What is Feminine Empowerment ?

Our understanding of the autonomic nervous system has far surpassed the simple fight/flight response we once learnt in biological text books. We now understand there are multiple different nervous system responses, and often these develop as survival mechanisms in early childhood.

 

Women are biologically and hormonally wired to be more tender, nurturing, and attentive to others needs. This social engagement part of our nervous system is associated with parasympathetic activity.

 

When a woman feels threatened, uncomfortable, or no longer at ease within her internal state her nervous system is activated towards a  a fawn response, which is a heightened version of the social engagement system, and includes people pleasing, appeasing, and an avoidance of conflict or confrontation. 

 

This differs to men who are more biologically programmed to spike in a sympathetic response which is displayed as outward anger and  an activation such as planning or setting revised goals to get out of the situation. 

 

When a fawn response is no longer effective or alleviating the stress, a women’s nervous system may drop into a freeze response. This presents as extremely low mood, exhaustion, lack of motivation and a loss of passion.

 

Many women do not know how to access a healthy dose of sympathetic activity required to set boundaries, speak up for themselves or to move on.

 

This is not to say sympathetic nervous system activity doesn’t occur. When a woman feels trapped long enough rage may bubble to the surface. This is not a healthy kind of rage that allows a woman to express herself. It’s the sort of rage that becomes all consuming, blinding, confusing and sometimes scary. This level of nervous system activity can’t be sustained and will eventually subside back into the regular patterns of people pleasing, extreme exhaustion, rage release, people pleasing and so on..

 

Nervous system regulation can help bring a woman out of these dominant parasympathetic stress responses, however she needs to learn the tools to access a healthy sympathetic response to condition her nervous system to respond appropriately to stress.

 

Feminine empowerment is about finding the balance between our nurturing, creative, and emotionally intuitive qualities, whilst accessing the inner confidence to stand up for ourselves, to say no, to access anger when required and to plan and set passionate goals for ourselves. 

 

In feminine empowerment practices, I utilise the image of a warrior- feminine yet powerful and strong, nurturing yet focussed and steady, soft and intuitive whilst confident and assured of herself and her goals. 

 

Women don’t need to stay trapped in a perpetual cycle of fawning or freezing. Understanding how to support the nervous system and how to comfortably titrate it towards sympathetic activity will help a woman move forward in her life confidently and with passion.

 

This is the offerings provided by Finding Her