AUTHENTIC ADULT WOMAN

Wellsprings of Feminine Renewal

This next week our team (Meg Wilbur, Tina Stromstead and I)under the auspices of the Marion Woodman Foundation, present our fourth intensive workshop for women near Santa Barbara. In the mornings we will use the tale Beauty & the Beast to study the psychological transformation and integration of the instinctual being by the power of love. In the afternoons we take the insignts into our bodies with movement and voice, and in the evenings we carry those themes into a deeply revealing art project. Our work is based on the approach of Jungian Analyst Marion Woodman.

Who is an Authentic Adult Woman?

I'm Dorothy Jean Anderson, Chief AUTHENTIC ADULT WOMAN advocate, and founder of the Adult Woman Workshops...which are held, now and then, in Central California near the ocean or at retreat centers in the woods. Our last retreat focussed on the Adult Woman in Relationships....an important and tricky topic...if ever there was one. We had a great time...lots of good honest talk, music and movement, and fun art projects in the evenings.

I'm 77, at the moment, but when the spirit moves me, I also facilitate SoulCollage workshops with my friend Suzanne Jobling. SoulCollage is an intuitive and insightful process...like creating a visual journal...full of wisdom and psychological surprises. I like to use some of my SoulCollage images in this Blog.

Maybe you're like the rest of the woman I know who go through life being dutiful daughters, students, wives, mothers, employees, bosses, etc. Do you ever wonder who you are when you are not playing one of those roles? What is your ESSENCE?....who are YOU - that unique and precious person with her special way of seeing the world and expressing her gifts. Sometimes we even forget how WE feel about things, we're so used to scanning our environment in order to please others.

I think being an authentic adult woman means living from your "essence"...speaking with your own authority, and being true to yourself. I love sharing this stuff...it brings together my years of teaching Interpersonal communication at UCLA, and decades of conducting leadership development workshops. This Blog is a stream of favorite poetry, photography, psychology and foolishness. Stay tuned.

Adult Woman Coach Scares Clients

I was forced to give up coaching full-time after clients saw me in person. Just because I like to put the fear of god in them and wear original hats? Can't they see beyond the superficial and trust that my wisdom will shine thru the eccentric Crone I've become?

Living in Sin...

In earlier decades I thought all the luscious, creative, sensual, yummy things were sinful. As an Adult Woman these glorious colors, shapes, sounds, and textures sing through my days and nights with guiltfree joy!

These Shoes Were Made For Showin' Off

Nobody colors within the lines in MY TOWN. Authentic Adult Women go crazy with their arts and crafts every day...My friend Suzanne created a whole series of fabulous embellished chairs called My Life Through the Eyes of a Chair: An Introspective Journey. My friend Patricia designs and paints exquisite gourds...I carve stiks; medicine stiks, healing stiks, talking stiks, etc. One day I felt like coloring my sneakers with felt pens, and lo' the result was sheer showin' off.

Enlightened Being?