It was the summer of 1977. I had just graduated from college, summa cum laude with honors. I had gotten accepted to an Ivy League graduate program and decided to take a year off before enrolling. I had applied for an internship in Washington DC with my congresswoman and planned to spend the year in DC. Unfortunately, the internship did not come through. With DC off the table, I did not really have a Plan B for my “gap” year.
I have loved theatre since I was a toddler. It has always been an integral part of who I am; my deepest obsession. Until another one took over: food. I was a teenager when I started struggling with disordered eating, and things escalated when I began college. “Clean” eating consumed my life to the point where I lost my period for four years. Gone was the bubbly, confident girl who sang in taxi cabs. In her place, there was a new Domenica: one who was painfully insecure, socially isolated, and lived in terror of missing a workout or eating anything that wasn’t “safe.”
"I already know how to breathe….” said to me by a participant in my Breathwork workshop!
Notice, she said this while participating IN my workshop...LOL!
I hear that often.
Our Breath is unique. Breathing is unique. Folks take their Breath for granted. Many assume the next life enhancing/giving inhale will arrive... like: poof!
When you take a moment to think about it, it is mind blowing that the Breath just shows up... our inhale and exhale happen with NO effort from us.... What a gift.
Encountering weight-based discrimination and internalized weight bias can be particularly challenging in spaces designed to highlight fitness and body movement. In this piece, Lindley Ashline writes a letter to fitness professionals about the challenges faced by fat persons in fitness spaces and encourages fitness professionals to be more intentional and inclusive of fat bodies.
The Happy Place
