Day 4 - Body Positivity
Your body is your vessel.
Our physical body is the home of our inner voice. In order to fully honor our inner voice, we have to find ways to be good to our physical body and practice body positivity and self-love.
Body positivity is learning to love, accept, encourage, nourish and care for the physical body that we’ve been given. Your body is the beautiful shell of the beautiful goodies on the inside and it’s hugely important to feel at home in your body. It’s so refreshing when we can start to have positive thoughts about our body because our body does a lot for us. Our body feeds us. If we’re injured, our body heals. Our body is an incredible thing. It’s difficult, I know, but if we can really start to quiet the voices of social standards and really focus on ourselves, hopefully you and I will further ourselves on the journey to body positivity. This practice isn’t easy but you are not alone.
When I break down body positivity in connection to the inner voice, it’s directly connected. I think to myself, if I’m negative to my body, then my inner voice becomes negative. If I’m encouraging to my body, my inner voice becomes encouraging. The more I focus on the positive and on what makes me comfortable and grounded in the moment, the more leeway and space I can give myself. This way, my inner voice works directly with my body to heal my experience. To make that more clear, when I give my inner voice power, I picture it like a forcefield around me on top of my skin, covering the outer layer of my being. If I can picture my inner voice saying healing words, I can picture a forcefield completely showering over me and it doesn’t let anything in that is negative or hurtful. If I picture my inner voice filled with love and gratitude, then I feel my inner voice vibrating my body and letting me experience my day fully. When you feel good about your body, it allows your voice to truly flow.
Stress is such a huge factor and really impacts the way my inner voice feels inside my physical body. When I get stressed my voice-box tightens and there’s not enough space for the right amount of air to be let out. Which means it takes ten times the effort for simple things, which is frustrating and not good for my voice. Doing proper warm ups and stretches for my neck and body and feeding it good things makes my job easy and enjoyable. This constriction of my voice affects all of the ways I express, not only my job.
My relationship with my body is absolutely directly connected to my inner voice. If I have days where I can not seem to find any positive things I like about my body at all, the stress of that, the anxiety of that, goes straight to my throat, straight to my voice. It’s a thing that singers know. Stress is the worst thing for your voice because it’s a technical thing… the muscles tighten and you can’t release air. In an emotional sense, it’s hard to breathe through those negative feelings and thoughts about my body. I have to allow myself space to pause and say, "I’m going to question these thoughts." This is one strength I’ve learned and I want to share with you! Question what your brain is telling you about your body when those negative thoughts arise. It’s things we’ve fed it over and over and over again so it’s muscle memory in the brain. But, if we can train our brain to think better things, lovelier things, we begin the baby steps towards body positivity.
The way I practice body positivity is by waking up everyday and truly challenging myself to address what my brain might be saying. Our brain can be overly critical in times but when we confront the negative thoughts, it frees space in our brains to let in self-love. It’s an ongoing challenge, but everyday we can get closer and closer. Apart from being mindful of my thoughts, I’ve learned over the past years of struggling with and working towards more body positivity, some of the things that help me feel a little bit more empowered in my own skin are yoga and feeding my body with good food. Finding your inner voice is as much a mental practice as it is physical.
Listen
Exercises & Journal Promots
Exercises
Today’s exercises are opportunities to cultivate body positivity for the days ahead. Each exercise offers questions to guide you to building in physical practices that work for you. Trust the process and lean in to whatever way you can apply these exercises in your life today. Adapt the exercises as needed.
Cultivating a practice of body positivity, tune in to your body’s needs today and for the next seven consecutive days (or longer). As you tune in, ask yourself:
What does my body feel like it needs today?
What can I alter in my daily routine to bring more care and awareness to my body?
Examples: The Gym, dinner with a Friend, a restful night, an exercise video on youtube, a meditation, etc.
Journal Prompts
What healthy intentions and mantras can you set for your body?
Example: “I will treat my body like the temple it is and feed it good foods and healthy intentions.”
Write your mantra and intention somewhere you can see it daily.
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Non-professional disclaimer: Instructor is not a licensed health professional. Any advice given is for educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for advice from your physician.
Content Warning: This workshop content (video, written, audio) discusses body dysmorphia, eating disorders, and strong emotions. If you need help at any time, please call 1-(800) 931-2237 for the National Eating Disorders Hotline or 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.