FIGMENT OF YOUR IMAGINATION

Is it me or are you all thinking I'm posting the Figment winner today? Because that's not until next week. I hate to disappoint but this week I'm talking about naked Korean women.

Last Friday my friend Steph took me to LA for a spa day. What started out as a belated holiday prezzy turned into quite a gift. You see, this wasn't your typical uptight, over priced, essential-oil scented, ambient music playing retreat.  It was a Korean spa. For one hundred dollars you get access to the wet steam, dry steam, four jacuzzi's -one filled with black tea- a heated floor for napping, a vigorous full-body exfoliation, massage, hair-wash, and facial. A fantastic value and amazing treatments? Yes and yes. But what really caught my attention was the down and dirty (but totally clean) naked free-for-all.

Women of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, and backgrounds roamed freely and confidently. To put it mildly, I saw more than most OBGYNs.  Treatments weren't held in private rooms. Women lay side by side on massage tables covered only by the skin the good lord blessed them with. Skin that was being rubbed off their bodies by hefty women in black bras and underwear. We were more exposed than Charlie Sheen and yet no one seemed to care. I had never felt more vulnerable and less judged at the same time. I actually didn't know it was possible to feel both at once. And yet, something about that unabashed freedom and nudity made me realize how annoying we are as a culture.

We should take a cue from our Korean sisters.  I mean how much time do we waste scrutinizing our bodies?  No one was particularity toned, thin, or model-esque, and yet no one seemed to care. The crazy views, while shocking at first, quickly became something I stopped noticing. All I saw were bodies, different in some ways, but mostly the same. These women didn't care about their jean sizes.  Or the jean sizes of the others. They were there to hang with friends, shed some dead skin, and relax.

It made me wish I had a daughter. If I did I would take her there every month. Not for the massage but for the message. The less power we give to things the less they matter.

SHOUT OUT to Steph. Thanks for taking me. I hope you enjoyed the view.

TTYW,

LISI