Archive by Author

I Want A Red Dress

8 May

The poem that best captures where I am at THIS MOMENT on my Reclaiming Beauty journey:

What Do Women Want?

by: Kim Addonizia

I want a red dress.

I want it flimsy and cheap,

I want it too tight, I want to wear it

until someone tears it off me.

I want it sleeveless and backless,

this dress, so no one has to guess

what’s underneath. I want to walk down

the street past Thrifty’s and the hardware store

with all those keys glittering in the window,

past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old

donuts in their café, past the Guerra brothers

slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly,

hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders.

I want to walk like I’m the only

woman on earth and I can have my pick.

I want that red dress bad.

I want it to confirm your worst fears about me,

to show you how little I care about you

or anything except what

I want. When I find it, I’ll pull that garment

from its hanger like I’m choosing a body

to carry me in this world, through

the birth-cries and the love-cries too,

and I’ll wear it like bones, like skin,

it’ll be the goddamned

dress they bury me in.

What poem best captures where you are RIGHT NOW in your Reclaiming Beauty journey? I love new poems; if you feel inspired, please share one in the comments below.

Sexy Mother Pucker

2 May

I really can’t believe it is May and my last post was in January! My writing silence comes from going through some deep inner work on my own parallel Reclaiming Beauty journey. I am looking forward to sharing my experiences and insights which have been about my deepest fear, old back injuries resurfacing, chiropractic, Bikram Yoga and learning how to stay connected to my beauty when I don’t have external validation. Some major stuff just right for a Hanged Man year!

But while these ideas are percolating in me, I gotta tell you about this gift my sister Katie brought me when she came to visit last weekend… Sexy Mother Pucker lip plumping gloss. Isn’t that the most brilliant product name? I crown my sister Katie a Beauty Whisperer; she is on a mission to help spice up all mamas everywhere. Katie went through her biggest life breakdown-breakthrough a few years ago and emerged an even stronger women with a new luster, an inspiring sense of her own style and the greatest collection of sexy shoe therapy you ever saw. Now she is like the Reclaiming Beauty Fairy sharing fun accessories with me like this lip gloss.

I’m not usually a make-up kinda girl, but have been enjoying spicing myself up this week with a sexy mother pucker. And what an awesome name! Especially for me – I was a senior in high school when the Prince song ‘Sexy MF‘ came out. Now I have a Sexy MF theme song appropriate for a mama. Us mamas all need some fun reminders of our desirability.

Thanks, Katie, you Beauty Whisperer, you!

Share Your Reclaiming Beauty Mantras

30 Jan

Calling all you Reclaiming Beauty Queens to share your mantras and positive affirmations! I have a dream to create some sort of positive self-talk deck for Reclaiming Beauty. Those of you who know me know how much I love my card decks: tarot decks, goddess knowledge cards, power thought card decks… Reclaiming Beauty needs one, don’t you think? So send me your words of encouragement for your Reclaiming Beauty journey and let’s share in the inspiration.

My current favorites:

+ Today I choose to only see the beautiful in me. (thanks Amy Steinberg!)

+ I love my body and my body loves me.

+ I am worthy of love.

+ I am unique, perfect and whole, just how I am in the present moment.

+ My body is a temple for my Spirit. I treat my body with the respect and love my Spirit deserves.

+ My sparkle shines outward from the beauty of my heart. 

+ All parts of me are welcome and come together to create my unique beauty.

+ It is safe to be in my body and in my beauty. It is safe to be my natural shape and weight.

I hope there are tons of comments on this one.

Come on, Beauties, show me what you got!

~ Heidi

Movement for Body + Soul (this week!)

25 Jan

m   o   v   e   m   e   n   t

for

b  o  d  y  +  s  o  u  l

T.H.E. Center of Asheville

Wednesday, January 25th

7-8PM

Corey Dingess of Happy Body and I are co-leading a monthly movement-oriented support group for women dealing with disordered eating and body image issues. This group provides a safe place to explore gentle stretching, strengthening and breathwork. It is designed to promote a positive body experience, self-compassion, relaxation and personal empowerment. The group meets as a part of T.H.E. Center’s weekly support group on the last Wednesday of the month from 7-8pm. Hope to see some of you Beauties there!

Self-Portrait: Taking A Stand

9 Jan

A recent Virgo Freewill Astrology horoscope inspired me to share this Self-Portrait from 2000. I dedicate this Self-Portrait to the passion I have to take an “unshakeable” stand for women to reclaim beauty. Here are the wise words from Rob Brezny:

To be in alignment with current cosmic rhythms, it would make sense for you to fatten yourself up, Virgo — metaphorically speaking, that is. I think you’d benefit from having more ballast, more gravitas. You need to be sure you’re well-anchored and not easy to push around. It’s nearly time to take an unshakable stand for what you care about most.

The words “fatten yourself up” will probably freak out anyone struggling with body image. However, the metaphors represented in our physical bodies are important to pay attention to. The feminist in me does not believe it is a coincidence that women are given the message to be “small.” I love this image because it takes the places where I may have once felt judgmental of my body – “big” legs, “apple” shape, “big” belly, “big” breasts – and translates them into their powers:

big legs = groundedness, taking a powerful stand

no more an “apple shape” but rather a heart shape, reflecting my capacity for love and compassion

big belly = roundness, connection to my femininity, balance of power and softness

big breasts = big capacity for nurturing

and my open mouth = not afraid to break the silence and speak my truth

What’s wrong with being “big” anyway? I have given myself permission to take up space and be a wild and powerful woman in this world. And I dedicate that gift to YOU.

What are the parts of your body of which you are most judgmental? What are the metaphors reflected in your judgments?

Share a Self-Portrait with the Reclaiming Beauty community that reclaims the power in the parts of your body you judge. Be radical. Break free. Embrace your natural shape and the metaphors it offers to guide you to your inner beauty.

The Beauty You Love

2 Jan

 

My husband and I were under the weather this past week, so we choose to lay low this New Year’s weekend -just the medicine I needed. We enjoyed playing around the house and hiking on the Mountains-to-Sea trail behind our home with our 2 yr old, Joey. I made homemade chicken soup, played my guitar and took 2 yoga classes, including Mado’s class at the Asheville Yoga Center’s breathtaking new location. Joey fell asleep early on New Year’s Eve and Kelly and I logged some couch time watching Midnight in Paris – a magical movie I highly recommend for fellow romantics aiming to feel satisfied in the present moment. Joey woke up right after we watched the Times Square ball drop, and we had a family of three snuggle in those first moments of 2012.

Reading fellow bloggers on their New Year’s rituals, I am inspired to set an intention for the year. However, I am feeling a little foggy about mine at the moment. I am recognizing I need some dreaming time to imagine my vision and hopes for 2012, both personally and for Reclaiming Beauty. As I allowed myself to daydream this weekend, my mind kept coming back to one of my all-time favorite Rumi poems:

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened.  Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading.  Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

This poem truly resonates with my heart strings. I delved into much of the beauty I love this weekend -  playing with Joey, music, nature, yoga, cooking, couch time with Kelly- and I feel deeply filled and at peace. As I am envisioning my 2012, I want to be in the beauty I love… not the beauty I loved or the beauty I foresee loving, but the beauty I love in the present moment. I will allow myself to explore what this beauty is NOW. I will challenge the internal obstacles that get in the way of being fully in the beauty I love. I will be in the beauty I love as I continue to move through my Hanged Man year, breaking stuck patterns with self-compassion and harnessing my power. I will be in the beauty I love with how Reclaiming Beauty evolves. I will step into the beauty I love over and over again.

From here I will spend some time this month getting more specific, I am a Virgo after all. Two processes that inspire me:

Heather Bleasdell of Build Altars recommends a two-fold vision board process that I have followed the past couple of years. Another Reclaiming Beauty Queen I have started following, Rosie Molinary, author of Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance, recommends intentionality through choosing a word for the year. I feel excited letting their be some unknown and mystery around my intention to let the beauty I love be what I do.

What is the beauty you love? How will you bring that beauty into your vision for this New Year?

I want to take a moment to thank those of you who joined me this past year as I launched Reclaiming Beauty into the world with this website and the Playshops. I wish everyone a 2012 filled with the beauty you love. Follow your heart and you won’t get lost.

~Heidi

 

Movement for Body + Soul (this week)

27 Dec

m   o   v   e   m   e   n   t

for

b  o  d  y  +  s  o  u  l

T.H.E. Center of Asheville

Wednesday, December 28th

7-8PM

Corey Dingess of Happy Body and I are co-leading a monthly movement-oriented support group for women dealing with disordered eating and body image issues. This group provides a safe place to explore gentle stretching, strengthening and breathwork. It is designed to promote a positive body experience, self-compassion, relaxation and personal empowerment. The group meets as a part of T.H.E. Center’s weekly support group on the last Wednesday of the month from 7-8pm. Hope to see some of you Beauties there!

You Are Like the Stars

20 Dec

Happy Winter Solstice from Reclaiming Beauty!

Wednesday, December 21st is Winter Solstice – the longest night of the year and a time to celebrate the rebirth of the Sun. In this time of darkness, let’s celebrate the rebirth of our inner beauty light!

In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.~ Albert Schweitzer

On New Year’s Eve of the millennium, I sat locked out of my parent’s house in Ft. Collins, CO and reflected on the beauty of the people in my life at that time. I had an experience that year where I saw the blazing inner beauty light of some of the women around me as filtered by the night sky, and imagined ripping away the sky to expose their brilliance. I felt inspired to let my inner beauty light shine as brilliantly. I wrote this song, You Are Like the Stars, in my parent’s driveway, looking up at the starry New Year’s Eve sky that night.

Share this post with anyone you want to remind of their inner beauty light or thank for rekindling yours.

You Are Like the Stars

I am lying on my back and looking up at you

I marvel at the sparkle you manage to shine through

Even when the darkness, it threatens, it threatens to unfold

You remain, you’re shining proud

You are brilliant, you are bold

To me, you are like the stars

I am wishing, I am wishing on you

I am wishing, I am wishing for a little of what you do

Dark sky, nothing but a holey blanket

That filters your light

If I were to rip it away

I’d be blinded, blinded by the sight

To me, you are like the stars

Image:

Yoga Journal – Yoga Philosophy – Nurture the New You

19 Dec

Skills: Self-Compassion

More on Self-Compassion. Hot Topic!

“If you’re committed to change this new year, replace the hard-headed discipline with self-compassion. Studies show it’s more effective for making all kinds of behavioral changes.”

Yoga Journal – Yoga Philosophy – Nurture the New You.

 

 

 

Make Beauty Not War

16 Dec

Check out the new skill added: Make Beauty Not War

Make Beauty, Not War is a Reclaiming Beauty call to make peace with yourself in order to gain access to your unique gifts, talents and passions to make a positive impact in the world.

I need a graphic designer to help me make this slogan into a t-shirt. Anyone out there feel inspired to help me with this?

Image: Documents & Designs

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