Harmonising the Feminine

Rebalancing the Sexual Polarities

 

Harmonising the Feminine is the result of the author’s years of experience teaching dance (Oriental dance and later, traditional Egyptian dance).  Over the years, dance gradually became a means of understanding the body, and more specifically the feminine universe. By 2001, her teaching had come to focus on the notion of wellbeing, and the name Harmonising the Feminine was born, hence the title of the book. (Later on, the name of the method was shortened to become Armofemmi.)

The book is a journey through a number of different cultures, to discover – via the “confrontation” of different points of view – the feminine perception of the body, the feminine conception of society, and the feminine vision of life.

One of the prerequisites of Armofemmi is that the mysterious path of intuition should precede reason, and that intuition leads to another world, a world in which we do not generally spend a great deal of time. Over the years, a number of groups of women have come together to learn this specifically feminine way of moving, to share the joy of dancing together, to express thoughts that come from the womb, to experience femininity as wisdom.

Harmonising the Feminine is an elaboration of the numerous ideas that have inspired – and continue to inspire – the courses and classes run by the author.

 

(from the Prologue)

This book speaks to both brains:

The upper brain, that travels on the rollercoaster of the mind,

And the lower brain, that swims in the sea of the unconscious.

 

Which of the two would you like to activate first?

If you prefer to start with the lower brain, read the appendix:

“NEO-MYTHOLOGY”.

If you wish to start with the upper brain, turn the pages, and

START READING!

 

Chapter 1: “GO EAST, YOUNG WOMAN”

How the Western world evaluates the body

 

Chapter 2 “SPONGES THAT ABSORB VIOLENCE”

Violence against women, from the point of view of the female body and psyche

 

Chapter 3 “THE BODY SEEN FROM ABOVE – THE BODY SEEN FROM BELOW”

How non-Western cultures perceive the body

 

Chapter 4 “TRADITIONAL EGYPTIAN DANCES”

An illustration of the origins and styles of these dances

 

Chapter 5 “ANOTHER INTERPRETATION OF DANCE”

Non-competitive dance as a way of bringing people together and cementing relationships

 

Chapter 6 “THE MYSTICAL WOMAN”

A brief overview of Traditional Chinese Medicine and one of its branches: Qi Gong

 

Chapter 7 “INANNA’S DESCENT”

The cyclical nature of women’s experience of time

 

Chapter 8 “THE MOON IS CONSTANTLY CHANGING”

The four archetypes of the menstrual cycle

 

Chapter 9 “Harmonising the Feminine: for whom?”

Suggestions for applying the method to real-life situations

 

Appendix: “NEO-MYTHOLOGY”

A story followed by sections of poetry that provide the basis for a theatrical performance.

The story talks of cyclical catastrophes that the Earth travels through periodically; the protagonists are spiritual beings called The Guardians, who send messages to humanity to help the planet through these difficult moments that are a necessary phase of its evolution.

At the end of the story, each group of verses alludes to one of the Guardians’ messages, and reproduces the graphic symbol formed by the text.

The dream-like thread of the story underpins a cycle of choral poetry reminiscent of the choruses of Greek theatre.