Hello again beautiful people!
This week has been heavy for me because Dani got a virus from daycare and she passed it over to mom and dad, so we are all sick in this household. Surviving, functioning, but not at our best. I have cancelled my vinyasa classes for Friday and Sunday. And I hope my voice is back for the Monday class.
Anyways, today I wanted to talk about a controversial topic: Tattoos.
The first memories I have associated with the word “tattoo” was my mom saying that tattoos were for criminals. She was convinced that you have a problem in your brain if you decided to get a tattoo, because she read somewhere (we will never know the source – because probably it doesn’t exist) that in a study it was linked to criminal behaviour. I remember being puzzled when I discovered that people I liked, had tattoos, they could not be criminals!, could they?…Of course as I grew older, and got my own ideas and opinions. Around the time I got into University, I was 18 years old and I started talking about tattoos and how cool they were. My mom, of course, spat her threat loud and clear “If I ever discover you have a tattoo, you will have to leave my house forever and look for a place to live on your own”. Obviously, at that age, growing up, discovering my own identity, that stuck in my head and only made me want to get a tattoo even more.
I have 4 tattoos in my body. And these are their stories:
I was 21 years old and was doing a year abroad at a University in the USA, after recently having returned from a semester abroad in Brazil. Brazil was quite an experience, and I will expand on it some other time, but ultimately Brazil taught me resilience. Taught me I had power within me and I could survive and make my own money, even in a foreign country. So after that, I was starting to feel like I was the one deciding for myself. Just before the end of that school year, I asked a friend to take me to a tattoo parlor in Iowa City, and I got my very first tattoo. The word “Freedom” on the right side of my lower belly, next to the hip bone. I was still going to return to live at my mom’s house in Mexico, so the location of the tattoo was perfect because my underwear always covered it. I could not jeopardise my housing arrangements and would not like to have another problem with my mom.
At that point I felt so badass. I felt empowered, I was deciding my life for myself, one step at the time. Obviously that is why I chose the word freedom. And this little scribbled thing on my hip, was reminding me every day during my shower time, that I was always one day closer to live my life on my own terms as an adult. Spoiler: Years later, after I was living on my own, I invited my mom to a resort at the beach and I was changing in front of her, and she saw the tattoo and was like “What is that!? -picture terror eyes-“, and i just started laughing like crazy. What could she do now? hahaha.
Later on I got my second tattoo. After spending more than 2 years without a boyfriend and feeling amazingly being on my own. Got what I know now is a white girl tattoo lol, but I guess it was before that term existed and I am also not white. I got an infinity sign with the words “love” in it, on my right foot. For me, at that time, it meant that the love I had within me, for myself, was infinite and was never gonna run dry. It was maybe the beginning of my healing process in which I started to believe I was enough.
The third tattoo I got it after I decided to apply for a master’s degree scholarship in Europe, and getting it would mean quitting my corporate job at Kellogg’s, selling everything I had, and just seeing where life would take me. I also had just passed my B2 exam of French Language, so I told myself that if I got the scholarship I would get a tattoo on my right ribs, that said: “ce qui ne me tue pas me rend plus forte”, a Nietzsche quote that means “what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger”. At the end I added a little swallow bird, as they know when to migrate and also know when is time to come back. I got the scholarship. I left Mexico.
2 years later, when I was about to finish the master’s programme, I was in Vietnam doing research for 5 months, and was getting increasingly anxious. I didn’t want to go back to Mexico, but should I get a PhD? I was dating an Italian guy, was that the real deal? What would happen if I go back to Mexico?… And one day I watched Forrest Gump (for like the 100th time) and at the end, when the little white feather falls from the book and flies away, it says “Maybe we all have a destiny to fulfil, or maybe we are just floating accidental-like on a breeze, but I think is both happening at the same time”. So I got that little feather with the famous words from a song “Qué será, será…” (whatever will be, will be). And it worked as a charm. Every time I saw it, it reminded me I had to trust the way things were developing.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, because they had a meaning, each tattoo accomplished a purpose in that exact time in my life. Do I regret them? Not really, they tell parts of my story. But if I could go back in time, with the mind of the person I am today, would I get them again? Definitely not. Why? Because now I know better.
And this is where it gets controversial. Since those times in which I saw tattoos like body decoration, or a thoughtful note to myself on my own body, I have done a lot of work into understanding myself, respecting myself, and unlearning all those things that once hampered me from seeing who I was. But I still think that maybe I would not be saying this if I had not gotten a tattoo at all.
In Yoga, one of the main values that permeates in the whole yogic philosophy, is ahimsa, which means “no violence”. Not inflicting violence to others nor yourself. That is why yoga promotes a vegetarian diet, to void hurting animals. This value also encourages you to dig a bit deeper into the conscious and unconscious actions that can represent harm. An what are you doing with a tattoo? You are purposely inflicting harm to your body. Your body is your only house in this journey of life. If there is anything that you should take care of, is your body. The quality and length of our journey, will depend on how well you take care of your body (internally and externally). All yoga teachers know this. Still tattoos are VERY popular amongst yogis and yoga teachers.
Tattoos not only hurt when you get them. They pose a risk of skin infection, allergies, developing eczema or psoriasis, autoimmune responses, and when not done properly, also risk of more serious infections like hepatitis or HIV. In the end you have to realise you are injecting a foreign substance into your body. Studies have shown that tattoos increase the risk of developing melanoma (skin cancer), which is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer. It also makes it harder to monitor and detect other types of cancer. Tattoos also hamper proper lymphatic drainage, which is your own body’s process to wash away toxins, and clean itself from the inside.
Knowing all this, why would you consciously hurt your body, and probably shorten its healthy life span, for an “aesthetic” look? (which is the same I ask about cosmetic procedures, but again, we will discuss body issues some other day). I have tattoos. Honestly mine are not so pretty that I want to show them off, I didn’t get them to decorate my body, more like life-long post-its to remind myself about important things. But in that time that felt like a good idea, because I didn’t know better. I was not really into yoga back then, either. I was not aware of the consequences this could have on my life, and how I could affect my body. I was not really aware of many things in life. But now I am, and that is why I have decided not to get any more tattoos. But I see other yogis and yoga teachers collecting more and more tattoos and it makes me wonder. What is the motivation behind it? What can be more important than taking care of your only real house in this life?
Maybe I am wrong, and maybe I sound judgmental, which is not my intention, I would never think I am better than anyone else. I am genuinely curious about the rationale behind those tattoos when you have decided to live your life under a yogic philosophy.
Also, there are these tattoos made by monks with a very ancient tattooing technique, and those are like precious tokens to people who take the trip to these monasteries to get them. You don’t choose the design, you don’t choose anything. You just trust they will mark you with something that represents a token from a higher power.
I think also, modern society has glorified the pain and struggle that are “needed” to get to a good spot in life. And while I do believe that good things don’t come easy. I also think that at some point is ok to leave that need of pain behind, and start accepting pleasure instead. Not everything has to hurt to feel like we deserve it. We deserve good things too, just because. You don’t have to keep proving yourself worthy again, and again. It gets to a point where is ok just to sit and let good things come to you. Harvest the product all the hard work, and let yourself enjoy it.
I remember once I was telling a friend about a guy I dated, and how all the flags were bright red and I still accepted the ride, and said “I know, how stupid of me, right?” and he said “heeeey, heeeey, chill, you didn’t know better at that time! Now you know better, yo sou will do better” …. and that has stayed with me. There is no point in crying over spilled milk, but what can you do now to make it better?
Again, my tattoos are now my scars, and they are part of my story. They remind me of the decisions I took when I was a previous version of myself. There is no point in hating them now, I embrace them (even the white girl one lol). But I have decided I will now take good care of my house, and keep it clean, give it proper nourishment, maintenance, rest and love. I understand tattoos are a way of self-expression, but I would not harm my body to accomplish that. There are other ways to express myself, and I have been exploring them with pottery, different clothes, baking sourdough, playing tennis, raising Dani, etc.
So, these are my 2 cents on tattoos. Nobody asked for them, but here you have them hahaha.
I am really curious on what you think about this topic. I would love to hear different perspectives, so please leave a comment and let me know!
See you next week and take vitamin C! Stay healthy!
Love, Vero