Shedding Skin Ritual for Transformation

As many of you know, I am moving to Italy in three (!!) weeks. I've spent a lot of time saying goodbye to the life I've built in San Diego over the past 12 years in anticipation of the life to come in another culture.

It wasn't deliberate, but today I did a ritual to shed my old skin. Literally.

I visited a Korean spa in town (Yu Spa, if you're a San Diegan. I highly recommend!). If you're unfamiliar, you spend some time in the jacuzzi and sauna before being led to a plastic massage table where you are scrubbed within an inch of your life by a woman wearing only a bra and panties.

As I lay there, trying not to slide off the table or feel the mountains of dead gray skin piling up around me, I realized the symbolism.

I was literally shedding my skin.

Transforming.

I emerged squeaky clean and as smooth as a baby's bottom. I feel new, vulnerable, and raw.

Creating Your Own Skin-Shedding Ritual

If you aren't fortunate enough to have a Korean spa nearby (or are utterly freaked out by the idea of a stranger scrubbing dead skin off of you), make your own skin-shedding ritual at home.

Get a loofah or those scrubby gloves, light candles in your bathroom, and put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door.

As you slowly scrub your skin, think of all that you want to shed. Release the thoughts that no longer serve you. Thank people and experiences you've had that you're ready to let go of. Don't think about the future; be in the present and be grateful for the past, because it's taking you forward.

If you'd like to invite a Goddess in, Kali is a great one for helping us let go of what's no longer serving us.

Once you've removed all the actual and metaphorical past, shower off. You may want to relax in the bath for a while to reflect on the ritual and to call in what you want next in your life.