each other again thru Facebook as it happens in life.  Thank god. Reconnecting again was wonderful since we found out that even though time had passed we had many thing in common.  Months later she called me with the exciting news of being pregnant and on another day, that her baby shower would be at the end of Oct 2010 in Miami.  This was the perfect opportunity to see her again especially during such an amazing occasion.

To the left is her looking amazing in her baby shower and to the right is little precious baby Roman Parker Lloyd.  Thank you universe for bringing her back!

These two women were extremely instrumental in forming the very limited and dreadful ideas I had on pregnancy.  Both in their unique different ways showed me that pregnancy was as simple or complicated as you wanted it to be.  Now I am not claiming to be a medical anything and this is simply my opinion based on what I have seen and experience.  My thoughts are simple;  If you fill your head up with and expect the typical "supposable symptoms" of pregnancy such as being tired, nausea, vomiting, back pain, moodiness etc. then most likely that is what you will experience.  Both Cristina and Patricia suffered non of this and had smooth and amazing pregnancies which is an experience so few woman get to have.  I am sure by now you see why my two kick ass girls were so inspiring and at this point I wasn't even considering having a child and being pregnant.  Oh universe you are so wise and clever!

Final thought;  I wish there was more of this on TV, on movies, on the news, on books so us woman can embrace and celebrate this amazing, magical, miraculous gift we get to experience instead of fearing it and pushing it away, or depending so much on the opinion of books and/or doctors without trusting our amazing bodies that are so well equipped and innately trained to go through pregnancy.
Love Love Love - C.

Claiming my space in the world as a divine goddess

Now that you know how this baby was conceived I must share the story of how this very active nyc chick opened up to the idea of having a child.  I am pretty sure many women can relate to putting having a family in the back burner for a long time since our lives are so full of activities, the excitement that city living brings as well as our endless hunger for success.

On May 14th, 2010 I left the interior design world & my very cozy, secure, well paying job for the unknown, to search for myself, to find bigger and better things to do with my life.....in other words "I quit".  When that persistent thought pulls at you and you get to the point which you can no longer ignore it, action is the only logical following step.  Luckily my husband was very much in agreement with my decision which made things much easier.  Also a brilliant move on my part was coming to an agreement with my soon to be former employer where we would work together in the happy separation of my clients for a comfy severance package.

So there I went, my initial idea was to travel the world, go to my birth country Uruguay, see my family, take lots of classes, spend much time at the beach, hang out with friends, redo my apt and be open to receive my new direction.  One gift giving to me by the universe completely changed my world.
I remember this day as if it were yesterday:
After many months of not working & playing I was in my apartment completely freaking out when an intense desire of wanting to get out of the city came about me.  It was wednesday and luckily for me the previous tenant subscribed to the Kripalu Catalog and every month I would receive it in the mail.  That day I received the new one and opened it up to find out it was the perfect place to go to for rest and relaxation.  I went on the website and booked the first weekend seminar I saw which I could not even tell you right now what it was,  I just needed out and anything would do.  I reserved a spot on the shuttle that takes you from Manhattan to the Center and off I went.  This place is 4 hours away and having never been there before it was very exhilarating and relaxing at the same time.

On the shuttle which I completely recommend to anyone going that way I listened to music and with every mile that passed I let go of stress.  During music breaks I would be in silence and by coincidence heard the other woman on the bus comment on a weekend course they were about to take called Goddess Boot-camp with a woman named Sierra Bender.  They got my attention and I turned to inquire about it.  They explained how it was only for woman and how empowering it was supposed to be.  Interesting I thought.  As soon as we got to the center off the shuttle we went and to my left was a tall, gorgeous woman with long dark hair, chiseled cheeks and lots of presence.  Once I got inside to the front desk and inquired about the goddess boot-camp I realized that the woman by the front entrance was Sierra Bender.  I thought to myself, I want what she's got and quickly changed my weekend plans to take her course instead.  This is how it started;  It was 45 women and we did lots of yoga, breathing exercises, hiking, archery, sharing & readings from her book "Goddess to the Core" which contains much valid information on the history of women in the world and the transition from the Worshipped Goddess to the women we are today.
The core of this course is the exercises however the SOUL of the course is the shift that happens inside as you expose yourself to so much information about women.  No other place or class ever spoke to me in this way about the real ME.

This was my introduction to my Inner Goddess.  To a much deeper place of feminine essence all woman  posses.  That connection to the devine, to our bodies, to our sensual feminine side, to our female power, to mother earth and father sky - body and spirit.  That weekend I claimed my space in the world as a sensual, sexual, powerful, sacred, divine Goddess and I was never going back.
I am incredibly grateful that this was placed in my path and now looking back it is the only way that I would have opened myself up to the divine gift given to me by the universe of bringing a life into this world.   Everyone is touched by different experiences, this one experience shifted my paradigm and changed my life.
                                                      Thank you Universe & Sierra for your amazing work.