“You can not be what you can not see.” Marion Wright Edelman cited in Bonney (2016, p.8) After I came out as FAT, I began to wonder what if I want to dance or do yoga? Where are the other people like me doing those things? I began to find a whole group of women courageously breaking stereotypes and promoting body positivity. I came out to the class when I read this. I came out and told them I am FAT. It felt so good to say it out loud. It was liberating. A reclamation of my body. FAT
I have a secret. You see, I inherited more than madness and knitting From my women My ancestors I inherited FAT I inherited WEIGHT I inherited MASS. GIRTH HEFT. Yes. I. AM. FAT! F-A-T FFFFFAAAAAAAAATTTTTT Fat is a Feminist issue Reads my fourteen year old self Really? Yes!!! BIG takes up more space Claims it for it’s own Not yours Protects from unwanted advances FAT says “Don’t mess with me… Or I’ll suffocate you with my ….. SOFTNESS!!!!!” FAT says "I'm harmless” “Undisciplined” “Ignore me” “I’m no threat “ “Invisible”. F-A-T FFFFFAAAAAATTTTTT Slowly said it loosens up the tongue, The mouth The willpower. "The deep attending to hard knots of holding is a powerfully compassionate act, a turning toward rejected parts of being. As this newly compassionate observing occurs, the object of observation, the body/self, is transformed, and we move from denial to acceptance, from rejection to inclusion. This is the beginning of metta practice; loving-kindness for the self". Katherine Thanas, (1997 p.45) Hearing the voice in the body in Being Bodies: Buddhist Women on the Paradox of Embodiment. Friedman, L and Moon, S (Eds) Publications, Inc: Boston:MA YEEESSSS!!!! HALLELUJAH!! "Practice happens in the body. Paying attention to the body creates space around and inside the knots of tension. What has become compacted through being pushed down, begins to expand, to claim it's own space. As this part of us finds room to grow, it begins to draw energy from what is around. I sometimes practice visualising the space around tension as liquid, a pool of water. Seeing the space around hardness as water or air, as flow, modifies the hardness. Gradually hardness finds breathing space.......the solidity softens just a bit." Katherine Thanas, (1997 p.45) Hearing the voice in the body in Being Bodies: Buddhist Women on the Paradox of Embodiment. Friedman, L and Moon, S (Eds) Publications, Inc: Boston:MA I read this and it resonated with me. It reminded me of the mindfulness practices for pain I have used. Vidyamala Burch, in particular, uses visualisation like this for pain management. My colleague who has chronic pain has found it to be particularly effective. I guess pain can take many forms...I'm working on acceptance.
http://www.breathworks-mindfulness.org.uk/mbpm "From my Buddhist practice I know that liberation arises in the midst of delusion. I do not remember where I saw this statement. The true aspects arrive before the deluded aspects have departed. In the midst of delusion and pain, clarity arises."
Katherine Thanas (1997, p.44) Hearing the Voice of the Body in Being Bodies: Buddhist Women on the Paradox of Embodiment. Friedman, L and Moon, S (Eds) Shambhala Publications, Inc : Boston:MA
https://www.facebook.com/fatgirlsdance/videos/1982833018617992
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Helen Kennett-Bacon.Originally from South Yorkshire in England, I've lived with my husband Neil in Kitsilano, Vancouver for 10 years. We are fur-parents to our French bulldog Dave, I am a Registered Psychiatric Nurse specialising in ADHD. Archives
July 2017
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