perfect in your own imperfection

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By: Jennifer Williams
Edited date: November 14, 2022Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Thin, fat, average, short, tall and medium are just a few ways to describe the different types of bodies people have. I don’t even read gossip magazines or watch the news so it is solely through social media that I am exposed to opinions of body image. Some say thin is sexy others say fat is sassy. I say to hell with them all.

I see you on my massage table and in my yoga classes you are my family my friends my clients, my students, you are all my sisters and brothers and you are shying away from your sacred nature, hiding just beneath the façade. But you can’t hide it much longer. You are sacred. What lies beneath is no fear. What we have now is fear of no fear.

Why do we let ourselves off the hook? Our ancestors are cheering us on and it is up to us to make them proud, it is up to us to change the way we are evolving, it is up to us to break the cycle and wake up to our true existence. We can extend this affection of sacred life giver to both men and women who are willing to embrace both aspects of being equally. I say be exactly who you are in this moment and in this moment lets shed every socially formed collective judgment of how we are supposed to be. It’s all bullshit.

Healthy is sexy, but what if we take it one step further to say who cares about sexy. Healthy is a mindset not a fad diet or a certain food group we eat or avoid. True health embodies vibrant eyes, a gentle smile, a genuine heart, a warm embrace, a listening ear, a quiet mouth. 

Insert the yogini. Can we embrace the knowing that we are powerful? We carry generations of wisdom, quiet and unshared that has the potential to take this world and break it open, transforming consciousness. The yogini is powerful, divine, and fierce. Passion is her nature.  Embracing humanity in her loving presence is her game. A yogini is depicted with exposed breasts, nipples erect and her legs wide open exuding a sense of unapologetic freedom. That freedom is her nature. Where we may carry shame the yogini exudes light. Where we may carry meekness the yogini carries non egoical confidence. A yogini creates the energy as an invitation. An invitation to touch our true feminine essence. Our essence is unique to each of us and as we join together to express these unique gifts we unknowingly form a circle of healing around humanity. A circle of healing that forgives and moves us forward out of the past and into the present. Will you step into your role as sacred life giver and join the circle? 

I was inspired by the yogini portion of the yoga exhibit at the Sackler Gallery in Washington D.C.  The lost world of the sacred feminine was a brief part of the exhibit. What does the sacred feminine embody? The yogini statues were powerful. The energy that radiated from them had everything to do with strength, fierceness, and no apologies for being so sacred. In the nakedness of their bodies there was no room for seduction which seemed to seduce me even more.

These stone sculptures told a brief story of being. Each sculpture had a different expression that relayed a message of freedom. Not trying to be free or trying to be fierce. There seemed to be no history of oppression in the story these statues told. No trying to overcome diversity, just being at its finest. To me, it represents sacred embodiment of life givers. If the ancient yogini could speak she would speak of being power in a way that embraces all that exists not of taking back power because it didn’t seem to have been stolen yet. She would speak firmly and eloquently. Confidently aware with no hint of being self conscious because that does not exist to a yogini. She is a pure depiction of what is means to be a sacred giver of life. There is no compassion to be cultivated or peace to be contemplated because she is pure and perfectly balanced. I imagine when she passes through the phases of life she dances in them. There is no shame to be had and no thought that her body has malfunctioned or could ever be considered unattractive no matter its shape or size. NO matter if it bleeds or is in its winter phase. There is no coaxing herself to feel like a sacred life giver because there was never a question that she could be anything different. Because we have all been through lifetime after lifetime we hold the DNA of this sacredness whether man or woman. 

Let us connect deeply to this ancestor. Let us step into the present moment into our roots of the divine symbol of sacred life giver and in that essence embrace our being and delight in its perfection without labels.  

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