What is it like to be a woman? As a woman, how do you experience being and living in your body?
These are just some of the questions that Rona Steinberg and Mary Ann Mhina found themselves asking.
They realised that they “wanted to provide a space for women to share and witness what it’s like to be a woman in her body.”
And they’ve done just that by organising a unique conference style event called IN THIS BODY which takes place on Saturday 18th October in London.
During the day ten women will share their wisdom and insight into what it is to experience life in a female body. Each woman will have a different story to tell about the physical experience of being a woman; the cycles and changes from birth to motherhood, menopause and beyond and the different roles that women play in their lives, leading and supporting.
I’m really excited to be one of the story sharers on the day. The other brave women sharing their stories are: Nikki Armytage, Jane Atkinson, Madeleine Forbes, Deborah Granville, Vena Ramphal, Aisha Hannibal, Lisa Lister, Allie Carter and Miriam Kliers. I’m really looking forward to hearing their stories and finding out more about their lives and their physical and emotional experiences of womanhood.
I’ll be talking about my experience of menopause so far, and particularly the impact that testosterone deficiency and subsequent treatment has had on my life, health and relationship.
Although I’ve written about my menopause experience before, I’ve never stood up in front of a room full of strangers and spoken about something that is so personal to me and involves my body. It makes me feel particularly vulnerable, and more than a little nervous, but I am driven by a desire to break the taboos around menopause and to get more women talking about it and sharing information.
The aim of the conference is to create an intimate and caring space where everyone attending will have the opportunity to discuss in smaller groups what it’s like to be a woman and to share experiences with each other. So there will be ample opportunity to learn from each other and make our voices heard.
As Rona says, “Our bodies hold the key to so much power, intuition and emotional intelligence yet sometimes we are conditioned or domesticated to ignore or resist this incredible resource. We do so at our peril.”
In This Body looks to be a very moving, intense and fun day filled with honesty, compassion and wisdom. It’s open to men too.
If you’d like to come along, you have until 31st August to get hold of Early Bird tickets. I’d love to see you there.
In This Body tickets are available on Eventbrite.
The photo is of a statue I came across while walking St Cuthbert’s Way.
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