Bodies Unbound: Transforming Lives Through Touch
By Cynthia Waring
Reviewed by Lorrie Kazan for Whole Life Times

This is a poetic and richly textured observation about connection, whether it be connection to ourselves, our families, our own voice or personal embodiment. Each of us has a story to tell, and in revealing the depths of her own passions and misfortunes, Ms. Waring inevitably holds a mirror up for the reader to see him or herself.

“I love bodies,” she says. “I love every shape they come in. I love their smells, their texture and their heat. I love touching them. I have been a massage therapist for 26 years.” So begins this memoir of personal triumph and transformation, which includes not only the author’s journey to consciousness but also allows us to witness her clients’ paths to finding, or failing to find, their core truths.

Intimacy is what Waring craves, fears and consistently explores. Following her we learn about the brilliance of bodies, the feelings they endure, secrets they hide, and we experience what it means to be alive to one’s own flesh. In the world of healing lies, “a place of indescribable stillness, and we are able to feel the magic of connection and become one, floating in the vastness of being.”

We’re touched by the tenderness of Swedish massage, which we learn is “massage of the heart,” that allows the author to care for her clients as if they were her own “beloved,” as if their little fingers were as precious to her as her son’s.

Conversely, we also plunge through her descent into alcoholism, and are ultimately lead back through her redemption.

Her process of de-fragmenting the pieces of her life, allows us a greater vision of our own. This page-turner is a quick read but well worth your efforts.

Archer Books 2002