I love and accept my body.
I unconditionally love and accept my body.
My body is the physical home of my spirit. I treat it with love and respect.
Does it feel natural to say those words of affirmation to your Self? Those words don’t come easy for me, but it is getting easier day by day. Of course sometimes there are days when it feels pretty delusional to say these words out loud to my self. However this is the real truth of how we can use language to support us in turning down the all too loud noise of the ancient conditioning behind the thoughts we hear about our bodies.
When speaking aloud to ourselves and with people, let’s be mindful of the words we choose while we talk about our bodies. The words that sometimes unconsciously fall out of our mouths create the world we live in and our experience of the world we live in. Choosing carefully more loving language when we do body talk will not stop the thoughts we have about our bodies, however it will weaken the intensity of the deafening dis-empowering inner dialogue about our worth and our right to the space we occupy on this planet based upon our perception of our bodies.
I have had a tempestuous relationship with my body since I was tiny. My relationship with my body has mainly consisted of me trying to mould it, control it, change it, shrink it, starve it, push it, abuse it and speak VERY unkindly of it. Generally I saw it as something that was a burden to me because I was sure that most of my anguish in life would be resolved if I was thinner, taller and prettier. Such is the life of a person who aged twenty seven was diagnosed with Body Dysmorphia. This diagnosis was the first step towards real health and well being for me and I made the choice to choose life, over a life of fear and anorexia. Some days this is easier than others and is an ongoing practise for me inside of my daily spiritual practice.
I am a self harmer in recovery. A vital aspect of this recovery is building a respectful and at best loving partnership with my body. Around eight years ago when’s I first sat down on a floor cushion to mediate for about three very long minutes, the practise annoyed the fuck out of me because my thoughts were so loud and endless. This is the very nature of thoughts incidentally, fucking endless. However after a short time of continuing my practice I had fleeting insight that maybe the thoughts in my head and the way I talked about my body could be making my relationship with my body worse. It has taken years for me to discover first hand that the thoughts and the words we speak are the key in recovery from dysmorphia, body shame, self harm and addiction.
A spiritual practice is one which shines light on to our dark, bringing it to the fore to be examined and re set. Our dark relationship with our body is our lead for alchemy. Three years on I am experiencing for myself the wisdom of alchemy as explained to me by my great teacher Rachel in meditation practice one day.
Please be compassionate to yourself while your develop the new habit of speaking kindly about your body. It takes time to gently burn up all of that misplaced body image conditioning. You may even just be simply not saying the self defeating comment out loud that you think you need to skip dinner tonight, or that you don’t just brush off the compliment your friend gives you when they say how great you look. Start just by saying to yourself in the quiet;
I love and accept my body. I treat it with kindness.