There are countless ways that we disconnect from our body in this day and age. Between increasing demands to be more available at work to the doom scrolling on social media, it is easy to lose your connection with your body. In fact, connecting with your body is only encouraged in a small amount of physical activity. Pushing yourself, your physical body, in the gym is encouraged by a lot of fitness influencers. In addition to that, we are encouraged to engage in restrictive dieting at a time when we are very disconnected from where our food comes from. So even when we are taking time to nourish ourselves and move our body, it’s often in a rigid and controlled way. Which brings us to our first way…
New ways to feed your body
Today it seems that every new scroll comes with a new dieting or exercising rule you simply must follow. One influencer says cayenne water will change your life while another says it's slowly poisoning you. How we move and nourish our body is deeply personal. In addition to that, having less money or less mobility can make you feel like nothing is ever enough. The first step in connecting with your body is not punishing it. This can look different for everyone. If you’ve been pushing yourself with restrictive eating habits and working out too hard, rest would be on the menu. If you’ve been eating food that makes your body flare up (this could be due to allergies or simply not getting enough veggies) and not stretching yourself out, upping the discipline could be good.
Finding new ways to feed your body is one of the best things you can do. Not only does it open up the neural pathways associated with learning a new skill but it also, often, has the added benefit of being social. I find it hard to motivate myself to move my body unless it is also a social activity. In that vein, I have discovered swimming clubs and roller skating. When I modeled the only way for me to maintain the insane standards of the fashion industry was to develop an eating disorder. After I stopped for my health, through therapy I became conscious of intuitive eating. Intuitive eating, wherein you listen to your body's cues more deeply, is a great way to start nourishing your body in a very sensual way.
All art
All art may sound reductive. How does one engage with every form of art in a deep way? The answer is, you probably can’t unless your job is being an artist, and even then it’s difficult. What this really means is finding a form of art that really resonates with you and exploring that connection. This is something that you need to get out of your head, and possibly comfort zone, for. There is a very heady, intellectual way to engage with art but at its core, art can deeply impact anyone.
My advice is to engage in the forms of art that have touched you most deeply so far. You may have lost touch with that child version of yourself that insisted their crayon drawings be put on the fridge but they are always within you. Take some time to meditate on what form of art would spark your inner child the most. If you have a hard time doing that then film is a wonderful medium to start in. There are so many films that can help you connect with yourself, your emotions.
Travel isn’t doable for everyone but there's nothing like moving to a new place to get you out of your head and into your instincts. A new place can even be camping in your hometown. At the core of it, traveling should be about having a new routine. This can help us identify what's not working about our current routines, situations, relationships - everything.
Being somewhere you’ve never been, or even just getting out of where you are, can help you reconnect with your body. It challenges you to face the portions of yourself that are no longer serving you, and gives you a glimpse of a life you could have outside of your habits. Now, you have to escape consciously for this to happen, but it just takes a little intention to make that real.
Appreciating faces
It’s more than just faces, it’s also just appreciating all of those around you. Anyone that you breathe love into and they breathe it back into you, make sure you are grateful for them. This is more than a close circle; akin to a sense of optimistic sonder that you carry with you. Sharing yourself with others and being known are both terrifying experiences, however, so important for reconnecting with your sensuality. This does not necessarily mean lots of people need to know you, but the reminder to stay vulnerable is rarely bad.
Comfort and beauty
The fabrics you chose to wear and the things you adorn yourself with are so important to how to feel that day. There is so much fun that can be had with fashion and makeup.. It’s best when the item of clothing or accessory has a story behind it. For example, wearing a hoodie that a friend lent to you or a pair of earrings your grandmother left to you. These things help us feel connected to a larger whole.
The biggest piece of advice on how to feel more sensual in your clothing is to feel more comfortable in it. What feels comfortable will look different from person to person, sometimes completely different. For example, a t-shirt and jeans feel too restrictive to me, whereas a dress makes me feel perfectly at home. Sometimes being overdressed makes you feel prepared, and being under dressed makes you feel odd. It all comes down to what you want.
The act of self care is originally a very radical one; during the civil rights movement it was encouraged as an act of political unrest by Angela Davis. The way that self care has been co-opted by capitalism is despicable, and something I have been writing about since I started writing. It doesn’t take a lot to start your journey towards a better self image and embracing using our bodies as way to experience, rather than a vessel or tool, is a wonderful place to start.