Uma Dinsmore-Tuli - Yoni Shakti: A Womans Guide to Power and Freedom Through Yoga and Tantra

In this courageous and radical book, renowned yoga therapist and mother-of-three Uma Dinsmore-Tuli explores the sexual politics of yoga from the perspective that womens spiritual transformation is the most potent revolutionary force.

• Comprehensive history section covering womens contribution to (and exclusion from) traditional hatha yoga
• Goddess-inspired section guiding a woman from her first period to postmenopause
• Illuminating personal life stories and experiences from hundreds of women
• Specially conceived, guided yoga nidra practices
• Instructions for womb-friendly asana and pranayama practices, including restorative yoga, for every part of a womans life and menstrual cycle

This is the book the yoga world has been waiting for. Intimate and scholarly, irreverent and inspiring, Yoni Shakti brings womb yoga, tantra and feminism together in an astonishingly powerful combination.

A beautiful book that will both empower women in their practice of yoga and show how the fundamental origins of yoga can be found in a more intuitive and feminine approach.

Angela Farmer, creator of The Feminine Unfolding

Yoni Shakti is the pathway to not only loving and celebrating your cunt but also to riding the rhythms of your body, the seasons and the moon.

Colette Nolan aka Lady Cunt Love, founder of Cherish the Cunt campaign, activist, poet and educator

Uma Dinsmore-Tuli joins the revolution for true freedom by bringing her awesome experience into the practice of yoga to help women access innate power.

Maya Tiwari, world spiritual teacher & author of Womens Power to Heal through Inner Medicine

Uma Dinsmore-Tuli PhD is a yoga therapist, teacher-trainer and retreat leader. Her knowledgeable yet intimate approach has made her one of Europes most sought-after teachers. She has special expertise in womens health, including pre- and postnatal yoga, and in yoga for positive menstrual health and fertility. She lives in Stroud, UK.

YONI SHAKTI

YONI SHAKTI
A WOMANS GUIDE TO POWER AND FREEDOM THROUGH YOGA AND TANTRA

A lifetime companion and compendium of blood wisdom, womb yoga, sacred sexuality, positive health and spiritual empowerment

by Uma Dinsmore-Tuli, PhD
Illustrations by Nirlipta Tuli

Dedication

For my daughter Rajakumari Prayaag Eileen Dinsmore-Tuli,
and for my mother Meryl (Muire) Elizabeth Josephine Dinsmore.

In memory of my grandmothers:
Eileen Dinsmore (ne Waters) (19071979) and
Elizabeth Jessie Moore (ne Guy) (18881992)

And to all the mothers and daughters who find this work of value,
I share the sincere hope that through this yoga, all our daughters
and their future sisters and daughters and granddaughters will live in freedom,
with no need to contend with the challenges and difficulties experienced by
their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers.

Jagadambe mtki jai!

Yoni Shakti
A Womans Guide to Power and Freedom through Yoga and Tantra

First published in 2014 by YogaWords Ltd
Text copyright Uma Dinsmore-Tuli 2014
Illustrations Nirlipta Tuli 2014
Uma Dinsmore-Tuli has asserted her moral right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the copyright, designs and patents act of 1988
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-1906756-15-4

Managing editor: Zo Blanc
Editorial support: Mark Singleton
Sanskrit editor: Lucy Crisfield
Design concept: Ben Jarlett
Jacket design: Spiral Path Design

British library cataloguing-in-publication data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British library
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade and otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. The author and publisher disclaim, as far as the law allows, any liability arising directly or indirectly from the use, or misuse, of the information contained in this book.

Printed and bound in the UK by TJ International Limited
This book has been printed on paper that is sourced and harvested from sustainable forests and is FSC accredited

YogaWords Ltd
32 Clarendon Road
London N8 0DJ
www.yogawords.com

ta vadiymi
Satya vadiymi

[I will speak of what is right,
I will speak of what is true.]

Taittirya Upaniad

Sarva magala magalye ive sarvrtha sdhike
araye tryambake gauri nryai namostute
Si sthiti vinn akti bhte santani
Guaraye guamaye nryai namostute
[You are the energy of Shiva all auspicious,
fulfilling all desires.
You are the refuge of all, you have three eyes,
salutations to You, shining radiant Narayani.
You are creation, preservation and destruction,
the eternal living energy.
You support the three qualities of nature,
which are your form, salutations to you, Narayani.]

from the Durg Saptashat [Dev Mhtmyam]

CHAPTER ONE
From exclusion to initiation: men teaching women, women teaching the world

CHAPTER TWO
Women in the pre-history and early development of yoga

CHAPTER THREE
Female siddhis; intuited origins for a new perspective on yoga

CHAPTER FOUR
Awakening to the feminine energy of the life force: pra akti and the foundations of womb yoga

CHAPTER FIVE
Greeting the womb with love: nine core practices of yoni namaskra

CHAPTER SIX
Honouring the feminine energy of the life force: nine practices of praakti pj

CHAPTER SEVEN
Embodied spirit: experiencing yoni akti with womb yoga

CHAPTER EIGHT
Kl Cycles and circles of female siddhis

CHAPTER NINE
oas Celebrating menarche: yoga and girls initiation into womanhood

CHAPTER TEN
Tr Honouring the cycles of the moon within: yoga, menstruation and fertility

CHAPTER ELEVEN
Kamaltmik Freeing the akti: yoga and full spectrum feminine sexuality

CHAPTER TWELVE
Matagi Manifesting the akti: yoga and creative expression

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Bhuvanevar Nourishing the golden cosmic womb: yoga, pregnancy and birth

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Chinnamast Thanksgiving, grieving and healing: yoga and postnatal recovery

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Bagalmukh Stepping into the unknown: yoga and perimenopause