Your Body Is an Altar
Over the last few weeks, Christiane and I have shared about the need to tear down the construct of body image entirely, rather than focusing on creating a better one. In no way are we done talking about this. In fact, it will be the main focus of our upcoming online program, and I imagine it is something we will be speaking about for a good, long while because it is so insidiously woven through dominant culture and each and every one of us. Eradicating it will not happen overnight. It takes consistent, persistent, and radical – as in, at the roots – practice and intention to subvert something so deeply embedded in our culture and ourselves.
But if you know anything about us here at the Verdant Collective, one of our primary orientations is toward what is already well. Right here. Right now. We don’t focus solely on the wound, we believe in the absolute necessity of feeding and cultivating what is well and whole in each of us so that what is not well begins to atrophy and fall away. After all, if you are tending a garden, simply removing the weeds will not ensure the thriving of the plants. They need water, sunlight, and the right combination of minerals and nutrients to grow to their potential. The same could be said for each of us.
One way to begin to chip away at the roots of body image is to begin to ask yourself questions as you dress and adorn your body: Who is this for? Am I wearing this for me? For you? To fit into the dominant culture? Am I wearing this because I’m supposed to? Because it’s what is expected of me? Or, because it’s what I actually want to be wearing?
That line of questions leads to others: Why do I want to wear this? Because it’s comfortable? Functional? Because I’ll get attention? Because I’ll be able to hide? Because it makes my ass look good? According to whom? Because it feels good? What kind of good?
Followed up by: Who of me wants to wear this? Who of me feels good in this? The rebel? The wild one? The scared and compliant one? The domesticated one?
If you aren’t already, we encourage you to begin asking yourself these questions. Get curious about why you make the clothing and adornment choices you make. It’s so very important to get underneath your automatic ways of being in the world so that you can move from a more aware and aligned place in yourself. Just keep in mind that ultimately, you might not be able to come to satisfying answers, instead emerging from this questioning more confused than when you went in.
As we invite you to uproot the construct of body image, coming out of the fog of externally driven dominant culture, we also want to provide you with some of the other elements you will need to unfurl your leaves and blossoms. One of the nutrients that you will hear us speak to nearly every time we open our mouths is community. Both Christiane and I spoke to the importance of community in our personal journeys with body image. Because of this, all of our programs, be they online or in-person, are taught as a community experience.
Another thing that gardens usually need is some kind of structure. I want to offer an alternative orientation that you can use to guide your decisions around what you wear and how you adorn yourself each day. Think of it as a trellis for the vines of you to grow on.
Your body is an altar.
I love to make altars; little sacred spaces scattered around my home. Most of the open surfaces are cluttered with feathers, bones, shells, rocks, family heirlooms, and other small objects that I constantly arrange and rearrange. They remind me of where I come from, where I’m going, and what matters to me. They are visual markers of things that I’ve been through, commitments that I’ve made, and moments that have passed, and offerings of gratitude to life, spirit, and soul.
I have come to regard my body in much the same way. I cover it in objects and symbols that have meaning for me. I think of my body as a holy, sacred space that can make visible all that I carry within myself. My body can communicate the marks of initiation and rites of passage, and it can reflect the beauty that I see and feel within and around me.
And so, when you get dressed in the morning, I invite you to choose clothing that has you feel connected to yourself and your place in the world. That reminds you of who you are. Choose jewelry that connects you to your ancestors, to the earth, to specific moments in your life. Jewelry that wakes up the wild one in you. If you decide to put ink under your skin, let it be a reminder of your particular scripture. The scripture that only you can write. The things that you need reminding of. The myths that you are living. The poetry that you are.
Begin to regard your body itself as an expression of Earth's generosity, abundance and infinitely unique beauty – because it is. Treat it as you would the altar in a sacred temple, and miraculous things might begin to happen.
One of our favorite poems, The Grooming by Pattiann Rogers, that we usually read at some point during every one of our programs, ends with the line, “the soul can never be more than what the body believes of itself.” Like air and water, the soul and the body are inextricable life partners. The body is an expression of the soul's unique essence, longing, desires, stories – both ancient and new. The body is so vastly more vulnerable however, to the introjects and assaults of the culture within which it lives. And so, we are offering you a chance to participate in a culture of wellness, curated and held within a dominant culture of the opposite. Join us, won't you? We'd love to have you.
