Find Your Voice, WOMAN!
Making a sound. Using your voice. Speaking up. Letting out a noisy exhale. How do you feel about those things? As a yoga teacher, there have been many times, particularly in my Somatic Yoga classes, where I have invited the class to allow themselves to make a sound. A 'ha' on the exhale, an 'mmm', or even a 'yes' as you welcome a certain energy. You are welcome to join in 'in your head' if that feels more comfortable, but those brave souls who join in often tell me how liberating it felt to make a sound. Once they start, they feel like they've unlocked something and want to make more and more noise. It's freeing, refreshing, and leaves them feeling lighter. But it’s not easy to take that first step. The first time I was invited to make an ‘intuitive sound’ was at an Ecstatic Dance event, and I literally felt like there was something blocking my throat. My heart was pounding as I allowed myself to open my mouth and let out a sound. And then came a kind of thrill, a relief. Interestingly, there were a lot more men making intuitive sounds in that room than women.
So why is it that so many of us, especially women, hold ourselves back, keep as quiet as possible, and feel so uncomfortable when invited to make a sound? I've been pondering this recently. As women, it might be historical—a kind of ancestral fear of letting our voices be heard. After all, at certain points in history, women were silenced by threat and force.
In Suranne Jones's Channel 4 documentary Investigating Witch Trials, she reminds us that the 'witch trials' of Pendle, Salem, and elsewhere might as well be renamed 'women trials', as women were systematically punished and often killed for speaking out or having knowledge in areas where men did not traditionally play a role, such as midwifery or herbal healing. Women gathering to talk and share knowledge became a dangerous act, potentially leading to one or all being branded a witch and put on trial. This has perpetuated the issue of women being pitted against one another in a patriarchal society, rather than remembering the bonds of sisterhood.
Let's not forget that in 325AD, The Council of Nicaea declared that women's voices had no place in the Holy Bible and ordered the destruction of gospels written by them, such as The Gospel of Mary Magdalene and The Thunder: Perfect Mind. The latter contains soul-thrilling lines like: 'Do not ignore me, I am she who is honoured and she who is mocked, I am the whore and the holy woman...I am she who exists in all fears and in trembling boldness...I shall shut my mouth among those whose mouths are shut, And then I will show up and speak.' Why isn't this gospel taught in Religious Education across the land?
Mary Magdalene was denounced by the patriarchy as a whore and written into the Bible as the woman who Jesus cast demons out of and healed of her ‘sinful ways’. But it is far more likely that she was either the lover or wife of Jesus, and the woman he shared teachings with that his male disciples weren't privy to. They may have practiced sex magic together, as was common for the Priestesses of the Temple of Isis, to strengthen his energy body and prepare for his death and transition to the spirit realm. She had access to Jesus and his teachings that his male followers didn't, so it doesn't take much to understand why her place and voice were re-written in history. Luckily for us, Egyptian priests secretly hid the ancient manuscripts, which were discovered in a Cairo marketplace in 1917. (For more on this, see my recommended reading list at the bottom.)
All of this, and so much more, are reasons why we still find it difficult, as women, to allow our voices to be heard today. Fear of judgment, fear of mockery, fear of being socially ostracized, fear of death itself. So it might seem a small thing, in comparison, to let out a sound on your yoga mat. But it's these small acts of bravery that have a gigantic ripple effect.
How often have you, in conversation with others, allowed yourself to sit in discomfort, wanting to speak up and make your voice heard, but out of fear of the other person's discomfort, you don't? How long can we, as women, keep prioritising another person's comfort over our own? And how would it feel to honour and love yourself enough to stop fearing that shift? We have been people pleasers for long enough. But that’s for another day and another blog post.
For now, can you do me just one small favour? Let out a sound. A shout, a roar, a groan. Even if it's just a little audible sigh on your yoga mat next time. See how it feels. Maybe you'll want to do it again, maybe you won't, but it's a first step. And maybe next time you will sigh a little louder, let out a sound, hear your own voice, feel it reverberating in your body, through the space, announcing that you are here and that your voice matters. For you, for us, for them.
If you enjoyed this, I would love to know your thoughts! Share them with me via email at lucy@soultribestudios.co.uk or WhatsApp me on 07891
Join me for our Somatic Yoga classes, every Tuesday at 5.45pm and Thursday at 9.30am, where using your voice is ALWAYS encouraged, or check out our new YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/@soultribeyoga
If you liked this blog post, check out these recommended reads, watches and listens:
‘Mary Magdalene Revealed: The First Apostle, Her Feminist Gospel and the Christianity We Haven’t Tried Yet’ by Meggan Watterson
‘A New New Testament: A Bible for the 21st Century Combining Traditional and Newly Discovered texts’ edited by Hal Taussig
‘The Magdalen Manuscript: The Alchemies of Horus and the Sex Magic of Isis’ by Tom Kenyon and Judi Sion
Suranne Jones: Investigating Witch Trials, Channel 4