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| Altar for the Goddess Turan -original painting |
the WORKSHOP:
Description:
Participants will get in touch with their relationship with the pleasures of
food and body image, and experience a healing of that relationship through
meditation, a dynamic activity, and culinary magic.
THE GODDESS NURTURES
WITH PLEASURES- first talk about the Goddess Turan and her Powers of nurturing.
BODY PLEASURES: FOOD, SEX AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY.
EMOTIONAL PLEASURES.
MEDITATION
/ JOURNEY: Then we seek self-knowledge through meditation looking at our
childhood and adolescence and what we learned from our mother (or substitute mother) about the
pleasures in eating, sexuality, and body movement.
STRETCH,
BREATHE, AND SELF MASSAGE: Then there will be a dynamic activity contemplating
body image.
OFFERING (TIRA
MI SU): At the end, an experience with culinary magic, the work of healing this
relationship with our mothers and the Goddess and our bodies, and celebrating
the sacred act of nurturing ourselves in connection with the Goddess of
Pleasure.
Turan:
GODDESS THAT NURTURES WITH PLEASURE
The task of
the nurturing Mother: teach your children to nourish themselves. The nurturing
mother nourishes during pregnancy. Then in her lap, breastfeeding. During life,
the task is to teach the child to no longer need the mother. Drink from a
bottle, then feed with the spoon and then learn to eat by themselves, and so on.
Turan
teaches us how to nourish ourselves with pleasure, and when we do that, we live
in her honor.
Nourishing with pleasures of the Body: Eating, Sex, Physical Activity
Nourishing with emotional pleasure: joy, true happiness, love, security, achievements at
work, friendships, entertainment- WITHOUT the SLAVERY associated with
ADDICTION.
MEDITATION
The lake of
the Goddess Turan is the water of emotion that takes us on a search for
self-knowledge to find out where our beliefs and concepts about our nurturing
came from, and this quest starts with primordial energy, the mother energy.
For each of
the following questions, we return to our childhood, a phase of being very
observant and absorbing information like a sponge. We also think about our
teenage years, a growth phase when we think we know everything, but are still
learning concepts from our mother.
I will ask
several series of questions and beat the drum in order to perform this
activity.
We
meditate, and reflect upon our childhood and adolescence to answer the
following questions:
Pleasure
in sexuality- what did you learn from your mother about the pleasure of
nurturing yourself sexually?
Were
you aware of the sexuality of your mother (or substitute) during your childhood
and adolescence?
How
did your mother express it?
Did
she consider herself attractive and express sensuality in any way?
Did
she show affection openly?
Did
she talk with you about sexuality?
What
was her attitude related to sex?
Masturbation?
Was
your mother (or substitute mother), during your childhood and adolescence, a
person who seemed comfortable with her own sexuality?
How
did she behave in relation to you and your sexuality?
Did
she try to control you, guide you in a balanced way, or did she never guide
you?
Or,
did she leave you completely free to develop your own concepts and ways of
behaving?
Did
you learn to enjoy sexuality as a way to take care of and nurture yourself, and
experience your life with pleasure?
What
kind of model was your mother?
What
did she say to you about sexuality?
What
did you see her doing, that you learned by only watching?
Are
you happy with your own sexuality today, as an adult?
(BEAT
THE DRUM ALONE FOR A FEW MOMENTS)
We continue meditating, and reflect on our
childhood and adolescence in order to answer the following questions:
Pleasure in eating - what did you learn
from your mother about the pleasure of nurturing with food?
Were you aware of your mother's (or substitute)
eating during your childhood and adolescence?
How did she eat?
Did she like to eat, did she express the
desire to eat?
Did she cook for you, or if she herself did
not cook, did she guarantee that you'd be fed? How?
How did she make sure you would always be
fed?
Did she teach you to cook so you could be
more independent?
What did she teach you about food?
Was your mother (or substitute mother),
during your childhood and adolescence, a person who you thought was comfortable
about how she ate?
How did she behave towards you and your eating?
Did she try to control you, guide you in a balanced
way, or did she never guide you?
Or, did she leave you completely free to
develop your own concepts and habits?
Did you learn that enjoying food is a way
of caring for and nurturing yourself, and living your life with pleasure?
What kind of model was your mother?
What she did she tell you about eating?
What did you see her doing, that you
learned by only watching?
Are you happy with how you eat today, as an
adult?
(BEAT THE DRUM ALONE FOR A FEW MOMENTS)
We continue meditating, and reflect our childhood and adolescence to
answer the following questions:
Pleasure in movement – what did you learn from your mother about the
pleasure of nurturing yourself with physical activity?
Were you aware of the physical activities of your mother (or substitute mother)
during your childhood and adolescence?
How did your mother move her body?
Did she practice some kind of physical activity?
Was it for pleasure or otherwise?
Was your mother (or substitute mother), during your childhood and
adolescence, a person who you thought was comfortable with the shape of her
body and how her body worked?
How did she behave regarding you and your body?
Did she try to force you to practice activities, encourage you in a balanced
way, or did she never encouraged you?
Or, did she leave you completely free to develop your own concepts and
habits?
Did you learn to enjoy some kind of physical activity as a way to take
care for and nurture yourself, and experience your life with pleasure?
What kind of model was your mother?
What did you see her doing, that you learned only by watching?
Are you happy with the way you move your body now, as an adult?
(BEAT THE DRUM ALONE FOR A FEW MOMENTS)
We continue meditating, and reflect on our childhood and adolescence to
answer the following questions:
Emotional pleasure – what did you learn from your mother about emotional
pleasure as a way of nurturing yourself?
Were you aware of the emotional pleasures - for example, happiness, joy,
celebration of achievements – of your mother (or substitute mother) during your
childhood and adolescence?
How was emotional pleasure expressed?
Did she seem happy and express happiness in any way?
Did she take part in activities on a daily basis that it gave her
happiness and the joy of living?
What did she do? (For example, did she like her job, to take care of
home and family, spend time with friends, she had a hobby or other activity
that often made her happy)
Did she show joy openly?
Was your mother (or substitute mother), during your childhood and
adolescence, a person who seemed comfortable with joy?
How did she behave regarding you and your joy?
Did she try to stifle you, welcome your joy in a balanced way, or did she
ignore you?
Or, did she leave you completely free to express joy in your own way?
Did you learn how to experience pleasant emotions as a way of caring for
and nurturing yourself, to live your life with pleasure?
What kind of model was your mother?
How she talked about feelings?
What did you see her doing that you learned by only watching?
Are you happy with your daily life today? Do you enjoy your life today
as an adult?
(BEAT THE DRUM ALONE FOR A FEW MOMENTS)
We end this
meditation with a meeting between you and your mother (or substitute mother) by
the lake of the Goddess Turan.
The woman
who raised you is by your side. She is there with her own baggage, childhood
history, adolescence, and experiences throughout her life. And you are there with
your baggage and your history.
You both
are faced with the Goddess Turan.
Turan, with
her immense swanlike wings, blesses you both with the power to take pleasure in
all forms of nourishing.
She blesses
you both with the will and the ability to nourish your bodies and your emotions,
and find plenty of enjoyable ways of bringing healthy energy to your lives.
Then you
say goodbye to your mother (or substitute mother) and she walks away on her own
path.
You stay
with Turan and she blesses you again: with understanding, compassion, and
renewal:
You are now
an adult, and you no longer depend on the woman who raised you to live your
life.
You,
regardless of the way you grew up, are now an adult who has the power to love yourself
and choose the path filled with pleasure.
Turan shows
you ways to walk this path.
(THE DRUM
BEATS ALONE FOR A FEW MOMENTS)
And now the
meditation is finished.
STRETCH,
BREATHE, AND SELF MASSAGE
Each
participant stands up and stretches their own body, breathing deeply and
enjoying the movement, nurturing your muscles and feeling the air going in and
out of the lungs.
Each
participant runs his or her hands over his or her own skin, enjoying the
movement, the skin texture, gently massaging the muscles. Do it
ritualistically, feeling the blessing in your own touch.
OFFERING: TIRA
MI SU
The end of
this work is to learn to make a dish, and be nourished by the food you have
made yourself. After cooking, make an offering to the Goddess that you also eat
and offer to your family or friends.
This time I
chose a typical dessert from Italy to offer Turan: Tira Mi Su.
Each
participant rubs alcohol gel on their hands or washes their hands.
Then each participant
spreads cocoa powder and hazelnut over the tira mi su (for the purpose of this
workshop, the dish was made in advance and the participants complete the last
step).
The eldest
woman in class cuts a portion and leaves an offering for the Goddess (leave the
offering in nature).
The class
then shares the tira mi su and celebrates.
