Me in kindergarten with sister, Kris, photo taken in 1988.

Calling All Bodies

The story behind naming my practice, BayBodySF

Pamela Gilmour LAc
Jul 28, 2017 · 3 min read

When I started my practice in 2014, I imagined a place where every body could come with their health concerns and wellness goals. I hoped that every body would feel not just safe but also comfortable coming to me, bringing their own individual glorious selves.

Friends, photo taken in 2008?, from the top: Max, Taylor and Me.

Living in the Bay Area, we residents are proud to have a long history of being inclusive. One of the top reasons I moved to the city of San Francisco in 2007 was because, when I had visited in the past, for the time I was here, I didn’t feel like people saw me as a freak or fetish. I was a person and I felt like a person. In public, people wouldn’t stare at me seeing some exotic creature. People here in the Bay, if they even looked at me at all, did not gawk. I had never experienced this before.

Let me briefly explain the staring I had experienced. I am a bi-racial woman who was (and still is) into trying out different experiences. Growing up in the suburbs, outside of the sanctuary that is San Francisco, I was frequently asked highly invasive questions. One in particular ‒ “What are you?” ‒ is heavily imprinted into my psyche. Such interrogators were usually white males who, I assume, were referring specifically to my Asian-esque eyes. And, to add to their mystification, I didn’t dress to fit in. I came from a working-class (aka low-income) family so I had to get creative with my clothes. This disadvantage, intersecting with my hunger to devour and try on anything new or different, probably made for a “weird-looking” and “strange-acting” young person.

Classmates/Alumni, photo taken in 2014. From the left: Me, Paolo, Adrianne

Back to the present day: as I began to put together my plans for my own healing practice, I sought to think up a name that celebrated the Bay’s diversity, and especially when it came to our bodies. We have so many different types of bodies here in the Bay: so many shades of flesh, tons of different shapes, and a veritable rainbow of gender identities. As residents of the Bay, we are privileged to bear witness to such diversity. It is specifically this diverse array of bodies that makes the Bay the special place that it is. And that is why I call my healing practice BayBodySF. Please know that you are all welcome whatever your shape, size, skin color, age, sexual orientation or identity. ❤

Co-workers Reunion/Birthday in 2014. Clockwise: Emily, Chima is behind Blake taking a photo from another direction, Kris, I am under Chad, and Pete!!!

If you are interested in making an appointment visit baybodysf.com

You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook.

Pamela Gilmour LAc

Written by

Licensed Acupuncturist practicing in San Francisco baybodysf.com

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