The Self-Esteem Series: Honoring Your Body

[Guest guest]

Good Morning!

 

The Self-Esteem Series: Honoring Your Body

 

Our Goal this week will be to promote self-worth and promote body

awareness. Identity work to raise consciousness. Build self-

confidence. Improve our ego, self-esteem, emotional balance and

strengthen our positive personality traits. We will allow ourselves

to see all the beauty our eyes touch.

 

Bringing your awareness to your body is an amazing feeling! One of the most

beautiful ways to bring honor to anything is to touch it. With the energy

transfer between two beings, the process can be a great evolution. When honoring

the self, it is even more awakening. What better way to do this, than with a bar

of soap and a shower.

 

If you usually wash with a washcloth or sponge, forego these tools and use your

hands and a bar of soap. Start at the face and lather your skin. Massage it

with the tips of your fingers. Feel the structure of your bones. Brush a finger

over your lips and massage the sides of your nose.

 

Keep all thoughts and affirmations positive. This is a time to admire everything

you have! Not to be our critical, judgemental selves!

 

HONOR.

 

Massage your ears. Pay attention to each area. Close your eyes if you want to

and feel how the ears can stimulate every part of the body.

 

Massage your neck and throat. Use the lather to glide over your chest and down

your arms. Make small circle with the suds. Feel the texture of your skin.

Notice how your hands glide over the abdomen and thighs.

 

How often do we take a shower and wash up and not even pay attention to what we

are doing? Pay special attention to yourself today! Do not let your mind

wander. Keep your attention on admiring your body and how it pertains to you.

Defines you. Massage each leg. Gently circle each knee and work down to your

beautiful feet. Nuture each foot as you soap each toe, the tops of your feet,

then firmly press on the bottoms of the foot and instep.

 

This is also a wonderful time for women to do your self breast exam and for men

to do a self testicular exam. What better way to be honoring your body and be a

conscious self aware adult.

 

Breast Exam

 

Examining your breasts is an important way to find breast cancer early, when

it's most likely to be cured. This is a critical step you can and should take

for yourself. For many, the experience is frustrating. You may feel things, but

not know what they mean. However, the more you examine your breasts, the more

you will learn about them and the easier it will become for you to tell if

something unusual has occurred. A breast exam is an essential part of taking

care of yourself and reducing your risk of breast cancer.

 

Try to get in the habit of doing a breast examination once a month to

familiarize yourself with how your breasts normally look and feel. Examine

yourself several days after your period ends, when your breasts are least likely

to be swollen and tender. If you are no longer having periods, choose a day

that's easy to remember, such as the first or last day of the month.

 

Don't panic if you think you feel a lump. Most women have some lumps or lumpy

areas in their breasts all the time. Eight out of ten breast lumps that are

removed are benign, non-cancerous.

 

 

Testicular Exam

 

Self exams of the testicles are also an effective way of getting to know this

area of your body and detecting testicular cancer at an early and very curable

stage. While it can strike at any age, testicular cancer is the most common form

of cancer for men aged 15 to 34. Checking yourself out every month is important

as any significant change in the size, shape, or weight of your testicles could

be a sign that you should see a physician.

 

If you find a lump on your testicle, see a doctor, preferably a urologist, right

away. The abnormality may not be cancer, it may just be an infection. Waiting

and hoping will not fix anything. Please note that free floating lumps in the

scrotum that are not attached in any way to a testicle are not testicular

cancer.

 

Honoring your body is one of the most grateful ways to love and pay attention to

yourself. Always do this with positive thought and life affirming words. No

matter what shape you are in, honor yourself for who you are. This will actually

promote change, self awarenss and the ability to know who you are.

 

 

 

Andrew Pacholyk, MS, L.Ac.

Peacefulmind.com

Therapies for healing

mind, body, spirit