From Ashmae: For most of my life, I consciously separated myself from my body. I was afraid of what it was capable of feeling. When I was about twenty, I had a boyfriend who was a yoga instructor, and whether I liked it or not, I did a lot of yoga. I remember my body and spirit syncing up for the first time. Years later, being pregnant and birthing three children brought my body into full view for a second time. A postpartum body, coupled with postpartum anxiety and depression made it impossible to ignore my body. I began writing, drawing and using my body as a form of understanding to draw from. In late 2018, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and while I have been lucky in being very healthy thus far, the diagnosis asked me to again be curious about my body and its space in the world I inhabit. I again went to the thing that has always served me best when I don't know what to do: I wrote and wrote and wrote. 

I’m Kathy West and the floor of my life shifted under me when I finally, honestly articulated to myself that I’d been living with disordered eating for most of my life. Coming to those words took time because my own physical experience did not match my mental picture of that term. I came to my realization through writing, which is a medium I have always used to explore ideas. Only after I found my own, honest words about the situation could I do anything to change it. I now eat food that nourishes me and I don't eat in secret anymore. I'm still writing my way through the issues that led to my food troubles in the first place, and it's a beautiful, surprising process of discovery. I have also written, published, or performed stories and essays about miscarriage, birth, weight, insomnia, cancer, and chronic illness. I’m humbled and excited to help you write your way through the questions and stories that are yours to tell about your body.