As a human being living in today’s world, you have likely experienced body image issues before. Unfortunately, society has minimized the value of feeling good in our bodies as second only to “looking good.” We’re comparing ourselves to others all day long, through real world interactions as well as the fake filters technology floods us with.
If you’re having body image issues, I highly recommend adding some sort of movement into your daily routine. By learning to move in our bodies, we learn to feel them and ultimately connect with them better. I always try to focus on – our body is our temple. We must love and nurture it and it will love and nurture us back. Let’s look at why yoga is such a wonderful movement practice to help you resolve body image issues and feel more confident and sexier in your skin.
1. Yoga Teaches You how to Move without an Emphasis on Weight Loss.
We certainly don’t need another voice telling us we’re not skinny enough. One of the many special aspects of yoga is its distinctive goals. The goal is not to get thinner, but rather to cultivate a healthy relationship with your body and mind. Movement and postures (asana practice) become a way to detach from the negative thoughts that constantly fill your mind. Yoga makes us strong all over. Mentally, physically, and emotionally and movement is medicine.
2. Yoga Relieves Stress and Promotes Self-Acceptance.
When we’re stressed, we tend to be harder on ourselves, that inner critic creating a more permanent space for herself in your mind. This can quickly evolve into a vicious cycle of negative thoughts as the inner critic in turn generates more stress in your mind and body. Yoga as a stress-reliever helps us to be just a little gentler on ourselves. Through movement, breathwork and meditation we can slowly start to reduce the stress.
In fact, some schools are finally catching onto the power of yoga and using it as a method to help students manage stress! Can you find time to add some stress relief to you or your child’s day?
3. Yoga Helps You Get Out of Your Head.
We must learn to ditch the negative self-talk. It’s doing absolutely nothing for you. In yoga, we use the breath as a powerful anchor for the mind. By focusing on our breath, it’s impossible to hang around the endless dialogue that normally runs our mind. Yoga gives us space to observe our thoughts, notice when we’re speaking unkindly to our bodies or comparing ourselves with others, and correct the self-talk. With practice, our inner voice becomes louder, our innate wisdom clearer.
4. Yoga can Help You Learn to Let Go.
It’s so hard to let go of our ideas of perfection, to let go of our expectations about what things should look like, and how things should happen. Your ego is not your amigo! The beauty of yoga is that there is no need to be perfect. Perfection isn’t real. The poses can always be refined and modified to better suit where you are—physically, mentally, and emotionally—in your life and yoga practice.
In fact, yoga is just as much about the transitions and the process as it is the final pose. Yoga helps us to re-learn how to surrender to reality, rather than strive for unrealistic images of our bodies.
5. Yoga can Help You Find a Healthy, Body-Positive Community to Surround Yourself With.
One of the joys of exploring yoga is finding and discovering your yoga community. Studios offer a judgment-free space where you are free to be yourself, exploring movement in your body. The journey towards self-love and acceptance is a life-long one, but one always worth embarking on. Having the support of an awesome community can make the journey that much easier.
Our body image consists of how we perceive, see, and think about our bodies. Having a positive outlook and relationship with our bodies is important because the way we treat our bodies often stems from the way we regard them. Yoga can teach you how to view your body as a temple, listening with great curiosity to the sounds that echo off the walls, and always stepping in with love, respect, and so much gratitude.
The Live Free in Recovery community is here for you. Join here to hang out in our FB group. You have the blog resources here, and our online Yoga & Recovery Community is coming SOON! Stay tuned here!
Live Free in Recovery
XO,
Sheri Matthews
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