Title: Devotee

Gender: Female

Age: Ageless

Sun Sign: Scorpio

Chinese Sign: Water Tiger

Location: on my knees at the temple

I am a full-time Yogini with scholarly proclivities. I used to be a full-time scholar with Yogini proclivities.

My devotional life is focused on coming into deeper awareness and expression of the divine that is within. I have a daily practice that includes yoga, dance, the Chöd sadhana (in Machig Labdrön's lineage), and Ngöndro (in the Vajrayana tradition). In all of these embodied sadhanas, I am practicing to come into deeper connection with the primordial divine wisdom that is already within me (and you!). This nature expresses itself in me through the energy of shakti as well as the nature-of-mind.

This is not always easy; nor does it always feel good. I have been doing what might be termed “shadow work” recently to let go of some of my habits that separate me from my own divine nature. I found Yeshe's posting on ”Shadow Work as Ecstatic Practice” very resonant. Especially the connections between doing this deep shadow work in the footsteps of Machig Labdrön. I am also practicing deep unmitigated surrender. I am deeply grateful to my teachers for their guidance, inspiration, and patience.

My scholarly life is focused on researching and writing about Goddess traditions in South Asia, specifically Shakta Tantric Goddess worshipping traditions. I have a Ph.D. in Anthropology and have been living and working in Nepal and India since 1990, including a three-year stint in Kathmandu with the Goddesses and the Goddess worshippers. My current research is two-fold: I continue to live and practice with communities of women who worship the Shakta Goddess, mostly at a temple for a menstruating Goddess in Assam. The second focus is to continue to research the history of the Yogini traditions in South Asia, including a focus on the earliest Tantric iconography and looking for evidence of the earliest forms of Goddess worship (like the recent finding of a Dakiniyana in Andra Pradesh which provides evidence of Buddhist Goddess worship in South Asia extending back to the first century C.E. rather than the previous documented 8th century C.E.). I just updated the wikipedia entry on Tibetan Yogini Machig Labdrön—let me know what you think.

I am also interested in the lives, experiences, teachings, and sadhanas of the Yoginis and Dakinis that went before us, with their embodied devotion to the Divine as the burning light in their lives. My blog is oriented towards their sacred words and teachings. My website—with more of my writing—is under construction. My hope is that all of these forums for expression will continue to support women’s (and everyone else's!) relationship with the divine feminine and allow them to connect to these rich traditions that can help to inform their lives and practice, as they did for me.

Member Since: Tuesday, October 31 2006

Last Visit: 16 days ago.

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