Appreciating the Human Form

Appreciating the Human Form 

By Jasmine Blennau

This winter my sister went to Costa Rica. She came home a new woman with a different perspective on the Earth and peoples. It wasn’t until she removed herself from modern society to live on an organic farm, that she could see how much society controls us. 

She said that on the nature preserve where she was living, the people did not see the body in terms of sexuality, but rather a vessel for the soul to reside. She told me about the freedom they all had to expose themselves to nature in the most pure and natural way – nude. 

Nudity was not something the be ashamed of, or even something to flaunt in a sexual light. It was natural. It was the way that we came into this world. The people on the preserve didn’t have advertisements telling them how to live. They live back to basics, back to the environment. 

The human form is a beautiful. It’s truly excellent. And we can only appreciate it if we strip from ourselves the voices in our heads screaming “SEX.” Over and over and over again.

Now, it’s not our faults that all we can think about is sex, or money. The society that we are part of pushes big breasts, large penises, asses and sex talk on all of us, every day. It’s time to take your self back and not be another zombie of consumerism. 

The only way I have been able to detach myself from the superficial, erotica-seeking millennial it is easy to become has been yoga. It was in yoga that I learned to appreciate the body as an incredible and strong piece of art instead of something to be judged or maintained for the public’s gaze. 

I once met a young man in yoga who I found to be very beautiful. He wasn’t traditionally handsome. He didn’t have rock hard abs or giant arms. He was slim and he was strong. He had an aura of respect and poise about him. I admired him in a nonsexual way. It was more of wanting to be like him, rather than wanting him. 

It was as easy as that. If we could see each other and respect each other as people and not as men or women, I think we could break down this sex culture. Gender and body parts are dividing us in more ways than one and it is sad because there is so much more to the human experience than sex and buying things.