There is a new medical field that deals with understanding the links between skin and mind, emotions and our cutaneous exteriors. Psychodermatology.

Strangely enough, even through our beauty routines, we don’t pay that much attention to our skins, except to judge it.  Don’t blush. How each person lives the life of their skin is a unique story.

The skin, commonly referred to as our largest organ, is the primary locus of touch. It is also singular and different from one person to another. More generally the skin filters toxins, regulates temperature, sends out “signals” like pheromones through the pores, and responds to internal stressors and external harshness.

Not unlike leaves.

With a versatile and heterogeneous group of women, a recent workshop became an opportunity to bring curiosity to our skins.

Cactus Opuntia microdasys albata

Exploring the environment of the botanical gardens, we played sensory awareness games –ignoring for a moment the visual. This allowed for a new appreciation of the taken for granted sense touch. Confusing, Playful, Surprising touch. We have still so much to witness about Self and how we relate to Other.

As we became more mindfully tactile, we became more “careful with” the leaves we touched, as well as “caring of” the persons we discovered by touch. The workshop ended with the intention make time to attend meditatively to our own skin surfaces as a home experiment.