Hello my darlings, 

I began to write this in an email. But I realised I had way to much to say about this topic. I didn't want it to be lost in amongst the chaos of peoples inbox or lost in junk mail. It needed a solid place, a place that when I get the urge to write it doesn't clog up your inbox. 

So here we are. YouRise Thoughts. 

I must first say, that these are my observations, my opinions, my perspectives. I understand that not everyone will share these with me, and I encourage us to speak openly with love and kindness. I love hearing others perspectives and stories, so feel free to comment or reach out to me.

This has taken a great deal of courage and vulnerability to start this. But I realised that if I don't, I'll never be able to truly express and share who I am. All of me. 

Women's wellness in a Patriarch society

I’ve been privileged to be sharing space and conversations with so many incredible women lately. Listening to a lot of conversations about women, health, wellbeing, work/life pressure and balance. It’s been raw, some of it has been heavy (in the most beautiful way), some were frustrated, some were just flat and burnt out. 

I'm not going to go on a feminist rampage and tear down the men in our lives (I love my husband and couldn't do life without him!) But I am going to speak my mind about the society we live in and how women are not treated fairly. I am honestly sick to death of seeing day after day violence against women. Hearing stories of women going to the police hoping for help and safety only to be shown the door. When will things change, and how on earth can we help?  

I am all for equality; in the workforce, in the home, and in society. But what I see, what I hear and what I (my own observations) witness is women absolutely slogging themselves to keep up to a world that patriarchy built. I want to add, I am not by any means judging – I am only stating what I observe.

Women believing they are small, because that’s what society has told them. Women placing their trust in others before trusting themselves. We’ve been conditioned to not listen to ourselves. I see, daily women trying so hard to keep up to the pressures of society. Rushing from one place to another. What are we rushing towards?

I’ve seen women sacrificing themselves, their needs, family, trying so hard to keep up and do it all, and all at once.  Which can then lead to burn out, frustration, resentment, lack of passion and sensuality, no energy, surviving on coffee. Literally running on an empty tank, only stopping to refill when their bodies force them to stop.

I see women so busy, rushing, full of anxiety, worry, fear of judgement and in some instances, disconnected to their self, their bodies, disconnected from their partners and disassociating from feelings and emotions. I’ve lived this way, for most of my adult life. In the darkest times, I abstained from intimacy with my husband for 18 months. I had absolutely nothing left to give. After the birth of my second daughter something changed in me. The pregnancy was hard, recovery was hard. I was absolutely exhausted. I felt so much pressure – from god only knows where, my own maybe? I can’t remember, it was a foggy time. So much pressure to get my post baby body back, go back to work, have sexy time with my husband, socialise, do ALL the things. The pressure became all too much. I ended up sick, really sick. Bacterial meningitis. I suffered for almost 12 months afterwards, while continuing to try my best to DO ALL THE THINGS.

A dear friend shared a book with me, a book that changed my life.

The Post Natal Depletion Cure, Dr Oscar Serrallach.

I learnt so much from this book, I had to see him, I had to know more. What I learnt from my 12 months working with him and his team of health professionals changed me as a person. I had, what some people call “the holy spirit” or an “Enlightened” experience. I had been practicing Yoga every day since seeing Oscar. One day I woke up and the world looked different. Everything seemed brighter, everything felt happier and lighter, I felt an extreme sense of gratitude and love. I felt like glitter had exploded everywhere.

Something that became very clear to me, and something I became very passionate about, I wanted to help other women, I wanted to learn how I could support them on a deeper level. Yoga was the key. It took me months to make the decision, I was still healing, my body was still recovering.  As a woman (I speak of women who were born female), we are built differently. Our DNA is different to our man friends. Our brains are wired differently to a male.

We bleed, we grow and take care of the babies, we take care of the home, we carry the “mental load”, we already DO IT ALL!

Please don't misunderstand, I LOVE seeing women succeed, I froth on watching women kick life/career goals. I punch the air saying "FUCK YES GIRLFRIEND" when I see women succeeding. It fuels and inspires me to keep going.

I wholeheartedly understand we all have to sacrifice to succeed. But what are we sacrificing? 

Did you know that women are at a higher risk of auto immune diseases, the rate is higher if you’ve experienced pregnancy and birth. Stress (mentally and physically) and inflammation being major contributing factors.

Something I get told often (usually men), so often I'm actually immune to it now. "I don't have a choice. They don't have a choice." When I hear this, I quietly in my head flip them the bird. Because my darling, you DO have a choice

You always have a choice. This is the conditioning we’ve been accustomed to. We've been conditioned to believe that as a woman, you don’t have a choice. You have a choice. You have the power. We've just been made to believe that it's more important to trust others before trusting ourselves. 

A beautiful soul sister recently did a Liptember segment in her business, I headed in and read more about Liptember. This, I found astonishing. Liptember Foundation research around mental health

Yoga can be uncomfortable for women who are not used to being still, it can be uncomfortable to be alone in your thoughts. In fact, being alone in your thoughts can be distressing in some cases. Especially if you have experienced trauma, physically or emotionally. 

Yoga has been, and continues to be an incredible tool that I use to help me find the belief. The belief in myself, the trust in myself, the confidence in my choices. Yoga has helped me break down barriers, old conditioning, it’s given me so much peace within that I want to share it with you. I read this awesome article about the science based benefits of Yoga, and it solidifies everything that I have written here today.

Basically, after all that, what I want to say is. YOU MATTER! Your needs matter, it's ok to slow down and smell the roses. Life is too short. I know firsthand, that it can be a scary place to be alone in your thoughts.

Yoga saved my life. I make it my absolute priority to make sure you feel safe, held and seen in my classes. I became a teacher to support others in their own health and wellbeing journeys. Because being a woman in a man's world is fucking hard work! (no disrespect to the amazing men in here)

You my darling can DO HARD THINGS! 

Much Love

Peta Ann