I was awestruck by the beauty and strength of a woman this week. She was not the epitome of a beauty in our American culture. Her beauty was of a deeper, stronger type.
She stood nearly 6’ tall with large bone structure and body mass. She was dressed in jeans and a sweat shirt not of the latest fashion. Her thick, wavy, and un-styled hair was swept back in a long braid. And her body was wrapped in a colorfully patterned garment that supported not one but two children. She carried a boy on her back, and held a girl on the front of her body.
I admit I could not take my eyes off this woman and her children. I felt compelled to approach her, ask her some questions and share my feelings and thoughts with her. Some of you may be responding the way my children do when they see me readying myself to share my feelings with a stranger. “You can’t do that! You don’t know her. She may not want to talk to you. How can you impose on her like that?” I will tell you what I tell them. This is easy for me to do. I love to connect to my truths and share them and so I did. [private_membership circle]
I approached her and told her how beautiful and strong she looked. She smiled. I told her she is an inspiration to me and would be to the many women I work with who are uncomfortable in their bodies, feeling too big to be loved and accepted by themselves and our society. I told her I envied her ability to carry her children, who, by the way, are 15 months old, growing large and heavy by the minute.
I told her I wanted to snap her photo so I could share her beauty and strength with all of the women I support in their quest to act toward self and body with more loving kindness. Tears appeared in her eyes as she said she would love to help these women. I felt tears in my eyes as I thanked her for her presence and inspiration.
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Robin Okun, LMSW, is a certified Nia Instructor, Movement Therapist, Center for Eating Disorders, Director of Mindful Movement Studio, Ann Arbor, MI, 734-395-2624, robinokun@gmail.com [/private_membership circle]
