THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN WOMEN'S HIPS by Dominique Youkhehpaz

 Last summer, I spent three magnificent weeks on the island of Corfu in Greece…

Sinking into my hips alongside 50 women from around the world, we dove into the depths of the feminine spiritual practice from Awakening Women. 

My teacher, Chameli Ardagh, was reading the book Vagina by Naomi Wolf at the time, and so incredibly guided us all into a deep presence and connection with this source of feminine power Naomi Wolf calls a woman's “second brain”.

After those three weeks, I felt like I had discovered a deity inside my own body: in my hips, in my womb, in my vagina. I began experiencing the immaculate intelligence of this life-creating space in me, a power beyond anything I have ever imagined. 

Photography by the author

One afternoon during our dance practice, as I was swaying my hips, a thought occurred to me: There have always been women's hips!  I felt the incredible history of this part of my body, a link to all women who have ever existed and who will ever come to be. 

As I shook my hips to salsa music, I felt the innocent, universal pleasure contained within women's hips.  More images and words emerged in my dance practice, and as I collected them and moved with them, they eventually came to form this poem.

My prayer is that this poem may bring you into deep communion with the miracle of your life-giving hips, and the incredible, mysterious, natural power of a woman's body.

Artistic Photography by K. Silva

There Have Always Been Women's Hips

Through centuries of sunrises and sunsets,

There have always been women’s hips.

Hips swaying under the stars,

dancing to the rhythm of the wind,

singing the songs of our ancestors,

worshiping the very life they create.

Before man discovered fire and electricity,

There have always been women’s hips.

Hips beaming with fire and light,

exuding aliveness.

Source of renewable energy,

The reason for evolution

and incentive for revolutions,

The birthplace of desire,

Hips blossoming, seducing, inviting, receiving.

Wild, innocent hips.

Waves of change ripple across the planet

Like earthquakes,

Every time a woman shakes her hips.

Before the invention of the telescope or Einstein’s theory of relativity,

There have always been women’s hips.

Hips navigating new territories and opening to unknown places,

Hips throbbing with creativity,

Hips that invented inventors.

Hips that ruled countries,

And hips that ruled the rulers of countries.

Hips held captive by ideas

And hips that could not be contained.

hips that carried us home.

Before there was tantra,

Before there was pornography and prostitution,

There have always been women’s hips.

Hips giving birth to the senses,

To eyes, ears, mouths, noses, and lips.

Hips intimate with pain and writhing with pleasure.

Hips that gave everything,

And hips that held back,

Shamed hips, numb hips,

Hips revered and respected,

Abused and exploited,

hurt, healed, loved and feared,

Hips that have tasted tongues

And hips that have tasted razor blades,

Hips frozen in fear,

Hips afraid to open,

And hips fully awakened to their power.

Through world wars and cold wars,

Through genocide and suicide,

Through poverty and famine,

There have always been women’s hips.

The beginning of sorrow,

The first spark of hope.

Hips shedding blood and tears

In rhythm with the moon,

Mourning the monthly death of potential life,

Guiding us into the darkness.

Hips birthing saints and murderers,

Lovers and fighters,

Hafiz and Hitler.

Hips birthing hungry children,

Hips birthing  slaves and their oppressors.

Hips birthing freedom.

Hips trembling with the pulse of life.

Before there was geography,

Before there was science,

There have always been women’s hips.

Hips of every spice and every flavor:

Rose hips,

Soft hips,

Bony hips,

Clumsy hips.

Arab hips,

African hips,

Palestinian and Israeli hips,

Jewish and Christian hips,

Atheist hips,

Faithful hips, promiscuous hips,

Brokenhearted hips.

Silent hips,

Silenced hips,

And hips with French accents.

Universal, unconditional hips.

Through the endless cycle of

Birth, old age, sickness, and death,

There have always been women’s hips.

Hips that have been the keepers of hidden temples.

Hips with a timeless, unspeakable wisdom,

that has birthed history

And will birth the future.

Hips within hips within hips

Darkness within darkness

The gateway to all understanding.

Hips pregnant with possibilities

And intimate with the truth.

Hips that have passed down the secret of the universe

in a language

Hidden in hieroglyphics of sensation,

decoded every time a woman

Inhabits her hips.

(In November 2014, Dominique is offering Self-Marriage Unveiled, 

a 10-week sacred journey online for women all over the world to marry themselves

and commit to love, for real.  To find out more click here.)

Dominique Youkhehpaz is a student of Awakening Women Insititute, a practice of embodied feminine spirituality, and the founder of Self-Marriage Ceremonies, a pathway of marrying yourself and committing to live in integrity, love, and truth–to stop the endless chain of looking outside ourselves for answers and approval, and to commit to sourcing from within all that we long for. Dominique lives in Nevada City, California in the forest, and spends her time in spiritual practice, writing, playing music, and holding space, whether it be through Self-Marriage or a form of women's group called Women's Temple. 

~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~