I Am a Woman of a "Certain Age" - Honoring My Body

Today I attended the Thursday noontime yoga class at the local YMCA.  It is not power yoga...but a gentler version focusing on breathing, mindfulness and basic yoga postures.  I have been practicing yoga for a number of years and each time I attend a class, I come away more centered and feeling more vital.  Today Denise led us through the floor postures as we lay on our mats, telling us to bring right knee to chest, wrap hands around it, drawing it in, extend left leg and flex left foot. I marveled at how obedient my body was to my requests.  Even as it ages, it continues to follow my instruction as best it can.  I felt a tremendous appreciation for how my body has carried me through life and asked so little of me in return.

From the time I was a child and taking tap dancing lessons at the Franklin School of Dance in Kent, Ohio, my body has performed in the ways I have asked it.

The Dancing Dolls - Patsy, Patricia, and Carolyn

I was never drawn to sports and was a bit of a klutz in high school.  I always played right field in PE softball games and could never execute an overhand serve in volleyball.  But I was the Drill Team leader

Marymount High School Drill Team - Patricia,Drill Teal leader in the center

and I loved to dance swing at high school dances, even if it was usually with my brother, Chuck!

Later in life, my body made it possible for me to bear three children and to have a fairly easy experience of childbirth.  And in my retirement years I am still able to dance the tango, run up the 14 steps to my front door, bend down to weed my garden and tend my vegetables, take walks through the neighborhood with my husband. My fingers work well when I want to knit an item, dice a potato, knead some pasta dough, or caress my husband's face.

My sister, Cathy, was born with Cerebral Palsy.   She has never known the freedom of having a body that obeys your least command.  She has struggled to do the simple things that I am able to do without a conscious thought...to hold a spoon or put on an article of clothing.  Each action takes such effort and concentration to execute. I am fortunate.

Cathy Rinaldi Swart - 2008

As I am aging, I see that my body is not as prime as it used to be.  My skin is a bit "crepey." I have some age spots.  There is arthritis in one of my fingers that hurts periodically.  The dentist tells me I have some small fractures in my teeth.  In a week I will have a cataract removed from one of my eyes.  I receive email jokes from friends about the desire to be able to recycle body parts.  Yet, as I near my 69th birthday, I am grateful for this body that has served me so well.  I love its wrinkles and honor its aging.  And while I am not ready to discard the products that keep my hair a rich dark brown color, I do not disparage the passing years.

So today I feel a commitment to do well by my body...to feed it nutritious food, to drink lots of water, to exercise it regularly and to rest it if it is tired...basically, to treat it with respect.  And the next time I take a shower and rub my body lotion on my legs and arms, I will do so lovingly and with true appreciation...honoring how loyal it has been to me through the years.