WHERE DO I TATTOO?!?! 20 tips from the body symbolism
- Did you choose WHAT to tattoo? GREAT!
- Did you choose the right TATTOO ARTIST for you? PERFECT!
- Hai scelto quale PARTE DEL CORPO tatuarti? NO?
!! Here I am !!
I will talk you about a great tattoo milestone:
the meanings that unconscious symbolism attributes to different parts of the body
First of all, what does unconscious symbolism mean?
our brain is made up of three essential parts:
- the prefrontal cortex, that is the home of logic and reason and is normally the part we use most
- the emotional brain, that is the home of emotions: those emotions that invade us in a moment, unleashing our fury, or we can be invaded by fear or inundated with love and bliss
- the reptilian brain, that it is the home of our primordial instincts, rooted in us since we were primitive men who needed to react instinctively, without thinking, in order to save their lives; it is the first to receive messages from outside and to analyze them
The reptilian brain has a universal language that is identical for everyone and it receives messages that we all receive in the same way, because they are part of our primordial genetic heritage
The unconscious symbolism describes this part of the brain and triggers strong psychological messages of which our prefrontal cortex is not always conscious
but the reptilian brain is the first one to receive a message, and it’s the most important to satisfy
the reptilian brain has actually a very simple and instinctive language and anyone, reflecting on it a little, can understand its language
do you want a simple example?
black is the colour that brings us sadness and darkens us, red is the colour that burns inside of us and blue relaxes us…
this is our primordial instinct speaking to us:
the dark of the unlit night gives us anxieties and gloomy thoughts, the red of the fire makes us feel powerful and safe, and the blue of the clear sky relaxes us because we know that there are no storms in the air
this is how the instinct works….
most of the times we don’t even realize, but we follow our instinct
we’re not aware of it, because those genetic messages have already been written in our hard disk for thousands of years, thus we haven’t acquired them with study and knowledge
and if you already have tattoos on your body, you can test your instinct and see if you followed it ^_^
Writing a message on the body always comes with a big question:
WHERE DO I TATTOO?!?
and, in this context, the language of the reptilian brain can give us many small suggestions
let’s explore them together! ^_^
before starting, the first big distinction to make is between:
[ back and front ]
In the front, you push the future
hopes, dreams, desires, but also values to keep and bring with you, warnings for the future, mental post-it notes to always keep in evidence
in the back, instead, you put the past
the closed chapters of your life, the finished topics, the ended things, the chapters in which you wrote the last word, in which you want to put an end and sometimes you just want to stop the book there
then, we need to talk about right and left
the right tells about the future ^_^
and the left tells about the past ^_^
but, clearly, not only that
The right part of the body is connected to the left part of the brain which is symbolically the male side, the happiest and most positive one, the one linked to the sun and the day and therefore more active and dynamic, the strongest and most determined part, the Yang, the actions
The left part is the female side
it is the Yin, the most romantic and delicate, fragile, sweet and emotional, pessimistic and melancholic side
the most protective and conservative, motionless, the hardest and the most static part
the moon, the night, the dark, the dreams
These two great mass distinctions that we just saw can always be applied to all parts of the body
now, we can start to make a wider distinction and to understand it, let’s think about the simile of the boxer
Focus on a fight:
you will instinctively use the right arm to attack, to throw a good punch, and the left arm to defend yourself and be on guard
you will instinctively protect the central part of the body and showcase the external areas to soften the blows
you will spontaneously challenge your opponent by showing your chest
you will spontaneously move your feet quickly to run away
and you will show your back when you’ll be far, when everything is over
Now it does look easier, doesn’t it?
[ the limbs ]
So, you’ll use your right arm to launch an attack as it’s the most active and dynamic arm, which sometimes acts without thinking, it just follows the impulse and even if it thinks, it goes straight to a new action, being confident and determined.
The left arm, instead, tells us about protection
it’s the arm you use to protect yourself, and it’s also the closest one to what you protect
Therefore, the outer area of the arm is your shield, your first wall on the world
it could even be a person, as it’s easy to think, but it can also be a whole set of concepts and prejudices that are protecting you, some values you’ve raised
Prejudices in this case can also have a positive meaning:
for instance, since we’re children, we’re taught that fire burns and that we must not touch it if we don’t want to hurt ourselves. In this case, the prejudice we have about fire will protect us
and it could be the case of many life lessons you’ve learnt so far, maybe after burning yourself a little,
with some past events that hurt you and, consequently, you tend to avoid repeating them
Those are mental mechanisms protecting you, they’re the first filter you use to interpret the world
In the inner part of the left arm, instead, you hold something you want to protect
like a person (a child, for instance) but also a concept, an idea, a memory
The inner arm is also the closest one to the ribcage, that contains the most delicate organs of the body and therefore what you are most jealous of
It’s also directly connected to the heart and, consequently, to the feelings related to it
the left arm is the first to notice the event of a heart attack, for this reason it is said to have a direct connection with the heart
Obviously, there are also symbolic differences between the upper and lower part of the arm, between the elbow and the wrist and between the hand and every single finger…
But if I start explaining every square centimeter of the body this article will never end!
I will keep some secret gems for my direct customers ^_^
But if you use your instinct, you can hazard a realistic guess
The right leg starts a new path, it takes the first step to walk
it’s very different from the arrogance and determination of the right arm,
its path is undertaken with calm and tranquility, thoughtfully
however, it’s a new path
it’s not always very thoughtful, sometimes it’s like in the movie “Home Alone”
but in that case the left leg comes to help
The left leg follows the right one, it follows what the other leg started, but it also carries the weight that the right leg left aside,
the experience
sometimes, it carries life lessons or logical thoughts, it carries rationality
you could tattoo the values you want to follow, your guidelines, the education of childhood that you want to pursue during your journey
It’s a conscious choice
you can choose to follow the path started by the right leg
but sometimes you can change the path
or end the journey
The right leg makes the first step, but the left leg makes the last one, closing the circle
The feet’s function, instead, is to run away quickly
or to anchor you firmly to the ground
while the ankles allow you to fly and get your feet off the ground,
to walk on tiptoes so as not to make noise,
to whisper a dream that maybe you still don’t believe in
[ the trunk ]
The back opens another important chapter, or better said, it closes it
everything you put on the back belongs to something that you have concluded, it talks about a past that is over
it’s the main area where to store the closed chapters, the situations that you “put behind you”, that’s it
What you “put behind you” —precisely up in the scapula— are those issues that weigh on your shoulders, with a negative or positive meaning
The idiom: “everyone has his own cross to bear” lies right there
it weighs on the shoulders
it feels the weight of responsibility
however, what weighs on your shoulders may be some rigid values, some values you are proud of or you remember with affection
for instance, there could be the portrait of your dear grandmother —so rigid and severe but also sweet and tender— who has instilled traditions and manners that “belongs to your cultural baggage”
The lower back is the kidneys area. These organs have a specific task: cleaning and eliminating waste
It’s the area dedicated to those things of the past that you want to “get rid of”
those stories you want to metabolize and then go further
The spine, instead, it’s different story
it talks about the past, but not a definitive one
since the spine is the part that supports us and all the rest of the body starts from it, it describes very strong values —deriving from the past— but, even so, they were fundamental yesterday, they still are today and they’ll be fundamental tomorrow
they can be either positive or negative
For example, I tattooed the word “dreaming” on the whole spine because it’s the cornerstone that supports me
Then, I tattooed a girl with a very traumatic childhood due to a father with mental disorders. He clearly marked her psychological structure and now that she’s trying to build a better future for herself, she understood that she’ll always be connected to her past.
The belly is a very important point, I would say a crucial one
in fact, it’s not surprising that it often comes after many other tattoos, when other parts of the body are already tattooed, and our awareness has increased
What you put in your stomach is what feeds you and gives to the rest of your body strength, meaning and life
that’s why you tattoo the linchpin of your energy, your thoughts, your lifestyle on your stomach
It can be either something you’ve already internalized in your existence,
your superpower,
or something that you seek and long for
the mindset you desire
your guide
The chest, on the other hand, is very shameless
brazen
all the strong and direct messages are there
challenging messages
those messages you tattoo without caring about other people’s opinion
being the heart’s container, the chest is also considered a very delicate and sentimental point
there, we often tattoo “keys secrets” as if they were a puzzle to get straight to the heart
the last city walls
the final challenge
shameless
on the chest you tattoo the values you can’t disregard
The side has a dividing point: the waistline
Many mistakenly consider it a unique area, but from a symbolic and physical perspective it’s not
Physically, the waistline divides the side into two parts and getting a tattoo between those two parts may lead to make the tattoo aesthetically illegible,
disconnected
It’s better to consider them like two distinct parts, the ribcage and the hip
(or tattoo something gigantic that does not allow the twist point to disconnect the design ^_^)
The ribcage is the upper part, which hides our vital and most delicate organs
It’s where you hide your intimacy, those things that you want to keep private
and that you need to externalize to yourself in order to stay strong but you want them to be secret, delicate
Like in The Beauty and the Beast
the rose is your strength, but it’s also your weak point
(let’s remember that, technically speaking, it’s a small area, in women is even smaller because of the presence of the bra. Therefore, you must choose carefully what to tattoo there)
On the other hand, the hip, from the iliac crest down, is connected to the sexual organs and to the guts
this area is related to sexual concepts, erogenous and sensual ones, belonging to the private sphere
sometimes they’re visceral, shady
sometimes they’re unresolved things, dreams, desires, fantasies
sometimes they’re subliminal or secret messages for a few close friends
Great
what do you think about this journey into the human body?
can you spot an unusual point of view?
did you expect it?
while reading you probably also thought:
“Damn, it’s so obvious!”
Yes, because these messages are already written in the reptilian brain… and we perceive them as true
therefore, I think they could be a great extra gear to connect to the perfect design of your perfect tattoo that will soon give you that extra particular detail you want ^ _ ^
Anyway, the best way to choose WHERE TO GET A TATTOO is reading these two important articles that I wrote for you:
- GET A TATTOO WHERE YOU DON’T LIKE YOURSELF: I will tell you why
- TATTOO AND PAIN: what you need to know
with love, but always irriverent
