For Women
Integral Practices for Women: Movement, Meditation, and Creativity
Camille Maurine is a world authority on women’s creativity and self-care. She is the author of Meditation Secrets for Women: Discovering Your Passion, Pleasure, and Inner Peace, and the book/CD ensemble, Meditation 24/7: Practices to Enlighten Every Moment of the Day. Camille’s innovative energy-based movement, meditation, and expressive practices have touched and inspired thousands of men and women around the globe. Camille has appeared on numerous radio and TV programs, and her work has been featured in Self, Shape, Yoga Journal, Body and Soul, Healing Lifestyles and Spas, Fit Magazine, Spa Magazine, Crescent Magazine, Elle, and others. Camille gives talks, performances, and seminars for groups such as The Inside Edge, C.G. Jung Institutes, and international conferences on psychology, art, somatics, and spirituality. She has been honored as the “meditation expert” for The Kali Guide: A Directory of Resources for Women, Exploring Womanhood, and The Open Grove. A dancer trained in the performing and healing arts, she is the creator of kinAesthetics and Moving Theater, a transformative performance process. Based in Los Angeles, Camille teaches, creates one-woman shows and directs CoMMiT, an improvisational performance group. She and her co-author and husband Dr. Lorin Roche give workshops and retreats in meditation, movement, and expression worldwide. They are also writing and producing a documentary film together. Camille is the President of Syzygy Creations, Inc. and Noble Heart Media, Inc.
(click HERE to order)
Women's Events
Los Angeles, CA: "SANCTUARY" - A One-Day Experience with Author Camille Maurine - Saturday, October 11, 2008. Saturday, 10 to 6 pm at the Continuum Studio in Santa Monica. Liberating and nourishing movement, meditation, expression, council, envisioning... Live the Secrets of female power and vitality... Create, move, and breathe in your own atmosphere. Early Registration: $100 before September 15th ($125 thereafter). Visa/MC accepted. Email Camille or call 310 821-0620. READ MORE.
"MEDITATION SECRETS FOR WOMEN" Retreats - with Author Camille Maurine - Light on the Hill Retreat Center, Ithaca, NY. Camille gives meditation and movement retreats for women at various locations such as Light on the Hill Retreat Center in upstate New York. New dates not set. READ MORE.
Read CALLING ALL WOMEN: A Letter to Women Around the World from Camille.
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Camille occasionally gives a
Meditation Secrets for Women
Teleclass. If
you would like to express interest and be notified of
the next one, contact Camille.
On Female Energy and
Creativity: Listen to a chat between Camille and
Jennifer Louden, host of "LoudenClear" on Martha
Stewart's satellite radio, about Female Energy and how
to honor, cultivate, and get comfortable with it.
Camille and Jennifer teach the Women's Creativity
Spa.
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Women! I am currently designing a
dynamite Meditation Secrets for Women
correspondence course.
Please let me know if you are interested. Each month we
will cover one of the 12 secrets from the book. Includes
a monthly teleconference call among all participants.
You will receive email support and journalling
assignments to deepen your understanding of the Secrets.
I will give you personal attention to find practices
that you love and that help you thrive in all your work
and relationships. You also have the option of private
phone sessions at a reduced rate.
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"WOMEN OF INFLUENCE & INSPIRATION:
Making a Difference in the World –
Camille Maurine and Maureen Simon.
International Salons with an
extraordinary group of women leaders. We are requesting
referrals of "women of influence" (including yourself!) for
events in London, New York, and San Francisco. For more
about these amazing events, participation, and support you
might lend, please contact Camille or Maureen Simon.
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MEDITATION SECRETS FOR WOMEN - the Book
Based on three decades of experience
teaching meditation, and interviewing hundreds of women,
Camille Maurine and Dr. Lorin Roche have elucidated a
healthy, female-centered approach. The twelve Secrets
provide the essential tools for you to experience more
vibrancy, richness, and pleasure in both your inner and
outer life.
You will learn how to:
• Relax more deeply
than you thought possible
• Fit meditation into a busy life
• Free up your energy for more vitality and creativity
• Discover practices that you absolutely love and want
to do
• Let whatever is going on in your body, mind, and
heart lead you deeper into your core
• Experience more balance, clarity, and
alertness
"Women's
meditation insights and needs are very different from the
traditional methods used for centuries by men in
monasteries.
Meditation Secrets for Women teaches you how to
meditate with full access to the emotions and body wisdom
that are a part of the divine." ~ Christiane Northrup,
M.D., author of "Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom"
"Wise, wonderful and
revolutionary. It returns the whole human being to joy,
restorative serenity, and embodied, psychological and
spiritual expansiveness." ~ Sylvia Perera, Jungian analyst,
author of "Descent to the Goddess"
Some
excerpts from the book:
Come
Home to Yourself
The sensuous ebb and flow
of the breath,
The warmth of the sun on the skin,
The touch of light on the eyelids, like a kiss,
The soothing sound of leaves rustling in the breeze,
The satisfying release of bodyweight into the support of
the Earth –
Nothing in particular to do or be,
Just savoring the texture of life in this moment...
Relaxing, melting, softening into lusciousness.
Sinking down, letting go, deeper, deeper…
Breath spreading, massaging everywhere inside, a gentle
caress…Ah…
Muscles release, a sigh of relief, all the way to the
bones.
Here, now, the movement of life, touching me,
Healing me, revealing its simple truth –
I am immersed in the embrace of life.
Yes, I hear the Yes.
And my response, Yes.
I am this movement.
I am home.
From
the Introduction to Meditation Secrets for Women:
Discovering Your Passion, Pleasure, and Inner
Peace, by Camille Maurine
and Lorin Roche. Copyright 2001.
Women and Stress
We all long for healthy
balance in our lives. Everyone knows now that stress is a
prime factor in many health conditions. Too much stress
takes us out of pleasure. Some stress is beneficial, and
even pleasurable; optimal levels give us just the right
degree of stimulation, and the excitement of a full and
meaningful life can even strengthen the immune response.
It’s the excessive and prolonged strain that causes
problems.
At the biological level, the parasympathetic nervous system
(that gives us the rest-and-restore mode) keeps our hearts
and blood vessels open, while the sympathetic nervous
system (the “fight or flight” part) constricts
the heart and blood vessels, which keeps them toned. Every
blood vessel in the body is filigreed with both nerve
systems, because we need both modes to live fully. Finding
the equilibrium between rest and action, letting go and
going for it, is our contemporary challenge. In general,
the mental and physical texture of daily life is too fast,
dense and highly pressured, so we need to consciously
cultivate the opposite tones.
Medical research is turning up some very significant
information on how female biology differs from male. Most
studies have been done on male subjects, and their
conclusions generalized from men’s bodies (just as in
the meditation field!) Thankfully, this situation is
finally beginning to change. A recent report suggests that
the female reaction to stress is less the typical male
“fight or flight” and more “tend and
befriend,” revolving around nurturing and seeking the
support of others rather than aggression or escape. The
study finds that this is true for both humans and animals,
and is based in hormonal differences between the sexes.
Aggression is an important energy for women to be able to
access when necessary. But in the face of everyday stress
we can also nurture each other, tend and befriend
ourselves, and create a network of supportive
relationships.
Many of the mental stressors that everyone contends with
are not likely to go away. We are a headstrong society.
Information overload, keeping up with technology, sitting
at the computer for long hours a day, having to constantly
strategize to maintain status or get ahead is almost a
necessity of modern life. The electronic bombardment itself
toys with our nervous systems. Even when people exercise,
they are often reading, watching TV or under the headset,
not really in the body at all. But being “in our
heads” takes a serious toll, and the consequent lack
of relaxation and deep pleasure is especially hazardous to
women. Chronic, persistent stress weakens the immune system
and plays a role in the development of heart disease.
Stress also powerfully affects our mental well being. In
addition, there is evidence that excessive head-centered
attention may disrupt the female glandular system and
hormonal balance, with far-reaching consequences to our
general health.
Forgive us for bearing bad news, but taking this seriously
can give us all the determination to make preventative
choices. Each of us must come to terms with this conundrum
in her own way. Though the situation at large is unlikely
to change, there are many effective measures that we can
take to care for ourselves. That’s the good news.
Scientists consistently recommend these antidotes for
women: exercise, expression, relaxation and
self-exploration. We couldn’t agree more.
Women need exercise that they enjoy and look forward to,
not just an onerous discipline. Find whatever calls you
forth – walking, dance, yoga, swimming, martial arts.
Challenge the temptation to make an object of your body,
the notion that you must whip this lump of flesh into
shape. The element of pleasure is extremely important, and
if you can find exercise that pleases your soul, all the
better. Dance has the added benefit of a poetic and
emotional expressiveness. Some sports also facilitate a
kind of expression. Women engaged in aggressive exercise
like kickboxing have been shown to experience less
depression and stronger immune systems. The kick-butt
attitude gives a sense of power and control over their
lives. In addition to dynamic forms that increase
circulation, we recommend (no, insist!) that women make
sure to include stretching to maintain flexibility and
fluidity. Staying supple is especially crucial as the years
go by; aging tends to dry us out and make us rigid –
mentally and physically. This is preventable, so
don’t forget to lengthen and soften those muscles,
too.
As for relaxation, self-exploration and expression, the
approach to meditation that we are suggesting addresses all
three. Finding meditations that work for you is the
ultimate in self-care and self-awareness. Nothing relaxes
like the pleasure of meditation, which puts you in touch
with your inner world. In that safety you can discover and
support whatever needs to be expressed and embodied in your
life.
From Secret #5 –
"Dwell in Your Inner Sanctuary" in Meditation Secrets for Women:
Discovering Your Passion, Pleasure, and Inner
Peace, by Camille Maurine
and Lorin Roche. Copyright 2001.
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Meditation and Sex – Click here to
read
Late
Night Musing – Click here to
read
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ABOUT
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEN & WOMEN –
Claim Your Womanhood, Shamelessly!
I will be adding
links to articles and other information here that support
women to claim their female gifts and attributes. This is
extremely important not only for how we manifest power in
the outer world, but for the dynamics of our inner world in
meditation. Being connected to your deep feminine roots is
essential for your physical, mental, emotional, and
spiritual health. Through working with thousands of women,
as well as my own journey, I have seen the pitfalls and
successes up close and personal. It is imperative to know
how to cultivate and embody true sovereignty – our
natural, body-based source of power. Hence the existence
of Meditation Secrets for
Women.
The ways that women differ from men should be a source of
healthy strength and pride, not shame. There is no need to
make either gender "better" – appreciate the
differences! Yet fear lurks in the minds of many women.
Because power and status are still defined primarily by old
male values, admitting our innate differences can seem to
threaten our hard won ground for equal rights. Question
this assumption. Root out the fear, shame, and tyranny
beneath it – the hidden, insidious disempowerment.
How ironic is that?
The latest scientific research validates the biological and
psychological differentiation between men and women,
including brain structure and function. Here's an article
about some of the medical implications that every woman
should know: READ.
Here's an article by Alice Walker, adapted from an essay in
her new book, We Are the Ones We Have Been
Waiting For. (Thank you, Susan D!)
If you would like to share related information and
articles, please contact me and I will add them to this site.