In my workout at the Dailey Method the other morning, I was thinking about sisterhood. Mama Gena talks a lot about the power we have when we lift each other up.
For me, as a survivor of domestic violence, trust was not my first thought when it came to connecting with others. Over the years, I have worked to shift this, and it has shifted dramatically.
What Mama Gena helped me recognize was how the separation that was my automatic response is not only typical of survivors of trauma, it’s also embedded in the culture. Separation is a tool of patriarchy. The way to keep women disempowered is by keeping us isolated and alone. In western culture, this happens as we strive for success. We are so busy, especially us working mothers, running our businesses, raising children, running our homes, there is hardly any time left over to cultivate a community of sisters.
But we need this.
It’s not an extra. Sisterhood is essential. We women tend to think out loud, and we thrive when we are being witnessed and supported — in grief, rage, and joy. We are lit up by being witnessed.
This is why it is so vital that we make an intention to find and have sisterhood. The internet has created opportunities for us, forums and online “friends,” these are ways we can stay connected. In real life, going to workshops, the connections we make there can be so deep and purposeful and intentional; we get close fast. We are witnessing each other in all of our breakdowns and breakthroughs, all of our shared vulnerability leads us to purely love each other, warts and all.
We can be sustained by having the ongoing social media connections, but the in-person connection can give us so much more.
My analogy: It’s the difference between 5-10 sit-ups, vs. doing a full workout at the gym. Social media is not the same as being physically in community.
So, in that moment at the Dailey Method, I realized how much I really do believe in sisterhood. When I go to my classes there, I connect in with a community of women I have watched stay committed to our self-care process for about 12 years now.
There is a reverence we have for each other. We witness each other aging. We know we have a shared story, a shared desire for wellness and fitness. We are in this together.
When I go to work, I am surrounded by sisterhood. I have a sisterhood with my community at Dr. Liz’s office, I tap into sisterhood when I attend my dear friend Rebecca’s To Be Magnetic group.
I am so not alone
We need each other. Connecting with women who share the same belief; together, we rise.
And in isolation we suffer, we contract.
The way for us to be a part of the ascension and return to the Divine Feminine is to link up arms, to join together. To receive and hold each other. In sisterhood.
