Happy New Year!

Today is associated with fresh starts, clean states, and new beginnings. And as you set your intentions for the year, I’d like to influence them.

My wish is that 2013 be a year of metamorphosis for you. A year of shape-shifting. From the woman you have known yourself to be up until now, into what I call your future-self, the woman who is living out what have until now been only your dreams.

And while I love to talk about pleasure, discomfort and pain play their part in metamorphosis too.

I recently experienced this first hand, when I participated in a theatrical dance performance about transformation.

With live musical accompaniment of my friend, Durian, the performance began with me on the floor, wrapped up from head to toe in white gauze cloth, symbolic of a chrysalis, and how it concludes, well you can see that for yourself in this 60 second video.

My role was to begin as a chrysalis squirming about on the ground, and to communicate through movement, the journey to emergence.

All was going well, until a few minutes before the show began, when suddenly, wrapped up in the cocoon and ready to go, I started to feel too hot, and too airless.

My head was spinning.
I feared I might pass out.
I regretted having had a celebratory glass of wine an hour beforehand as it was making the sensations worse.

After 15 years of practicing yoga, I tried every yogic technique I could muster, to relax into the intensity of the sensation, but despite my efforts to remain calm, I began to panic.

“Help!” I called out to Durian. “I’m over-heating, I can’t handle it! Can you get me out?”

“I’ll make a hole by your mouth to let some airflow in,” he replied.

He began ripping open a hole in the gauze near my mouth with his fingers, but with 6 or more layers of gauze to get through, it felt like an eternity to wait.

Finally, I felt cool air in my nostrils, and my panic decreased a notch. I was going to survive this. Plus, the show must go on.

With my pulse still racing, the music began.

And there I found myself, my eyes covered, my limbs bound, verging on suffocating. With sheer will, I managed to bring myself to standing, and began clawing my way out of the chrysalis. Originally intended for dramatic effect, this was no longer an act!

With fingers bent, I used my nails to tear my way free of the swaddling cloth, layer by layer, until one arm became free, and with it came … an iridescent butterfly wing!

The metamorphosis had begun.

Soon came the second wing, and in contrast to the discomfort of the tight enclosure of the cocoon, freely waving my wings in the fresh air felt like an ecstatic rebirth!  Soon the shredded cloth had fallen to my feet, and with my legs free, I began to dance.

Dancing with my shimmering, iridescent wings, the metamorphosis was complete, and the performance ended.

I share this story with you, because if you feel like you are in a space in your life where you are literally clawing your way to be free of whatever is confining you, and preventing you from feeling radiant and free, then I want you to know that your journey of emergence is of utmost importance to me. I’m here to inspire, I’m here to help, and above all, I’m here to believe in you.

I absolutely know you can make it through, and I promise you, pleasure is waiting on the other side.

“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it turned into a butterfly.” Anon.

Beautiful woman, thank you SO much for being part of the pleasure revolution. I treasure your participation, and am dedicated to your transformation and liberation.

May 2013 bring you a year filled with compassion, community, contentment, and all the pleasure your heart desires.

With so much love,
xo Jena