Nothing but light

Jim

"...the reason was to put my body, image, and reputation in your hands, and to learn how to be indifferent towards criticisms from other people about my body and how to overcome shame. I want my body to be validated. 

Since my first shoot with Anastasia January 2014 we've done 20 more. I've been exercising… as much as I hate to exercise. We all know the appeal of the couch grows stronger with age. Sometimes all I want to do is relax to infinity and beyond. 
 

As a child who was abused by his mother (due to post-partum depression) I've always had issues with body shame. One of my earliest memories is that of being whipped and crying as my mother threatened to push me out of the open door of our house naked.

When puberty struck, my shame grew so acute, I grew to hate my body. And the more I hated my body the more I hated my mother. After all, this thing came from her. All I could do was ignore it. I was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, two faces of the same monster, mutually exclusive. But in my case, the good doctor was better at repressing his monster and the monster fought back the only way it could: by self-destruction. I developed a host of infirmities. I was in a dead-end situation until I met Anastasia who is the most annoyingly positive body "booster" I've ever met. She's made me feel a lot more comfortable with this slab of flesh my mind drags around and, lately, I've hated my mother less."