Know thyself · 27 September 2026 · Charlotte Himsworth
Made in Proportion: Vitruvius, Leonardo and the Measure of a Person
From Roman temples to Leonardo’s famous drawing, people have long seen the human body as a measure of harmony.
Around two thousand years ago, the Roman architect Vitruvius wrote that a temple should follow the proportions of the human body. A well-made person, he observed, with arms and legs outstretched, fits within both a circle and a square. Around 1490, Leonardo da Vinci drew that idea, and his figure has become one of the most recognised images in the world.
Measuring with ourselves
For most of history, people measured the world with their bodies. The cubit was the length of a forearm; the foot, of course, a foot. We count in tens because we have ten fingers. There is something quietly moving in this: the human body as the first ruler of the world.
Patterns to wonder at
People have long noticed other correspondences: thirteen major joints in the body, and calendars of thirteen moons of twenty-eight days kept by many cultures. The spiral of a fern’s unfurling frond appears again in shells and galaxies. Patterns like these are invitations to wonder, not proofs of anything, but they gently suggest that we belong to the world around us.
The body as part of knowing yourself
If the body is a measure of harmony, then caring for it is part of self-knowledge. This is where mindset and wellbeing meet. Noticing how we sleep, move, eat and rest is not separate from noticing how we think. Both are ways of listening to ourselves.
A practice
Stand for a moment with your arms outstretched, like Leonardo’s figure. Feel the breadth of your reach and the ground beneath your feet. Take three slow breaths. Then ask: “What would help my body feel more at home today?” Choose one small, kind answer, and act on it.