Timing is everything — and just as the beauty industry declared the body as a new frontier to be controlled and conquered by miracle cures, Jonathan Soroff invited me to be part of his Skin Deep feature in The Improper Bostonian.

As a skin care brand that has always placed the body at the center of its focus, I am especially grateful for this moment where conversations are taking place, elucidating issues related to our experience of living in a body and longing for beauty, elegance and control.

It’s taken a long time for the industry to muster the courage to go there — the body. Your body. Our bodies.

Bodies are complicated terrain by nature and nonetheless deserving of mindful exploration, but a landscape 2Be conquered? Never.

And as I discussed with The Improper, I watch with dismay as an industry barrels toward the ‘new frontier’ of the body with gusto — as if the body is an empty vessel, just waiting to be filled, shaped and perfected with cleansing concoctions, detox diets and miracle moves.

What’s more troubling is the merchandising of these superficial ideals and narrowly defined images as a healthy pursuit of wellness.

So, let’s pause and name a few things, starting with our collective hunger to belong — one of the impulses that’s driving the latest discussion on body perception.

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It’s healthy to be suspicious of a system that exploits our brokenness while preaching health and wellness — as if the answers lie in buying new gadgets and products to gain control of our bodies.

The very idea that we’re in control of our bodies is simply not true. Just ask a mother in the throes of labor… or a person dealing with cancer.

This is what Roxanne Gay, beautiful being, teacher, bestselling author and creator of the month-long Unruly Body magazine with Medium understands so well: We are within our bodies, but we are not our bodies.

Truth is, the body is a creative being. Your body is not yours, but it is you. It has intelligence, resources and rhythm. The body knows that it belongs to the physical world and if we dare to be still and listen, we’ll experience the truth:

“The invitation is ours to have a relationship with our bodies at any time. Even now. In this moment.”

This goes to the root of Eu2Be’s founding idea: Studies show that bodies that are touched and bodies that receive attention are better off than bodies that go without.

People love Eu2Be for many reasons— the culturally prized oils that give way to lasting protection, a sense of nourishing hydration, or the hint of earthy fragrance — but most of all, we invite ‘Eu’ to cultivate a relationship with your body born from a daily practice of touch and attention, even if it’s only for five minutes.

The scars and wrinkles and spots in the landscape of our bodies aren’t flaws— they don’t need to be changed or erased.

We’ve been sold a bill of goods where we trust our bodies to the judgment of others and to superficial efficiencies of products that impoverish, not enhance us. So don't give it a second thought, be embodied.

“Now is the time to begin taking our cues from our deepest selves.”

Much like the rich layers of red rock in our soul-humbling national parks in the Southwest, we live in a vast landscape, rich in layers that interact and react with each other, inviting us to explore and embrace our curves, our marks, our lines — the sheer magnificence and wildness of being in a body.

With beauty and wonder as our guides, our journey to being our anthemic whole selves begins with awe and surrender.

And there's no one way 2Be. As Rumi said, “There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

Within our bodies resides the connection to something larger than ourselves. And like those rocks, our bodies know they are of this earth.

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