Dear DOMAI
First, a sincere thank you for the effort and work you have given to create and sustain DOMAI. I am continually amazed at the responses of people who have been profoundly helped and healed by it. I echo what so many others have said about the power of the beauty of woman to heal, especially unclothed, but not sexualized.
This letter is a response to Brooke’s latest letter and her admonishments to women to do the work of accepting all of themselves, including their physical reality, and to work against the messages of our culture. She encourages men who have women in their lives who are suffering from low self-esteem and negativity in regards to their bodies to work carefully to change this. A worthwhile goal! Anecdotally I can attest that women are deeply afflicted with negativity in this area. I am a massage therapist and in all the years I have worked in this field, I have never had a man apologize for any aspect of his body, but out of hundreds and hundreds of women, I have had only two make no apology when getting ready for a massage!
DOMAI has been one of the most powerful influences on me for the change within myself in this area, as well as working in the field of massage, learning to belly dance (in my 40’s!) and doing as Brooke suggests – to work against the messages of our culture and times in the area of sexualizing the bodies of women. All of which has been liberating, healing, strengthening and filled with grace for me.
A great sadness for me has been that my husband is unable to embrace any idea that a nude woman might be okay to see, and possibly even therapeutic. The letters of so many testify to the power of childhood messages to bind us and create deforming restraints within and sadly, this is true for him. I continue to visit DOMAI regularly – which is an antidote to the negative, sexualized environment of my day – and hold fast to celebration of my body – JUST AS IT IS! As I enter my 50’s I remain joyful in my womanhood, my body and the desire to raise the battle cry of the power of feminine beauty to heal, repair, and restore what has been taken from us, or never given – affection and appreciation for the wonderful reality of our bodies!
With gratitude,
Susan
