“I touch my own skin, and it tells me that before there was any harm, there was miracle.” - adrienne maree brown, PLEASURE ACTIVISM
Start by wearing something you love — a mesh robe, letting it flow and flounce. Something lace and sheer. Ruffled and free. Perhaps it’s in a lover’s favorite color or your own. Now, notice more.
Where do you feel it touching flesh? What does it feel like to touch it, rub it against your skin? What does it cover and what does it leave open to the air? Yes, this too is an exercise in mindfulness, in noticing.
Now, listen to something you love. Your own voice, what music can it make? Perhaps it’s the voice of a beloved or the sound of the city. Listen to waves or wind; birds, bees, and trees; they too are speaking. The sound of children playing. The sound of silence. If sound cannot be heard, hum. Feel the vibration of sound, turn up the bass, this is all feeling. This is all love.
Go to a mirror, handheld or hanging quietly from a hook. Name your features and where (who) they come from, count the freckles or trace the lines, what do you look like when you smile? What does it feel like to bare your teeth? How’s your hair? How meaning of what? Of whom? Where does it rise and fall? Notice these things and laugh. Now, laugh harder. Accept it if it turns into tears. Sadness, too, can be loved.
Next, do something you love. Read. Sing. Write. Smoke. Sip. Stroke. Rub. Kiss. Stretch. Wonder. Gaze. Roll around in bed. Walk barefoot across the grass. Write a line of poetry. Sit in silence. Sit and stare. Look outside. Turn up the volume. Yell past the treetops. Look at yourself. Touch your wrist. Look what binds you and sets you free. Looking as listening, looking as loving. Do something you love. Write a letter. Write a perfect sentence. Draw hearts on paper. Water a plant. Touch a flower. Smell the flowers. Run your hands under water. Eat the whole cookie. Roll your hips. Shake that ass. Take a selfie. Call someone you love.
And pause. Where do you feel this joy in your body? Where do you feel love rising up beneath mesh or lace, silk, and chiffon? Notice where fabric is touching you, and slowly, slowly, take it all off.
Touch your skin; a miracle.
dFrPToqsLCSBz