Motherhood and sexuality – workshop series in Amsterdam

you can apply at doradjamila(at)gmail(dot)com

“The psyches and souls of women also have their own cycles and seasons of doing and solitude, running and staying, being involved and being removed, questing and resting, creating and incubating, being of the world and returning to the soul-place.”

― Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype

Despite the myths we have about sex, nobody is born knowing all about it. We all have to learn it somewhere and fortunately this process doesn’t stop at a certain age. As we move through life, new sexual opportunities and challenges come to us. This becomes even more visible as our kids appear first in our body and after – apparently in our life.

Our changing body, the birth process, our shifting desires, the constant flow of our changing womanhood offers us wonderful chances to grow. Nevertheless, these opportunities can also be quite confusing, especially when they create tension with our sense of self and who we are in the world.

Since motherhood and sexuality are indeed so complex and delicate overlapping universes raising many individual questions and dilemmas, we are going to devote a whole series of workshops to cover its various subtopics:

 

• Woman, Lover, Mother: Motherhood and sexuality in the intersection of the body, the psyche, the social, the cultural and the self. What is sex and what is motherhood for me? – Intro session for everyone who is interested in any of the topics, questions described below. In this first workshop we will play with the topic as a whole, with all questions raised. The rest of the workshops we will explore the specific subtopics in depth
• “Child to Girl, Girl to Woman” – How our stories as little girls then young women and later mothers have begun? Did our parents have sex? Did we see them giving a hug, a kiss to each other? Our sexual education is not just what we were told but so many other things hiding in nuances; in a motion, in a gesture, in an unwanted reaction, or sometimes in the absence of something. So many hidden details, which are still with us helping our life as parents or causing unwanted tension in life situations. What is our sexual heritage? What would we like to pass on from mother and father to daughter and son?
• The Four Trimesters: Pregnancy and Sexuality. When the whole world is turned upside down… We are going to deal with all the aspects of womanhood and pregnancy from body changes to the various challenges of sex and relationship during pregnancy.
• Birth and Sexuality. Birth is a condensed life experience. Life meets death. Pain meets joy. The body meets the deepest of the psyche. This is the end and the beginning. Our babies get born but we are also born again as new women, mothers. A family is born and a new relationship between us as lovers. Everything can change in a relatively short moment. Not surprisingly, sexuality is closely connected to the birth process not only in a spiritual but also in a very physical way. We are giving birth with the same transforming body which has conceived in love and which has to be able to give and receive love and pleasure again.
• The “Fourth Trimester” – How to become a parent and lover in the same time? How should we tackle the numerous expectations, our new roles and tasks, and the constant time pressure? How can we find again the inner and outer balance? Is my body the same? Where is my sexual desire? How shall I get back to our sexuality and intimacy? We are going to deal with the various challenges of sex and relationship in the postpartum period.
• „Moeder en vadertje spelen” – Wow! My kid is also sexual! – How to talk about sex with our kids? – workshop also for fathers!

We invite mothers (and fathers) to participate, everyone who is interested in parenting and sexuality. We invite people who feel like getting connected with themselves and with others in an embodied way. We invite people who agree with us that the internet is a great place to look for many things but misses the most important: the personal, the face-to-face human interaction. We invite you if you would like to share experience, information, give or receive positive energy. We also invite you if you’re not sure what questions you need to ask, or if you need support or advice specific to your situation.

The ideal number of participants is 8-12. We will work in a comfortable, cozy and safe space; in a supportive atmosphere.  We will sit and share but we will also use our bodies and creativity to wake up our mind, stay energized and also relax after thinking and talking too much. The language of the workshop will be English.

Location: Thrive Yoga Studio, Amsterdam

Venue info: tea and snack will be provided

Price: 55 EUR.  Including tea and snacks.

To REGISTER send an e-mail to: doradjamila@gmail.com in order to receive a registration form.  You can apply for one or more workshops. We advice you to take part in the Intro Session if you are interested in the topic as a whole, and apply for one or more workshops of the subtopics.