Begin with a promise to allow yourself a full hour for this exercise, so it isn't rushed or hurried.
Begin your hour with a shower or bath--not just to get clear, but to experience rubbing soap and your hands all over your body (no wash cloth, please). This is a time to relax and begin to focus on your body.
Look at your body closely in a full-length mirror (or one you can use to see all parts of your body). Experience seeing your whole body, front and back. Look with your eyes and with your hands. Look at your body from different positions: sitting, kneeling, squatting, standing, bending. You can move around and play, too.
Apply a lotion or oil all over your body. Feel the different textures, muscles and bones. DIscover which parts you like to look at and touch and which parts you don't like. Discover which parts you like to stroke and which you don't.
Who does your attitude toward your body influence your behavior? What about the part of your body you are hiding? How do you hide it? What about the part of your body you are proud of? How do you stress that part of your body?
Where do your models for physical attractiveness come from? Your mother? Your father? Men? A man? A woman? Your own feelings? Vogue or other mass distribution media?
What parts of your body do you associate with pleasure?
How do you stimulate them?
What parts do you associate with pain?
How do you deal with those parts?
WHat parts don't you like and why not?
How much do you feel that people only like or dislike you for your body?
Can you allow yourself to look lousy sometimes and feel people will like you anyhow?
Do you feel that your appearance really expresses who you are?
What qualities would you like your body to communicate?
Do you allow yourself or your partner to touch the parts you don't like?
How do you feel when these parts are stroked or looked at?
Adapted by Ben Roe from "SARguide for a better sex life; a self-help program for personal sexual enrichment/education," by Toni Ayers, Phyllis Lyon, et al., San Francisco, National Sex Forum, 1973.
Tuxwheels: The Personal Site for J. Benjamin Roe, Jr., D.Min.