I feel most at home in my body when I’m in a bath. Disconnected from the outside world, I slink into the warm water that holds me in like a cocoon of safety. It’s the one place I’m free from judgment and responsibility; where I become fully embodied.
So my first priority when I arrived in Japan last spring was to experience a Japanese hot spring pool, known as an onsen. Rooted in the Buddhist and Shinto belief that water is a means of purifying oneself, onsen bathing dates back to the sixth century and remains a regular self-care practice for Japanese people today. With upwards of 3,000 hot spring pools across the country, I didn’t have to travel far to find one.
After a long journey from Tokyo to Kagoshima —a southern Japanese city teeming with hot springs due to the nearby Sakurajima volcano—I was delighted to discover a public onsen located two floors below my room in the Sheraton. As I entered the women’s changing room, I noticed a woman with an amputated arm bathing herself in a long line of women seated on small stools rigorously scrubbing their bodies. All bodies are welcome here, I reassured myself.
The reason I needed that reassurance? I was feeling particularly self-conscious having recently lost weight. After spending most of my 20s over-exercising and controlling what I ate, I had spent the last few years healing my relationship to food and my body. But a prolonged period of stress prior to my Japan trip caused me to lose the weight I had gained, and.
