3 Things You’re Not Going to Hear From Me
Photo by Neil Thomas on Unsplash
Three things you’re not going to hear from me when we work together:
“This pose will burn tons of calories”
“Get back in shape before/after __________ (holiday, life event)”
“Shrink that __________ (body part)”
My mat is not a place for this stuff, and I don’t think yours should be either.
Here’s the thing: I’ve always been an active person and I’ve also experienced disordered eating and an unhealthy relationship with exercise.
Do I want to feel strong and limber? Hell yeah!
Do I have to shame myself to get there? Hello no!
I believe in movement and moving my body daily. My body is my home and I need to love and take care of my home.
Moving our body is an appropriate and necessary part of trauma processing and an essential component of wellbeing.
And yet.
We are bombarded with diet culture, with ideas of how healthy is supposed to look, and the belief that we need to push ourselves harder to achieve a certain aesthetic.
I’m much more interested in what happens when I approach my body with curiousity and kindness, rather than from a place of shame. This is hard and can feel kind of foreign. And that’s ok.
I used to count calories and punish myself with excessive exercise. I would panic if I went somewhere where I didn’t have access to “clean” food or a place to workout. Newsflash: this did not get me anything except for more shame, discontent and feelings of inadequacy.
I don’t come to my mat to burn calories. I come to my mat to feel my body expand and soften as I breathe, to enjoy the power in my arms as I hold myself in a plank, to move for the JOY of moving, to keep my muscles and tissue healthy, and to explore what my body can do and learn how to listen to its wisdom.
It’s definitely a process and I’d be lying if I said that I loved my body 100% of the time. Some days I notice I’m more judgemental and critical of myself. But the important thing is continuing to practice: we have our whole life to learn to treat ourselves with more kindness. This is my work, and this is how I support my clients on the mat.
For personalized support to help you feel better in your body, check out my Private Yoga Package.