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An exploration of power & the original sin of the patriarchy

decolonisation original sin patriarchy power Sep 27, 2020

Power is the ability to impact people, effect change & get what you want. Power in itself is neither good nor bad - it is how it is used that makes the difference.

My work in the world these last months has been in service to creating radically inclusive spaces during lockdown. Affordable (mostly free), and accessible courses to learn how to breathe optimally & practice breath work, as well as doing my best to honour the lineage & traditions of my Yoga Teachers, and the culture & heritage of it’s homeland, India. On a much more confronting personal level, I took a blind leap into a (messy) leadership role by bringing focus to the decolonisation of Yoga, as well as Social Justice & Cultural Appropriation, as part of the Breath of the Heart 7 week immersion. With the help of the incomparable Mei Lai Swan & Pavitra Gurumurthi, we created a space of deep listening and questioning, as practitioners and teachers of Yoga wanting to be part of a solution, but not necessarily having the answers.

One of the key ideas we explored centres around understanding 3 types of power, as follows:

> Power OVER - this kind of power is discriminating & oppressive, and based in domination and control of another.
> Power WITH - this kind of power is shared, and refers to the sense that all are rising (and struggling) for liberation & equality.
>Power WITHIN - this kind of power exists deep inside, and cannot be given or taken away. This is the kind of power that real Yoga cultivates in ALL people.

As a story teller and story keeper, for many years my work has been exploring this understanding of power through the lens of mythology.

“..stories are the wildest way of telling the truth, and if ever there was a moment when we needed some truth telling, it’s now...” Dr Martin Shaw.

The stories that we tell, about who we are and where we came from, are the underpinnings of our collective belief systems. The creation Myths from thousands of years ago are told with the many veils that the turnings of History provide...they can teach us a great deal, if we care to listen, about who we are now, collectively, and the belief systems that hold power within each of us as individuals. They can teach us the macro - about the relationship our culture has with the Earth and life itself, and, they can teach us the micro - about how we relate to ourselves & each other.

If you’ve sat with me for a story you will know that I am interested in tracing the stories back to a time before the patriarchy changed them, to a time before power meant power over, to a time where power was something shared, something that came from within.

This is the work of decolonising our stories, and it couldn’t be more important. In understanding the origin stories and how patriarchy claimed power by changing them, we start to have a living map of how we can decolonise our own relationships, and the systems that continue to oppress.

The stories live in our bones, in our blood. We are both the maps and the vehicles on which they travel.

Before any stories were written, there was land, and there was connection. From every corner of the globe, the stories tell of this connection being born, and kept, by women. Women are the creators of life, their fertility is inextricably linked to the fertility of the land... and for many, many thousands of years women were the Spiritual Authority, and the keepers of wisdom:

Pachamama is the World Mother for the Andean people.

Grandmother Spider is constantly spinning the world into being for many of the first nations of what we now call the Americas.

Mother Gaia is the all powerful creatrix for the Greeks.

Cailleach is the Old Woman who makes the land and protects all living things in Gaelic Myth.

Shakti is the collective term for the Goddess that is the pulse of life itself throughout Indian Myth.

The list is much longer than this...much, much longer.

For the last few thousand years the stories have been drastically altered. The creation myth of the the major religious orthodoxies has spread with the lightning fuel of fear and oppression; power over.

The story that I received, and likely you did too, unconsciously shaped the way that I understood my place in the world. In this story, woman is created from the rib of a man, almost as an afterthought...a person that would please him and create healthy sons.

In this story, she was another woman too, the first woman, and she is remembered as the cause of all the world’s suffering.

She was the bringer of death, not life.
She was the temptress who dared speak to the serpent.

She was the wild woman who took the apple, who didn’t question wanting to bite into the wisdom contained in the fruit.

Because of her audacity this angry father God (the original model of power over) exiled her, along with her male friend, and from that day on it has been understood that women are not to be trusted. From that moment women have been doing everything they can to gain favour within this model. Obsessing over material accumulation, youth and appearance, and finding ways to numb out the call from their bones for wisdom and connection; the call back to the land.

The Genesis story of Eve has been the map that has systematically created disconnection from the Earth, limited (and often shackled) the rights and power of women and people of colour, as well as anyone not identifying or presenting in a heteronormative way. And, it

must be said, that in doing all of this, of course men have suffered too, we have all been plunged into darkness and disconnect.

This story is the poison that has managed to penetrate the very way that we relate to each other, the lack of trust and the ultimate separation that has led to over-identification with consumerism and self.

I believe that right now we are experiencing an incredibly potent time of collective change, and, reclaiming and decolonising our old stories and myths holds a magic key to unlocking the way back to listening and trusting ourselves and each other once again, to decoding the map that takes us into the unknown mystery of the future.

As I decolonise the stories, I decolonise the way I understand and operate within the world, the way I relate. I begin to reclaim my power within. My agency, my own authority.

It’s big work. Just when I think I’m getting somewhere I uncover just how complicit I have been within these systems.

We can read and understand about the necessity to crumble patriarchal oppression, but until we do the work within our own belief systems, within the micro, the macro will remain in the position of power over.

As I continue down this messy path in the quest for truth, with the ultimate goal of power within for ALL people, I fully own and acknowledge that I will be making mistakes. I don’t have the answers, but I’m willing to devote my privilege in service to paving a new and radically liberated way forward.

My intention is that my offerings reflect this, and that these writings are a place of transparency of the journey towards figuring it out.

As always, I offer my simple prayer;

May we all use our privilege for the highest good

Uma