the first word
by julie parker

I am not sure I have ever really inhabited my body.

Over the last year or so I have been working on climbing inside and zipping up my birthday suit…trying it on for size. I feel like most of my life I’ve hung out on this planet as a disembodied brain.

For many years, I neither loved my body nor hated it—I barely acknowledged its existence. Even now when I pass a mirror, I am often surprised to find a reflection.
These days I am finding ample opportunities to make friends with my body. Feldenkrais got me started, introducing me to my body for the first time. (Thanks, Lavinia!)

I have learned to ground myself, and also to forge a deep, healing physical connection with the Earth and the trees. (Thanks, Warren!)

Last week I experienced my first facial...did you know when you get a facial (at Clay Spa and Salon) they massage your feet? Your head, your feet, your shoulders...oh my. (Thanks, Carrie!) Before my first facial, I expect I viewed such pampering as bordering on frivolous. The reality felt like a profound nurturing, both skin deep and far deeper.

When I walked out of there wearing this entirely new skin, I came a few steps closer to really inhabiting my own “skin”.

My body: a bold new frontier.