Love your body

For me it was like this, motherhood expanded my Love, my ability to love. Not only my child, but myself... Today I can say I love myself more... More and more I love all about me... And yes, my changing body is such an important part of this LOVE.

Today I am thankful for this path I walk and for the women that thru motherhood also share these awakenings. Falan is one of them, so grateful for her writing...

~ befriending thy breasts & body

“and i said to my body. softly. ‘i want to be your friend.’ it took a long breath. and replied. ‘i have been waiting my whole life for this.'” -nayyirah waheed

I stood, for a long time, in front of the mirror the other morning. Naked.

My clothes sat folded on the counter and my robe hung on the hook.

Not wanting to get dressed, I paused, staring at this body of mine.

I ran my hands from my armpits down the round of my breasts, along my ribs and waistline, slowly alongside my hips.I thought about how much I would one day miss this body.

This body as it is.

The youthful suppleness of the skin would be replaced with the wise softness that time and age transforms.

The inevitable acceptance of your aged lines that can’t help but to long for your springtide.

I thought about how often looking at our bodies results mostly in judgment.

I thought about how our eyes fall to “flaws” instead of our hearts holding gratitude for our abilities.

I thought about how much this body has provided for me.

The points of pleasure. The points of passion and aliveness.

Touch and orgasm and tickles and snuggles. Laughter. Joy.

Long walks. Hikes. Swims.

Holding me gently and with strength in all the sadness I’ve felt.

The pain. The tears.

The expansion of pregnancy and the power of birth.

Moon cycles and blood and babies and losses and new life.

Breasts. Breastfeeding. Milk.

Breasts.

Oh, breasts. Extending from the heart.

For nearly a dozen years, milk, milk, milk.

Swelling and softening, filling and emptying.

Breasts.

Just last August my youngest weaned and I closed the door on nearly a dozen years of breastfeeding.

After she weaned, I would be standing in the shower lathering my skin with milky soap and would skip over my nipples.

And then I would catch myself and remember that I could soap them up now.

My nipples, my breasts, they’ve belonged to my children.

They belonged to the nourishment of those I love the most.

Now they feel mine again.

They show the stories of how they belonged to them for so long.

Soft lines gently mark the inner breasts, nearest my heart.

Pink nipples always appearing aroused.

Now mine again.

********

We live in a world that models tremendous detachment from our own bodies.

Sex sells, but connection to ourselves doesn’t.

We live in a world that encourages women to give themselves monthly breast exams and to get painful, invasive mammograms once a year when they reach their 40’s. To stoically examineyour breasts one time a month/ once a year, but not to touch your breasts with adoration ever. (Many similar thoughts can be said about the vagina and the pap.)

We live in a world where breast cancer steals the lives of mothers and daughters and wives and sisters and aunts and grandmothers, but we are not shown to fully appreciate our breasts for the incredible energy centers and nourishers they are. (Many similar thoughts can be said about the yoni and cancers/concerns of the womb space.)

Disconnection from ourselves steals our power and our respect and our regard for this precious body of ours.

Please, take these words of mine and settle them into you.

It’s time to stop the disconnection from this spirit housed skin we are in.

It’s time to sincerely realize the remarkable magic that your body is.

Breasts are a beautiful place to start.

Begin to feel your breasts everyday. In the shower, for the five minutes before you fall asleep. Lovingly massage them, supporting lymphatic movement and enriching your heart center. Go without a bra. Throw your bras away (absolutely on the underwire ones!) Look at them. Love them.

Let your breasts be a catalyst of connecting with, and befriending, the richness of your body.

~ Falan, mother to three http://falanstorm.com/about/

Such gorgeous images from Kala

http://www.kalarathphotography.com

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