We were lucky to catch up with Keira Barr, MD recently and have shared our conversation below.

Keira , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I came across a passage in one of Primo Levi’s books that became my north star, and my bigger why, for pursuing dermatology as a medical speciality, and the trauma informed somatic work I do now.

Primo Levi poignantly conveyed the dehumanization, vulnerability, shame and emotional wreckage of having been stripped of his home, belongings, identity, agency and autonomy, leaving him naked both physically and metaphorically as a prisoner in the concentration camp.

He described this state of being at the “bottom.” Reading this description had a profound impact on me. It landed in my body with such a strong resonance of compassion, grief, sadness, and empathy.

I could never know what it was like for Primo Levi or my ancestors to be imprisoned or tortured during the Holocaust, but I could relate to the concept of being at the bottom.

Our skin is the most visible organ. It is our ultimate barrier between our inside terrain and the outside world. It is a living, breathing organ designed to keep us safe, warm, protected and to experience our senses that bring us both pleasure and pain.

It is how people see us, judge us, and, in turn, how we see and judge ourselves.

For people who struggle with skin ailments that create inflammation, lumps, bumps, scars, scaling, depigmentation and disfigurement, the physical and emotional discomfort of living in that skin can take them to their bottom.

For people socialized as women, who are judged, valued and assigned worthiness based on the size of their thighs, the youthfulness of their complexion, and their capacity to live up to unrealistic beauty norms and rules of social etiquette, plummeting to their bottom and feeling uncomfortable in their skin is an all too common occurrence.

We store these experiences as trauma in our bodies and limiting beliefs in our minds that become the plot of the story of how we think we need to be, act and feel to have our needs met. We create a “skin story” of who we should be beneath the surface so that we are worthy of love and acceptance.

Having experienced my own fair share of criticism and negative judgment about my failure to abide by society’s rules and the appearance of my skin and body as a child and young adult, and now as an aging woman, I could and can relate to all of this.

From those experiences, I had created my own “skin story” that embodied the shame, self-doubt and insecurity that kept me hiding in plain sight under layers of people pleasing, perfectionism, overworking, striving for accolades and certifications all of which left me feeling depleted, exhausted, uninspired and unfulfilled. It manifested itself as disordered eating, chronic pain, gut and hormonal imbalances as well as early melanoma.

Despite my medical training and knowledge about what to “do” to help myself, I had hit my physical and psychological bottom. It was from all the “doing” and pushing and striving to distract, disconnect and disassociate from the painful emotions, stuck stories and trauma of my past and present that was keeping me tethered in patterns that were holding me back from experiencing my full energy, peace and presence.

After all the doing: (thousands of hours, thousands of dollars invested in )pills, procedures, programs, podcasts, books, and talk therapy, I realized that the doing wasn’t doing anything to move the needle of my health or happiness forward. I didn’t need more “doing”, I needed to simply “be.”

I discovered that being in relationship with the emotion, with the discomfort and allowing myself to feel the resonance of that energy in my body without judging it or needing it to be different was the key to creating more space, more energy, more connection, more calm, more compassion, more contentment… more “me”.

By taking the plunge, daring to bare all and go “skinny dipping” to get out of my head and into my body where the patterns originated, and learning the skills to regulate my nervous system, I released the stress, transformed the trauma, increased my energy and (am making) made my ascent from the bottom to the top.

The skills of how to manage your mind and reconnect to your body are skills that can be learned, and are the keys to living a life with limitless energy, love, and presence.

But this journey is not done. I continue to practice these skills every.single.day to cultivate resilience, to honor the process and to ensure that I’m walking my talk as I walk alongside and guide the ambitious, high-achieving midlife women who feel they are at their bottom or trying to make their ascent but despite trying “all the things” can’t move their needle. I see you. I feel you. I am here for you.

Keira , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a dermatologist-turned-somatic skincare specialist who knows real skincare is about more than products and prescriptions, it’s about relationship. The relationship between our mind, body, skin and everything that comes in contact with it. Because everything we think, feel and do either impacts what shows up on our skin’s surface, or it influences our felt sense of living inside of it.

In my 27+ years in the dermatology and wellness spaces, I have found that women spend entirely too many hours scouring the internet trying to find answers.

They’ve tried all the things to “fix” their relationship with their skin. Ointments, pills, creams, powders… hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars down the drain.

And yet, they are frustrated, ashamed, and embarrassed.

They are made to feel like they have to camouflage their perceived flaws with makeup or a hairstyle that covers up their face. Avoid social activities to keep from being judged.

I was one of those women. A former people-pleaser, perfectionist, and workaholic trying to escape the self-doubt and insecurity from my own skin story.

For years, I experienced criticism and judgment about my appearance and my failure to abide by society’s rules. This led me to a spiral of shame and unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Even though I was medically trained, and knew what I “needed” to do to help myself, I’d hit my physical and psychological rock bottom.

I was burnt out, unhappy, and tired of doing more to distract, disconnect, and disassociate from the painful emotions, stuck stories, and trauma of my past that were holding me back.

This is what drove me to understand the relationship between our internal and external. I’ve become obsessed with learning about the intersection of our thoughts, feelings, movement, and sense of self.

It shaped my belief that women deserve to feel their best by blending what science has to offer with the body’s unique ability to heal.

My mission is to help women feel comfortable and confident in their skin by changing the conversation around beauty and empowering them with the skills and tools to fully embody their inner glow.

The real problem is that most approaches to skincare don’t consider the main reason for skin issues – something called nervous system dysregulation. And no one’s tried to fix it before.

Which is why I’m changing that now.

I want to show people how to look at skincare in a completely different way, which is why I created Somatic Skincare™.

Somatic Skincare™ is all about how our minds and bodies work together. Believe it or not, our feelings and thoughts can directly impact how our skin is doing. And stress is no exception.

Unfortunately, stress is something we all experience at some point in our lives. But Somatic Skincare™ helps us process unresolved stress by using body-based therapeutic techniques so we can find comfort in our skin.

Through my one-on-one coaching, workshops and Somatic Skincare™ group program, I’m helping women begin to gain confidence, have more energy, and finally feel good in their own skin.

The practice of Somatic Skincare™ allows you to build a deeper connection with yourself (and those you care about most). It offers you the opportunity to heal your past guilt and shed self-destructive patterns that don’t serve you any longer.

But maybe most importantly, this practice helps you to feel good about yourself, even if your complexion isn’t clear. You’re able to embody a somatic healing process that helps your mind and body become calm and connected so you’ll feel confident and free in your skin.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

10yrs ago I was in academics and juggling a career, young kids, a household and running ultramarathons.

I was literally running away from my life but I didn’t realize it at the time, and quite literally ran myself into the ground when I tore my hip labrum. This was after I had to diagnose myself with early melanoma..which as a skin cancer and melanoma specialist, this was a very humbling experience.

It was also a wake up call that all the things I thought I was doing “right” were not right for me or my body. This was the beginning of a downward spiral of health issues and I wasn’t getting answers in the western medical model. My desire to feel better led me to explore integrative medicine modalities and mind-body medicine.

I started to dive deep into mindfulness, meditation, trauma healing and somatic practices. I studied and continue to study with leaders in these fields to deepen my understanding, and to attend to my own healing and be able to share it with others.

I practiced traditional medicine for 2 decades in a field that contributes to the layers of expectation around how we should look, act and age. Along the way, I got caught up in our beauty and perfection driven culture and ignored the messages my body was shouting at me to slow down, and listen to my inner voice to live and work in a different way. My health fell apart and I was forced to look at the layered patterns that created the mess in my midlife. I took control of my health, learned how to get out of my head, tune into my body and follow my soul’s calling to live and lead in a different way, and I’m on a mission to help others do the same.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

Absolutely! The skin is our ultimate boundary between us and the outside world , it is our protector and it is also the source of our greatest pleasures. It is complex in its composition as well as the relationships it has with our neurobiology, immunology, endocrinology and interpersonal connections. To me it’s the most fascinating field that continues to evolve as we learn more about its function and how our mind and skin are in constant communication. And we can use the messages it’s sending us as clues and reminders of how to better care for our whole selves so that we can find more ease, calm and comfort to increase our health span and happiness.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://drkeirabarr.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drkeirabarr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keirabarr/
• Other: Skinny Dipping Rx podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-skinny-dipping-rx/id1635601527?i=1000640743829