Theresa Schlee Valenzuela is the author of Penelope in the Divine. She’s also a pole dancer, a speaker and a coach certified as a NLP Trainer, hypnotherapist and Time Line Therapy™ Practitioner among many other things. I discovered her website while searching for more research and resources on sexuality, sensuality and spirituality and what I found was an incredible goddess that inspires me, makes me laugh and is so freaking awesome! Theresa graciously agreed to allow me to interview her and I am happy to share what she has to offer in a two part series. Please enjoy. If you haven’t already done so, please CLICK HERE, to read part one.

Everyone meet T.S. Valenzuela.

SLY: How would you describe your pole dancing style? What kind of music do you tend to lean towards?

TSV: Oooohhh, good question. I’m a bit of a hard rock, nasty rap girl. I don’t like the long drawn out, angry, depressing stuff; so angry rap doesn’t do it for me either. I guess I need that hard-driving masculinity when I dance. I’m a rip-the-clothes-off, extort my body kind of girl. I guess I want to bust out of my skin.

TSV: I was just thinking this morning that after 2 ½ years of pole dance I can either rock it on the floor and walls or do pole tricks but I can’t seem to put it all together. My mission for 2012 is to pull it all together so my Erotic Creature can do tricks and inversions on the pole, so if you have some advice there, let me know!

SLY: How would you describe your sexual/sensual self? (Not just as it relates to pole dancing but to the entirety of your being.) I reference it as my Inner Siren. Claire Griffin Sterrett calls it her Inner Vixen. What do you call her? Who is she and what is she like?

TSV: By the way, I love Claire, she is an amazing woman and anyone who hasn’t read “The Pole Story” needs to. If you’re already read it, give it to your significant other to read!

My sexual self doesn’t have a name, but I guess if she did, it would be Penelope! In any event, I just love her. She glides. She is centered into the core of her body, in other words, my pelvis is loose when I walk and I cultivate this to make up for four decades of being a tight-ass.

She is also very openhearted and she honors and celebrates men. This is an important aspect that many women miss when they liberate their sexuality. I don’t use my sexuality as a weapon. I’m all about the love and connection, Baby.

SLY: Why do you believe sensual movement, especially pole dance is important?

TSV: What a loaded question. I could write a doctoral dissertation on this one. Briefly, the innate, wild, electric force inside of women has been repressed for eons and somehow I feel that repression/oppression is stuck in our DNA. When women are given a safe space to release this force, it opens them up to much higher levels of joy and life experience. The modern Western woman was raised to be a man, which is making us sick, literally. Ultimately, sensual movement heals illness by bringing us back to homeostasis. I’m convinced of this.

SLY: When it comes to innovation, progress and change, it seems we as a country and world, move forward at a wonderful speed as it relates to technology, ideas and entertainment, to name a few. However there seems to be an extremely slow progression in almost all areas of sexuality, especially as it relates to women. Why do you think this is?

TSV: Once again, fear and religious dogma. Let’s face it; women aren’t naturally as physically strong as men. Let’s not underestimate this issue. We’re looking at countless generations of placing the woman in the “less-than” position. I do not like to belabor this point because it’s a waste of time to beat a dead horse. Let’s just move forward in strength, power and consciousness.

However, in answer to your question, the Feminine Creation Vortex is a powerful force. Somewhere along the line, historically, the gender balance shifted and men, society, who knows – began to fear that force. Tribal decrees become cultural norm within a generation or two and that leads to women teaching their own daughters to suppress their power and so the cycle of repression continues…

Where and when it started, I don’t know. All I can do is make it my mission to heal it in my corner. Also, there is an interesting aspect that many people do not realize. Women become chemically bonded to men through sex. According to the psychologist and relationship guru Dr. Pat Allen, it can take up to two years for a woman to “detox” from a sexual encounter. Men do not bond after sex. So, if you go way back, people inherently knew about this physiology. So what did they do? They locked up their virgins!

We’re still doing it today, only we’re not telling our virgins why, so that gets translated into “there’s something wrong with you.” If we turned the tables and taught all young girls about the spiritual forces of nature and creation they really are, they would be armed with that knowledge and they could better manage their own sexuality. Instead of simply locking them up, we need to educate them to be selective about whom they give their bodies to. When we empower women we empower the world.

Also, men have been taught by their forefathers to suppress a woman’s radiant sexual/sensual light because it’s easier to do that that give her space to radiate and shine. Once he allows her that space, he’s got to worry about the other guys. We all have a lot of work to do in this area, men and women.

SLY: From what I’ve gathered about you, you appear to be a very confident, secure woman who dwells in her body so fully and presently. It’s something that many women strive for. What can they do to begin the steps towards self-love?

TSV: Ah yes, the self-love question. They need to get my Feminine Creation Vortex video series because I talk about this extensively. It’s interesting to be asked this question because I spent thirty years as a compulsive overeater loathing my body and spending my days and nights in self-abuse. I have come a long way and it hasn’t been easy, but I’m still here and still learning.

I’ll give you the 4 Aspects of the FCV:

1.      Be YOU. Understand that you are so much more than your physical body. You are a vast multi-dimensional force.

2.      Be Expansive. This vast, multi-dimensional force, i.e., YOU, is tapped into the quantum field of possibility. In other words, you have control over your thoughts, and therefore your life.

3.      Be Pleasured. Never underestimate the power of pleasure. Start by caressing yourself and learning to love the skin you’re in. All of it.

4.      Be Feminine. Understand that the modern Western woman was raised to be a man and take whatever steps you can to consistently dive back into your feminine body.

If all else fails, do not pass go, get thee to an S Factor class or watch an S Factor DVD. At S Factor I learned to have a torrid love affair with myself and I recommend that for all women.

SLY: One of the things I love about you is how expressive you are when it comes to sensuality and sexuality. We’ve been taught that the proper thing to do would be silent or mum on those things. You are not silent. What fuels your fire? Have you always been this expressive and full of life?

TSV: God no! If my mother were still here I’d have you ask her. Maybe she’d tell a different story.

When all the other little girls were playing with Barbies and planning their weddings, I was fantasizing about talking to large groups of people, reaching them with my message. I’ve always been a rebel and I generally do not shy away from controversy. Still a punk rocker after all these years…

However, the reason I am so vocal now is because conforming, doing what I thought I was supposed to do and being the good little wife and mother, almost killed me. It was pleasure in life and liberating my sexuality and sensuality that brought me back to life. The fact that we are not taught how important these things are is frankly, shocking to me. If I can help one woman avoid the hideous, life-crushing experience I had, my purpose on this planet will be complete. I will not stop communicating this message.

SLY: In Ode to the Lap Dance, you wrote of how we have a tendency to give more credit to our crown and heart chakras at the dismissal of our lower ones. I’m guilty of this too. What do you think this stems from?

TSV: This stems from fear and religious dogma. Let’s face it; working with the other chakras is complicated. Sexual chemistry can be messy and it’s difficult to teach people how to manage their power and express themselves. Also, when no one teaches us how to use our innate intuition, then it turns into a god-like quality, available only to the “chosen ones.”

If you wanted to control a population it’s easy when you teach people to stay small. Generations of schooling that the body is bad and unattainable spirituality is good, leaves a population always looking outside of itself for the answers. If I wanted to control the minds of large groups of people over time, I’d make sure they didn’t comprehend their true power and divinity. I’d make sure they didn’t understand the vast consciousness inside of their entire Human Energy System. This is what we have been subjected to for thousands of years now. It’s time we wake up and stop being led like cattle.

SLY: In Insomnia, you wrote how you were on the verge of changing your life by changing your mind. I wholeheartedly agree with this. What are three practical steps people can use to learn to “change their minds” or transmute their thoughts?

TSV: Good question, Sheena. First people need to realize what their mind actually is. Your mind is your body and your body is your mind and so much more. We are not just the physical form we see in the mirror. We are a vast interlocking web of consciousness and energy vortexes affected by many factors. We have direct access to the quantum field of possibility, which means we CAN change our lives by changing our thoughts.

1. Accept you have the power.

2. Know what you want. Where do want to go, how do you want to change? Who do you want to be?

3. Stay focused on the positive. If you know what you want but spend your day listening to the Itty Bitty Shitty Committee in your head and doing what they tell you to do, you won’t get anywhere.

All of this is simple, but not always easy. Understand that it’s a process. Be a persistent bulldog about your focus on the positive, but be gentle on yourself. We are not nouns. We are verbs – action words in flow.

SLY:  What brings you the greatest joy?

TSV: Today my answer is dance, having beautiful moments with my son, seeing art, cloud watching, being in nature, connecting deeply with others and a good, expressive session with my Erotic Creature.

SLY: What legacy do you want to leave?

TSV: I guess my legacy is the same as my divine mission: to help people see that they have ultimate power over their lives. They can live with pleasure and they really don’t need to suffer. They can craft the juicy lives of their wildest dreams.

Theresa, I love your mind! I really do. Again, thank you so much for taking time to answer my questions so thoroughly. Thank you for everything that you do and everything you write and put out into the world. It really makes a huge differnce. You inspire, motivate and encourage me and I am so glad you are here right now. You are so amazing!

Connect with Theresa

In The Divine website

T.S. Valenzuela on twitter

I also wrote a book response about Penelope In The Divine

Print PDF

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Theresa Schlee Valenzuela is the author of Penelope in the Divine. She’s also a pole dancer, a speaker and a coach certified as a NLP Trainer, hypnotherapist and Time Line Therapy™ Practitioner among many other things. I discovered her website while searching for more research and resources on sexuality, sensuality and spirituality and what I found was an incredible goddess that inspires me, makes me laugh and is so freaking awesome! Theresa graciously agreed to allow me to interview her and I am happy to share what she has to offer in a two part series.  Please enjoy.

Everyone meet T.S. Valenzuela.

SLY: What is your divine mission?

TSV: First I want to say thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. I appreciate the opportunity to share my work and I am happy you have gotten something out of it.

My divine mission is to help people see that they have ultimate power over their lives. They can live with pleasure and they really don’t need to suffer. They can craft the juicy lives of their wildest dreams.

SLY: I read on your online bio that you have extensive experience with transformation through grief and loss. Can you expound on that?

TSV: Sure. My first baby died when she was born and shortly after that I had a series of tragedies happen back to back, including the death of my mother. I could not handle all the grief and emotion and my body shut down – I went into severe adrenal fatigue. From that experience I learned that we don’t have rituals for grief in our society and how damaging this is to the psyche. I also gained a deep understanding of what it really means to “die.” I have a richer understanding of life and death now and it has transformed the way I live. I get what’s truly important, which is, as corny as it sounds, love and connection. The day my daughter Phoenix died was a huge turning point for me and I can honestly say, one of the best days of my life, because through her death I truly experienced life for the first time.

In my Pleasure Manifesto (available for free on www.inthedivine.com) I talk about the importance of grieving rituals and taking time to grieve. I understand now that if one cannot honestly experience grief and loss, one cannot experience true pleasure. I hope that my work makes an impact on others who are going through the grieving process. It doesn’t matter what you’re grieving – loss is loss and it’s part of the human condition. We don’t help anything or anyone when we turn our backs on it.

I don’t want to give too much of the storyline away, but in “Penelope In The Divine,” Penelope’s experience of grief comes directly from my experience.

SLY: What is “The Pleasure Manifesto” and what prompted you to write such an inspiring document? (I underlined just about every sentence!)

I wrote the Pleasure Manifesto as I began to heal from my illness. I was about three years into the illness at the time and I had lost my will to live. One day I got tired of complaining, tired of feeling like shit all the time, tired of the twelve different practitioners and doctors I had seen, tired of all the supplements. I knew I had to either live or die – my choice. I decided if I was gonna live, it better be a damn good life, so I decided to devote my life to pleasure. I remembered so many authors and teachers who said happiness could cure, so I went for it.

My life immediately shifted when I made pleasure my #1 priority. Shortly after that, I found S Factor and my life has never been the same since. The more I dived into pleasure, the more I healed.

SLY: Penelope in the Divine. First, thank you for writing such a life affirming, amazing and powerful book. I needed it! What inspired you to write Penelope?

TSV: Wow, so many things. After my daughter Phoenix died, I wanted to write a story about my experience with her. I had a flash of insight that at the moment of conception, a woman touches the finger of God (however you define he/she/it), much like “The Creation of Adam,” Michelangelo’s fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel where Adam and God’s fingers just touch. At that moment, you are “in the divine.” When that connection is broken – either through abortion, miscarriage or stillbirth – it is a cataclysmic shock and I don’t feel enough attention is given to this important transition that many women go through. As you can imagine, that book was too hard to write.

During this time I was seeing a naturopath to get all my health issues resolved and I started to learn just how fucked up our food supply system was and how it was all run and fed by big business and governmental lobbying. I noticed how TV played a huge part in promoting both sickness and pharmaceutical cures and it all seemed too suspicious to me. I started to write a self-help book about this and everything else I’d learned in my 20 plus years of studying human potential, and the book was so damn boring I couldn’t even read it!

In one of my many efforts to heal myself, I took up creative writing again and Penelope just walked onto the page. I wanted to create a better version of myself – a woman who could dance, who was so in touch with her sexuality and sensuality that she simply exuded confidence and strength, someone who a Nordic-looking god like Penelope’s lover Nate Forsythe could fall in love with.

When I thought about creating the antagonist, I asked myself, “What is the worst evil on the planet today?” The answer I came back with was “enslaving the human mind.” The worst way to do it is covertly, so that it goes unnoticed. If you look at the obesity epidemic and our enslavement to the little screen you can see what I mean. We’re slaves bound in service to mega-corporations who thrive by keeping us emotionally, mentally and physically ill and in a state of victimhood. In the novel, all of this is perpetrated by the evil Forsythe Candy and Satellite Manufacturing Corporation.

SLY: When is the release for part two of Penelope in the Divine?

TSV: The projected release date is Valentine’s Day, 2013. Okay, now I’ve said it officially, so I better get moving.

SLY: What are some of your favorite books?

TSV:  Hemingway has been a big influence on me since my time studying creative writing in college. I particularly love his short stories. I also still adore The Count of Monte Cristo – once you start, you cannot put that thing down! Of course, I’m a huge Harry Potter fan as well, but probably my favorite book is “Fingerprints of the Gods,” by Graham Hancock. It’s an alternative take on history and archaeology – my favorite subjects. In one of the scenes from the novel, it’s the book that Penelope’s teacher Goba is reading it.

SLY: At one point, you were the Editor in Chief of Vertical Art and Fitness magazine, my favorite pole magazine by the way. Tell me the biggest lesson you learned working in that field and holding that leadership position?

TSV: I have to say the best part about that job was assisting people in improving their writing skills. I loved that.

I enjoyed the creative process and working with the massively talented people at the magazine. The most surprising aspect for me though, was the waves of transformational stories I received from women all over the globe. I knew nothing about the pole outside of my local S Factor class, so I thought it was just little ol’ stay-at-home-mom me whose life had been irrevocably transformed at a core level by the pole and erotic dance. I learned it’s a worldwide movement whose time has come. That was a big surprise to me, but right in alignment with the current rise of the Feminine Divine.

SLY: You speak a lot about Source Energy and the Feminine Creation Vortex. For those unfamiliar with your work, can you provide a teaser on what that means?

TSV: Sure. Source Energy is the same as God/Goddess/Spirit/the quantum field of possibility. The great vibration that encompasses, that makes up who we are.

My definition of the Feminine Creation Vortex™ is the cosmic source of power, manifestation and magic organic to all women. I just filmed a video series on this very topic and it will be available first week of May 2012. There are certain God-given aspects that women have that make them powerful vortexes of creation. The problem is, this power operates on default most of the time, so you get what you get and it isn’t always what you want. Part of my mission is to teach women how to operate their Feminine Creation Vortex with intention so they can magnetize the juicy life of their wildest dreams.

SLY: You’ve written that your highest life value is freedom. What does freedom mean to you?

TSV: Freedom means the ability to speak my mind while still being accepted – in private, in public and in a romantic relationship. It means financial freedom to live the way I desire and move where I need to go. It means the freedom to expand my mind.

SLY:  What projects are you currently working on?

TSV: Just finished filming the Feminine Creation Vortex video series, so now I’m editing it. It will be available on www.inthedivine.com the first week of May. When this launches I’ll also have a monthly membership where, for less than the cost of a cup of coffee a day, you’ll get one or more videos on how to live a juicy live and operate your Feminine Creation Vortex with intention.

I also have a “Penelope In The Divine” screenplay adapted from the novel, so I’m shopping that around as well. There will be a feature film if I have anything to do with it!

I’m working on an illustrated version of Penelope In The Divine with the lovely and talented Drew Hand. A true artistic genius. If time permits I’m going to use Apple’s new iBook software and do a multi-media version as well so the reader can dive deeper into the teachings without going anywhere else. That will be super-fun.

And of course there’s my blog at www.inthedivine.com

Theresa thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions and to share so much. I am very excited about part two of our interview that will be released tomorrow where we talk about pole dancing, sexuality and measured steps towards self love among many other things. I love you Theresa! That’s the best way to put my sentiment. My life is better because you are alive right now living out your divine purpose.

Connect with Theresa

In The Divine website

T.S. Valenzuela on twitter

I also wrote a book response about Penelope In The Divine

Print PDF

Share/Bookmark