EP 235: Bikinis 👙, Brains 🧠 and Brawn 🏋️♀️
And now on to my regular late July thoughts…
How are you feeling in your bathing suit this summer? Are you out there playing in the water or hiding under a blanket? Are you taking your new bathing suit out for a spin or suffering in that suit that used to fit and if I just do more crunches it will fit again?
Who knew clothes could bring up so much stuff?
I am laughing at the question right now because I have experienced many dressing room wars with myself. As early as elementary school I wished my body would fit the clothes rather than the clothes fit my body.
Things changed in my late 20s when a personal trainer talked about focusing on the function of our bodies rather than the aesthetics.
When I looked at my body from the perspective of what it could do and what it allowed me to do it shifted my negative self-talk to pride in my strength, flexibility and mobility.
What is your current self-talk about your body?
This week in the 2024 Summer Podcast Series we are headed way into the archives back to episode 15 of the 100% Guilt-Free Self-Care podcast: Body Acceptance, Body Neutrality and Yoga for Those That Think It Isn’t For Them with Anna Guest-Jelley.
While I was first introduced to the idea of function over form in my late 20s, I still suffered from internal battles about beauty standards and our cultural obsession with thinness. It was the 90s and early 2000s when heroin chic was a thing.
It wasn’t until I got into my serious yoga practice in my late 30s that I began noticing again the functionality of my body. Some days I could do endless Sun salutations and other days I could barely get off the floor.
Thankfully the studio where I was practicing was one that asked us to practice self-compassion and acceptance while we were on the mat.
Anna was one of the people who I connected with online. She had been using yoga as a tool to relieve her frequent migraines.
She has always lived in a bigger body and finding a safe place to practice was a challenge. So she created her own.
Show links:
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