What are your best qualities?
One of best qualities is my sheer determination - if not my best. If I set my mind to something, journal daily, and focus on shifting my daily tasks and actions, this puts me in proper alignment for manifestation work to occur. This space-holding practice also allows what I’m calling in to have room to manifest in the physical form (aka my life).
What do you love the most about your body?
I most love my body's ability to carry me and I love that it is my home in this life. As for physical feature, I have grown to cherish lately my legs. Thank you, I love you to my thick thighs, cellulite and strong calves as we have had walked some beautiful and some dark paths together.
What about yourself do you wish you loved more?
I think radical self -love is a daily task. We all need to be doing the work of healing. If that is your inner child healing, sexual trauma and womb healing or ancestral lineage healing or all of the above. This isn’t easy work, but it’s so important and so sacred to me on this self-love journey that I have been on. I am working daily on taking time out of each day to move my body freely and to thank it for all it does for me.
Tell us the story about how you earned your stretch marks…
I remember the first time I saw stretch marks on my body… Staring in fear and disgust at my body in the mirror after stepping out of the shower. Looking back now, it's crazy to think how programmed I was so early on to feel shame as my body grew in a natural way. I was appalled and felt like it needed to be fixed immediately so I hopped online to google and even further drove home the sensation of feeling ugly and trying to fix this terrible thing immediately ugh how sad. Then I ordered a bunch of stretch mark creams and products and this spiked roller that I used daily to roll over my skin. It hurt and didn’t even work. All these products were advertised to reduce the appearance of skin dis-normalcies. As if they aren’t the most normal and natural process. I now am at peace with the marks, scars and stretch mark’s that adorn this physical vessel as they each tell stories about my evolution.
How did those around you make you feel about them?
I was lucky to have a support system of strong and spiritual women. So I never felt shame from those around me. But I absolutely felt shame from girls at school. Changing for PE class and worrying if anyone would see the lioness marks that had appeared on my hips as I took the shape of the divine feminine is etched into my brain.
Describe your journey with body acceptance...
My journey with self-acceptance is and has been a tale of dark and twisted love. I quite literally had to rise from the flames and be re-born. For me a lot changed as I deepened my spiritual connection and had my Kundalini awakening. When we live in the heart space of the confinements of humanity it’s so easy to fall for the mind control and social conditioning that is deep rooted in side of us like self-doubt or fear. But as we no longer feed into those systems we watch them collapse in front of our eyes. This isn’t easy; don’t get me wrong I still have days when I speak to my body with disrespect, days when I eat like shit and lay around all day, days when I feel worthless but it's only days or sometimes even hours. Then I meditate or practice gratitude and my whole perspective shifts. We have these tools available to us. So my journey has been about stripping down, physically as well as mentally and emotionally. Think back to how you felt in your skin as a young child, could we work together to return to that place of pure love and pure acceptance? My spirituality has also led me to know that this human form we take in this life really means nothing. It’s merely a vessel as to FEEL; to feel touch, pain, love and all the emotions and physical sensations in between. When we can realize how this form isn’t us but merely a soul to our home then appearance finally loosens its iron grip and we can feel and be as we are meant to.