Every Thursday I profile a new incredible woman, each from a different walk of life. Different professions, causes, backgrounds, ethnicities, orientations, and anything/everything else!
So without further delay, let me introduce the elegantly enlightened Zahra Haji…
Photo credit: Gloria Nieto http://photodei.carbonmade.com
Zahra Haji is a modern day Goddess – really! A certified 10-body & Kundalini Instructor, she is the director and founder of Yoga Goddess. Running classes and workshops dedicated to “awakening, uplifting and inspiring”, Zahra educates women about their cycles and bodies through her Moon Goddess Series (I’m not psycho. I’m cyclical. Period.). Currently a contender for W Network’s Expert Contest, Zahra answers our questions and gives us a glimpse of her Yoga Goddess wisdom.
What drives you to do what you do?
I was born an educator. I relish in expanding people’s minds so they can expand their lives. My passion is educating women about their bodies. If every woman in this world could understand and embrace her cycle, there would be no need to go through “PMS bitchiness” or pop Midols to stop the cramps. That’s what drives me to do the work I do. I dream of the day when every single woman understands that she is a goddess and reclaims her feminine wisdom. I would also like to see the day, when huge corporations who make billions of dollars selling unhealthy products for women’s menstrual cycles comes to an end.
How does being a woman empower / challenge you?
When I learnt about the four phases of the menstrual cycle and the opportunities they presented to understand myself and make better use of my energy I was astonished. We as women have an innate life coaching tool inside our bodies, which most of us know nothing about! Nobody teaches you that during pre-ovulation (right after your period) you have a burst of energy, during ovulation your sex drive peaks, at pre-menstruation it’s normal to feel introverted and anti-social and menstruation is a naturally meditative state that is designed for rest and renewal.
Photo credit: Gloria Nieto http://photodei.carbonmade.com
What advice would you give to young women who want to follow in your footsteps?
Explore yourself, understand yourself, learn to work with your perceived limitations and then learn how to shift out of them. When you know how to shift out of the limited, “poor me” stuff, and you realize your own magnificence, then you can teach others. Master yourself, so you can teach from experience. Most importantly though, get excellent training. Ask for a teacher, that pushes you beyond your comfort zone. If you spend too much time in solitary self exploration, you’ll just get lost in your emotions. You need a good teacher to snap you out of ego and emotionality until you learn how to do it yourself. The best school in Toronto is The School of Yoga Therapy and Natural Medicine. Be prepared to get the ego whipped out of you, it’s not for the faint of heart.
Name one person, place, or thing every young woman should know about?
You’re not psycho, you’re cyclical, period. The four phases of the menstrual cycle give life to four different women who surface every month: 1. the go getter, full of energy and dynamism; 2. the nurturer, supportive and caring; 3. the wild woman, emotional and unpredictable; 4. the recluse, quiet and introverted. Visit Miranda Gray’s website and start charting your cycle with the moon dial. It will change your life AND you’ll start healing simply from a rising awareness.
What is the most important thing we can do in order to change the world?
As women, the most important thing we can do is to reclaim our feminine wisdom. When women understand their own power, understand their cyclical nature, and learn how to ebb and flow with their cycles, everyone will benefit. We’ll have healthier families, healthier relationships, healthier friendships, healthier work environments and most importantly healthier women.
If you are interested in attending one of Zahra’s classes or workshops (held at both Red Tent Sisters and WonderWorks) you can visit her website Yoga Goddess. And make sure to vote for her in W Network’s Expert Contest by rating her video!
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four comments
Another great interview! D. Cole, thank you for bringing these fabulous women together for us. You have a pretty awesome energy yourself to attract what you attract!
Reading Zahra's answers to your poignant questions, I was reminded of some words from Clarissa Pinkola Estés'in her book "Women Who Run With the Wolves"
"One of the most amazing things about this long initiation (into the Wild Woman) is that the woman undergoing this process continues to do all the regular living of topside life: loving lovers; birthing babies; chasing children; chasing art; chasing words; carrying food; paints, skeins; fighting for this and the other; burying the dead; doing all the workaday tasks as well as this deep faraway journey.
A woman, at this time, is often torn in two directions, for there comes over her an urge to wade into the forest as though it is a river and to swim in the green, to climb to the top of a crag and sit … face into the wind.
It is a time when an inner clock strikes an hour that forces a woman to have a sudden need of a sky to call her own, a tree to throw her arms about, a rock to press her cheek against. Yet she must live her topside life as well."
It seems to me that understanding our goddess cycles as Zahra describes them gives us the power and wisdom to live "topside".
Thank you Zahra. Thank you D. Cole. Thank you Shameless Women.
Posted by BlueGaia
October 25, 2008, 1:40 PM
Very inspiring. Another great interview.
Posted by Ryan
October 26, 2008, 9:44 AM
@ Ryan: Thank you!
@ BlueGaia: "It is a time when an inner clock strikes an hour that forces a woman to have a sudden need of a sky to call her own, a tree to throw her arms about, a rock to press her cheek against. Yet she must live her topside life as well." That's amazing! Thank you for that reference and for understanding the importance of what Zahra is doing.
Posted by D. Cole
October 26, 2008, 11:53 PM
Wow, what a well written, inspiring and informative interview. I look forward to reading about more shameless women.
Posted by LT
October 27, 2008, 4:51 PM
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