Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal/Getty Images
Oprah has always inspired me, but when she declared in her Golden Globes award speech that “a new day is on the horizon,” it touched my heart and my soul and I’m sure it spoke to all women who keep a part of themselves secret, the part that they are afraid others will not accept.
Much like Oprah’s parents, my parents had different spiritual paths from each other.
My mother was a devout catholic. She went to church every morning at 6 am, even in bad weather, risking falling and hurting herself in the freezing climate of the Alps. She believed in the god of churches and priests. My father disagreed. He believed that God was everywhere, not just in Church. I overheard many battles on this topic. My father’s belief made more sense to me, and very early in life I decided to take my father’s path.
I started to connect with the beauty, power and innocence in nature.
It was more difficult to accept that God was also in human nature. I kept believing I should be more perfect. But as I grew older, I noticed that the less I criticized human imperfections, the more I felt the powerful energy of love flowing through me. I understood that mountains, streams, trees and flowers are not perfect in the way our human mind imagines perfection should be, yet they remain awe-inspiring and beautiful. Humans can be beautiful in their imperfections too.
That wasn’t how the people in my village saw things though, so I kept my beliefs from my mother and the rest of my world in order to fit in.
I went deeper into myself, enjoyed my sexuality but I kept it secret.
It was only after having being abused sexually that I left my village and found the deepest truth in Tantra, the art of loving and living consciously. The Tantric teaching helped me understand and feel the energies that flow freely in the body, and to appreciate especially sexual energy, and use this powerful, vital energy sexuality to help people.
I also found that I could use sexual energy to empower goals of health and abundance. And that is why I am so moved to hear Oprah’s stirring call to women to own their power – the power of being fully open, accepting of yourself and honoring your sexuality. I deeply invite all women to embrace all parts of yourself.
Your fully experienced life will be a gift to yourself and others.