Art of Life Handbook: Physical wisdom

Physical wisdom:
on trusting your body

As a natural dweller of the world of the intellect and imagination, raised by parents who allowed me to spend my days reading and drawing, I went through much of my life feeling disconnected from my body. I liked to dance and sing, and I ran around as much as the next kid, but as the years passed, that easy movement felt more and more like a forgotten remnant of childhood. At age 9 or 10 my body began to change from a skinny stick into something more weighty and substantial, something I wasn’t ready for, and so I further separated my thoughts from my physical experience. I had little exposure to body-mind practices like yoga, and sexuality was something that wasn’t supposed to exist for good girls like me.

It has taken me a long time even to recognize that my body and mind have been dislocated from each other, and I suspect much more time will pass before they reintegrate completely. But I am starting on that process, and it has had interesting effects on my relationship to myself and my attitude toward my art — especially in conjunction with internal (not external) motivation. I’m working toward looking good as frequently as possible, based on my own standards of beauty and no one else’s (read that post), and I’m learning that weight and health are two totally different things (post forthcoming). I’m trying to bring a more diverse standard of beauty to my art as well, particularly my figurative drawings and paintings (read that post, or browse my gallery of figurative artwork). And most fundamentally, I’m more aware now that my body has its own wisdom that it does me good to not ignore (read post and comments).