Phoenix rising...

"I LOVE and APPROVE of myself,

I LET GO of all of my WORRIES and FEARS,

Like a phoenix, from the ashes I RISE

I am WHOLE, I am PERFECT, I am COMPLETE"

I first heard this mantra two days ago in my yoga class and made a mental note to use it myself as well as to share it on this page. Come to think of it, that pretty much sums up my life: cool idea - implement myself - share on social media to inspire others. (It comes with some pretty nifty, swooping body movements which make it even more powerful).

Every line is so individually powerful and I particularly like the symbol of the phoenix - so apt at this time of year - and so personally spot on given the turning point at which I find myself right now: four and a bit months into a year-long travel adventure discovering foreign lands and equally foreign parts of myself. This year was always going to be a catalyst for the creative destruction of the old and a re-birth of what is truly authentic.

And serendipitously, this notion was made concrete yesterday on our first-day-of-the-year-trip-to-the-beach-for-a-cleansing-swim-in-the-sea. I had just spent the last minute whining out loud about how much I was missing my jewellery and that all I REALLY WANTED was a long necklace (I bravely left all accessories at home bar my large platinum hoops. Those that have known me a while can testify that these don't really count as adornments since they are pretty much a part of my ears after no less than 31 years' consistent wear). Next my beautiful new friend plonked a pretty, red, silk bag on my lap. And what was in it? Just something she had felt should be mine when she saw it: a gorgeous, LONG, pendant necklace of a phoenix.

(Now that's manifesting for you!)

So I now have a mantra and a talisman, both of which feature a phoenix. Each was delivered to me within one day of the other. I am taking this as a sign that I should add this powerful animal totem to my arsenal of spiritual guides for 2017: the goddess (Oshun) and my word for the year (Pleasure). Which is pretty cool. I might just become invincible.

The mythical phoenix is also a universal archetype though and for that reason I'm going to share it with you; to offer you some of its purifying, creative energy to ease you into the New Year.

Happy (continual) re-birthing into the very best version of yourself you can be!

BoboMama xx

Art by Christian Schloe (doves not phoenixes but a beautifully evocative image no less)

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Cool has no age limit...

YES. And I feel this even more so now that I am edging into the 'older' lady category at the grand old age of 40. I came across this article on social media the other day and it inspired me to write about owning your own power.

http://www.revelist.com/hair/older-women-cool-hair/774

These photos show women that are doing just that. Without aggression. With grace. And elegance. And a sense of joy and fun! They are unafraid of what others think of them; they need no external validation. They know their own worth and they have given free reign to their creativity. Ok - most of these shots are focused on hairstyles but still it's pretty daring to express yourself even in this 'minor' way in today's disapproving, compartmentalising day and age.

This is the power that we women all need to harness - our courage to express ourselves authentically. To let our inner Warrior guide us not our emotional-caretaking, people-pleasing sides. Through our hair, our outspoken thoughts and feelings, our clothing, out ATTITUDES. When women are empowered they can change the world. FACT.

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Nupi Lan

The women from the Indian state of Manipur have their own word for empowerment - 'Nupi Lan'. This means no less than 'women's war' and twice during the 20th Century they have waged it to fight against exploitation by the imperialist British. And they won! They continue to show the power that comes from collective collaboration by running a women's-only market, featured here:

https://www.facebook.com/EliteDaily/videos/1164828160235481

Yet more proof that through coming together, women can achieve the previously unthinkable.

Manipur is on the border of India and Myanmar - two countries we plan to visit as part of our year-long trip 'living like locals' across Asia. I hope to absorb some of this inspiring energy that combines a Warrior spirit with the calm insight of Buddha!

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The importance of grandmothers...

Message from the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers: "As you move through these changing times... be easy on yourself and be easy on one another. You are at the beginning of something new. You are learning a new way of being. You will find that you are working less in the yang modes that you are used to.

You will stop working so hard at getting from point A to point B the way you have in the past, but instead, will spend more time experiencing yourself in the whole, and your place in it.

Instead of traveling to a goal out there, you will voyage deeper into yourself. Your mother's grandmother knew how to do this. Your ancestors from long ago knew how to do this. They knew the power of the feminine principle... and because you carry their DNA in your body, this wisdom and this way of being is within you.

Call on it. Call it up. Invite your ancestors in. As the yang based habits and the decaying institutions on our planet begin to crumble, look up. A breeze is stirring. Feel the sun on your wings."

This pretty much sums up how I am TRYING to live my life from now on. I'm probably trying too hard (as always) which falls into the masculine, yang category of "pushing" rather than "allowing", but it's a start.

The irony is that it takes warrior courage (and therefore a little bit of pushing) to transform ourselves from one mode of being to another, even if the new mode is softer and calmer. We need our Warrior to tap into our Buddha; and if I and others can indeed remember to call in the love, guidance and wisdom of our female ancestors to whom this came far more naturally than to our confused, patriarchally-repressed selves, then bit by bit we can change the way we live and create a place in which yin and yang, feminine and masculine energies, the Buddha and the Warrior, are in perfect harmony, finally.

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I am an Emotional Creature...

Today I am feeling fragile. Emotional. I have been doing some deeeeep digging inside and so now, I am trying to be kind to myself. Not be greedy with my body and take more than it is able to give me. And instead of making excuses for this state of mind or "snapping" myself out of it as the old me would have done, I am going to honour it by posting this earthshatteringly awesome song by Boe Huntress with lyrics that are actually a poem written by Eve Ensler (author of the Vagina Monologues). I have already adopted it as my theme for my women's circles and play it at the end of each meetup in order to remind ourselves just how perfectly brilliant we are. So for anyone that is not feeling the love at being a girl right now, this is for you. I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE. Are you??

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