My favorite form of exercise has to be swimming. Being in the water is such a multi-sensory experience. The feeling of weightlessness, the soothing sounds of rippling water, the invigorating coolness on the skin.

The swimming hall is also a treat to the eye. Today while getting my exercise I watched kids learning to board dive. They looked like beautiful porpoises with their sleek little bodies looping in the air and splashing into the water.

The innocent voyeurism continued in the shower area. The showers and dressing rooms are really a photographer's dream - an out-of-bounds area for photos of course, for privacy's sake. Now let me explain that there is nothing perverted about this gaze. It is simply appreciating the human body, in all its forms. You can see perfectly toned muscles, sagging skin, scars, tattoos, freckles, skin tone varying from milky white to dark brown, bellies heavy with babies, bones old with age.

Edward Weston: Nude, 1934

I sat in the sauna enjoying the warmth after my long swim, letting the heat relax the tensed-up muscles. A woman walked in, sat down and started to dry brush her body. She was meticulously going over every centimeter of her very thin, almost scrawny limbs. When she leaned over to stretch herself, I could count all of her rib bones. I suspected she was anorexic and imagined her going back home to nibble on a salad.

Back in the shower area I saw a young, very pretty dark-skinned girl come in. She seemed very aware of being secretly stared at by other women. The way she was almost brushing the walls to avoid walking too close to others suggested she was not comfortable. I wanted to walk over to her, grab her hand and tell her to lift her head, walk straight and be proud of the way she looked.

My own body has certainly seen some changes over the last few years. A twin pregnancy is extremely tough on the body. Almost three years after giving birth I am still struggling to claim my old body back. It may never happen. I have not just one but two scars going across my lower belly, from the ceasarians. My breasts have fed three babies and my back isn't too straight from carrying kids for hours on end. Fortunately, accepting yourself and your body as less than perfect gets much easier with age.