My Hands

Being that I'm a barefoot-er, I give my feet a lot of attention, and a lot of credit. I would like to take this evening, however, to talk about my hands.
As I've been rock climbing, I've become more and more aware of my hands. My hands are strong, my hands are unafraid, my hands don't judge. Conversely, my hands don't always do, and sometimes they do without being told. I treat them rough, but they are always gentle to me. Sometimes they act on their own, but they always work with me.
My joints often hurt, and my hands are the biggest culprits. They become sore, swollen, and tired fairly often. I recently (within the past few days) started meditating with my hands by immersing them in rice for various Tia Chi exercises. While I do this, I repeat affirmations with each position. Originally I was just doing it to improve my climbing, but after only a few day, I found it healed me in other ways. My beliefs in reflexology reflect that - being the main importers/exporters of Qi - our hands and feet can be viewed as miniature models of our whole body. When I plunge my hand into that rice, by channeling my vibrations to my hand I am really plunging my whole body into the rice to be stretched, contracted, massaged, and energized.
I know my feet, but now I am meeting my hands. Maybe the best way to come to love my body is exactly like this; one piece at a time.

  Haiku Meditation for my Hands  

 My hands are my own.

They will no longer pain me.

They grip and open.