Applying textual interpretation skills to your body and illness, learning to read your symptoms and experiences as meaningful rather than merely mechanical.
Sor Juana was trained in textual interpretation and spent her life reading deeply—not just books but behavior, theology, human nature. This concept invites applying that hermeneutical skill to your own body. Rather than passively experiencing illness, you become a reader of your own text: What does this pain pattern mean? What does fatigue at this time tell me? What narrative does my body's behavior write? This isn't about magical thinking or denying medicine but about refusing to be a passive object of medical interpretation. You read your body alongside medical knowledge, generating your own understanding. Your body communicates; symptoms have patterns and meanings. By treating your embodied experience as a text to be carefully interpreted, you reclaim agency in making sense of it. Sor Juana's commitment to careful reading modeled intellectual rigor; applying that same rigor to your own corporeal experience means you're an active interpreter of your condition, not just its victim.
Peri can explain this concept, give practical examples, help you decide whether it applies to your situation, or recommend a journey if appropriate.
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