Day 7 - Mirror Ritual with Pawel


💛Hello Everoyne, Welcome to the day 7. 💛

🍀Today I would like to share with you a ritual that in my personal experience turned out to be a very powerful practice which helped me to heal my body dysmorphia and has brought me closer towards the acceptance and appreciation of my own body. In the West we are imprinted from early on with toxic and very narrow beauty standards, which often favors abled, young, mostly white or light skinned, heterosexual, cis-gender, skinny, straight hair, without body hair, sporty bodies and a vary narrow gender binary representation. The paradox is that even people who fit those boxes may face the struggle. Entering a profound level of acceptance and appreciation for my body had strong and positive impact on my sexuality and the experience of my erotic self.

🌸„Mirror ritual. Body appreciation through the eyes of the compassionate companion” allowed me to embrace my body just the way it is. It allowed me to transform the negative thoughts in regards to my own body and helped me develop a more loving and compassionate relationship towards it.

🌺 As a young kid I grew up in the environment being trained to hate my body and wished it looked some other way. My father and my older brother used to make jokes, point out and ridicule my body for being skinny, delicate and in their opinion not masculine enough. Same form of violence I experienced at school being bullied by other boys. From an early age I was taught to feel shame about my body. Later in my life as I started my professional dance education I found myself in another very „body judgemental” environment promoting goals and unrealistic visions about so called „perfect body” That environment also wasn't very healthy for my body image and my self esteem. The process of deconditing myself from those harmful and negative thinking patterns took time and commitment to my own healing process. The ritual I share with you today and it's symbolic meaning has significantly contributed to the process of reclaiming power and agency of my own body. It allowed me to rise in confidence and expand the sense of my own value.

🌼This practice is very confronting and may trigger challenging emotions. Give yourself permission to be YOU and compassionately embrace all what comes up for you. This guided practice is an invitation for you to join. If you don't resonate with some parts of it feel free to make personal adjustments for your own benefit. As it is a process oriented work, I encourage you to revisit this practice every now and then.

🌙I came across „Mirror ritual” while reading „Dreaming the dark” from Starhawk. This audio recording is my personal adaptation of the ritual and it's connected to my personal journey.

🐾I recommend doing this ritual in the evening.
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Preparation:

🕷Essentials: Mirror (in which you can see your whole body), candle(s), bowl with salt water.
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Prepare the room, make it really warm (at some point I will ask you to take of your clothes)
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Dim the light or maybe use just the candle light.
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Burn some incents if you like.
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Prepare your station and the field for the work you're about to do.
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I recommend laying blankets on the floor and doing the ritual sitting on the floor or on a mattress. If your mirror is fixed high on the wall you could use a chair. Mind your own comfort.
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Once all this is done, play the audio recording.
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