"A consequence of female self-love is that the woman grows convinced of social worth. Her love for her body will be unqualified, which is the basis of female identification. If a woman loves her own body, she doesn't grudge what other women do with theirs; if she loves femaleness, she champions its rights. It's true what they say about women: Women are insatiable. We are greedy. Our appetites do need to be controlled if things are to stay in place. If the world were ours too, if we believed we could get away with it, we would ask for more love, more sex, more money, more commitment to children, more food, more care. These sexual, emotional, and physical demands would begin to extend to social demands: payment for care of the elderly, parental leave, childcare, etc. The force of female desire would be so great that society would truly have to reckon with what women want, in bed and in the world."

-Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth

When I asked Terisa why she wanted to do this session with me, she simply responded,

"I just turned 35 years old, and I don't think I've honestly ever felt more secure with myself and my body. And I want to remember exactly how I feel, right now. This is my birthday gift to myself."

My heart and soul goes out to all of the beautiful women out there who have worked hard to take their power back and to love themselves against all opposing factors. We aren't necessarily trained to comfortably embrace our sexuality; our wild, our fire. Being true and honest and unforgivingly authentic isn't always made easy for people, women especially. We are scorned for it; accused of being selfish or made to feel less-than because of it. I applaud you all, and I encourage you to answer those calls when they come.. you, your daughters, and everyone around you deserve that version of you. And if ever you want to document it, you know where I am.

xo

#thebeautifulwomansessions

Don't underestimate her strength because of her five-foot height, her gentle demeanor, or her beaming ear-to-ear smile as she greets you for the first time. Kirby is a kick-ass massage therapist. I know first hand. I have known Kirby since she was a awkward pre-teen with braces and pigtails. I remember going over to her house when I was about 14. I was in a 'band' with her older brother, and she would come down into the basement to watch us play awful covers of Hole and Babes in Toyland. She adored her big brother, and still does. From music, to motorcycles, Kirby has been strongly influenced by her brother. I think that relationship opened the door for her to realize her inner strength and power as a woman. She always wanted to be one of the guys, and was never put in a corner and told she was too small to ride that harley or too weak to hike that mountain, or too fearful to train that bulldog even after he attacked her face, leaving a permanent scar along her cheek bone. She pushes all resistance aside and forges ahead, all with this sense of gratitude and incredulous positivity.

A few years back, I had wanted to buy a massage for Mathieu for Christmas.I knew that Kirby was practicing massage, so I messaged her and she had some time available just before Christmas when we were going to be in Connecticut. So I booked him a 90 minute massage, and surprised him with it when I dropped him off at her private studio. I came back an hour and a half later, and waited about another 15 minutes for him to come out. He walked out the door of her studio, and I could just see in his face that it was amazing. He got into the car and said, 'Wow. She is really good. That was hands down the best massage I have ever gotten.' Mathieu had been to massage therapy school, so I knew that he was a tough critic. Well, I was sold at this point, and had to book her for myself for the next time we were down! And he was right. She is amazing.

I think what makes Kirby such a great massage therapist is not only her love for what she does, although that is a huge part of it. I mean, she loves her job. She will tell you how lucky she feels to be able to do what she does for a career. Just having a conversation with her about it, you can see the excitement pouring out of her! She is continuously educating herself on different techniques and she wants to share everything she learns with her clients. But what REALLY makes her good at what she does, I think, is that she isn't afraid of it. She is a beautiful, brave, and incredibly strong woman who is able to deflect the negative energy in her life. This alone puts her in a position to excel at what she does. One of the reasons Mathieu decided not to do massage for a living was that he said it was so physically and emotionally draining. He said that you need to be able to deflect that stress and toxic energy that you are working out of each person as you massage them, and that for most of us, this is a really difficult thing to do. Thankfully, for Kirby(and all of her clients), it just comes naturally.

Kirby is currently practicing out of ANEW You skincare and spa in Avon, CT.

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