The Rhythm of the Feminine

“Let the slowest part of you set the pace.”
Saida Desilets

Early last year this quote landed in my email inbox. Allowing the slowest part of me to set the pace sounded good but truthfully my thoughts were more wistful. But I haven’t been able to let go of Saida’s quote, it keeps resurfacing in my awareness.

When I first read, When The Drummers Were Women by Layne Redmond, I found my thoughts returning to a comment she made about pace. Layne, who had studied and performed with master percussionist Glen Velez said, “The most striking difference between Glen’s music and mine was the tempo. Over the years, his compositions had become very complex, with extraordinarily fast tempos. My own work was much slower, at about the rate of a relaxed heartbeat. The slower pace gave the music ceremonial character.”

I began thinking about the need for women and men to approach life differently, in a manner that worked for each of them. Growing up in a culture where a left brain mentality dominates has instilled in us the idea that more and faster is better. But this same culture has basically stripped women of their sense of self. So I found myself wondering what role slowness, or the lack if it, has played.

On my journey of opening up to the wisdom of the divine feminine, I am understanding that the rhythm of the feminine is the slower, grounded, embodied energy of Mother Earth. Layne Redmond says, “As I entrained with the beat of the drum—as I became the pulse itself—I felt that I was letting the force of gravity draw my essence down, down through the layers of the earth to the fire at her center. As I connected to the fire of the earth, I could feel that energy radiating up through my body and out through the sound of my drum—as if I were a radio transmitter.”

So I have been pondering slowness for a while now. I have observed how I allow all the things that I am needing to do trump my natural need for slowness. I have noticed that I lose touch with any childlike wonder and joy in my life when I am not able to rest into a natural, slower pace. And I lose any sense of presence in simple, everyday moments when I feel hurried.

I have come to believe that slower is not less effective. Instead, I feel I show up with more clarity and focus. I am leaving behind the days of being “the project queen” and needing my sense of purpose and satisfaction to come from the work completed. I am working on letting go of comparisons that take me out of communication with myself. And I am moving into sensing the resonance of the divine feminine in my work and play and trusting in its deeper wisdom.

I am inviting you to also begin playing with the idea of slowing down to that point where you feel grounded into your essence as a woman and are allowing the nourishing energies of the earth to radiate through you. Afterall, as a woman, embodying the divine feminine is your birthright and your gift to humanity.

I would love to hear from you. Please share your comments here and then join in the conversation on Facebook.