Hello and welcome.
This practice is for when you find yourself struggling with body image.
Maybe it's because you saw a picture of yourself or because you looked in a mirror or maybe you just had to get dressed at some point today or you were in a bath or a shower and you caught a glance of your body or maybe this is just a daily experience for you.
Whatever it is that brings you here,
This practice will support you when it feels hard to be in a relationship with your body.
Now to begin this practice,
I want to welcome you into this space by acknowledging what it is that brings you here and however you find yourself in this moment.
And before we do anything else,
Just creating this moment of transition for you to arrive fully here in this practice.
And so just taking a moment,
You can close your eyes if that feels good to you,
Drop your gaze or just focus your gaze on the floor in front of you and really just honor that you are here now.
Whatever happened before this practice,
Whatever happens after this practice,
You can come back to those later.
But just acknowledging that you are transitioning into being here and allowing yourself to fully arrive so you can receive this.
And so maybe just taking a couple of deep breaths here on your own time and allowing yourself to feel a sense of grounded energy.
And then as you are settling into the present moment,
Also taking a moment to acknowledge what it is that brings you here.
And so instead of pushing it away,
Denying it,
Avoiding it,
Rejecting it,
You are very decidedly doing something very brave by showing up to support yourself with your body image.
And so acknowledging that and whatever it is that maybe triggered you or activated something in you to choose this and to practice this today,
Take a moment to acknowledge that.
And in this,
It may not be easy.
It may not feel comfortable.
Maybe that picture or that image or that reflection that you came into contact with wasn't a good feeling for you.
And that's okay.
That's why you're here.
And so just again,
Taking a moment to see yourself and witness yourself,
Not turning away from it,
But turning toward it,
Which is ultimately you practicing self-compassion.
You're not running away from yourself and your discomfort and your pain.
You are moving toward it.
And so just taking a moment to acknowledge that you are here now supporting yourself.
We can't get rid of all of the pain and discomfort around body image,
But we can be present with it.
And that's where the support and the safety come from.
So I mean it very deeply and wholeheartedly when I say I acknowledge you and I give you a lot of credit and I honor you for showing up to be here and for showing up for yourself and your own healing by being here.
Now with all of that being said,
If your eyes are not already closed,
I will invite you to close your eyes.
And then again,
Just breathing in on your own time on your own count and just feeling your breath fill you up.
And then a nice big exhale,
Let it go and do that another couple of times.
Just feeling your breath moving through you,
Feeling your lungs expand and contract,
Feeling your belly rising and falling and allowing yourself to just notice that in this very moment you are safe.
And then I also want to invite you to call in whatever feelings,
Whatever emotions were present or are present when you consider your relationship with body image right now.
And you might notice again that it's not necessarily comfortable,
Maybe it doesn't feel very good,
That's okay.
And so I want to invite you to welcome in what you find.
If there is fear,
If there are feelings of inadequacy or insecurity,
If there are feelings of shame or embarrassment,
There might be stories coming up that you are a failure,
That you're not good enough.
Whatever it is,
What I want to ask you to do is tell the truth.
So again,
You're not brushing any of it away,
You don't have to do that,
But actually invite it in.
So imagine maybe that you are standing at a door,
On the inside of a door,
And all of these feelings are coming into the room and you are welcoming them to be here.
You may not like that they're here,
They may not be your favorite guests,
That's okay.
But what you're doing is teaching yourself that you can tolerate this experience that you're having.
You don't need to run away from it,
And you don't need to avoid it,
And you don't need to numb it.
You can be here with this.
So first just start by telling the truth of what you feel.
And if it helps,
Maybe you can use the prompts answering this question,
When I look in the mirror,
I feel.
When I saw that picture of myself,
I felt.
When I got dressed,
I felt.
And just notice the very honest answer of what comes up here.
And whatever it is you notice emotionally,
Start to see if you can feel the sensations and the energy of those emotions in your body.
So you might notice a tightness or a clenching,
Maybe it's a pit in your belly.
Whatever it is that's showing up in your body,
Just notice that and allow that to be here as well.
And then I want to invite you to breathe into the sensations that you notice and allow it to be exactly as it is.
So if it's tension,
Let it be tense.
If it's contraction,
Let it contract.
If there's tingling,
If there's heat or cold,
Whatever it is you notice,
Just allow it to be here.
It's okay.
And filling yourself up with a big inhale,
Just noticing that fresh air coming in.
And then send your exhale to that sensation in your body and let it know that if it wants to go away,
It can.
If it wants to stay,
It can.
If it wants to shift around or move,
It can.
And you might notice that it gets more intense or less intense,
And that's okay too.
You are going to stay with your breath and be in your body and allow yourself to be guided because in this moment,
You might notice that you are uncomfortable and you are not unsafe.
So allowing yourself to make contact with the sensations associated with shame or fear or embarrassment,
Not because you deserve this and not because your feelings mean anything about you,
But because they are here now.
They are present now.
And so instead of resisting them,
You are practicing acceptance.
This is your experience and it's okay.
So taking another couple of breaths here,
Just allowing yourself to be where you are.
Again,
Making contact,
Inviting in the sensations and the emotions that show up,
Knowing that this is okay.
And what you're doing here is allowing yourself and your mind-body system to learn that these feelings may not always be comfortable,
And at the same time,
You are safe to be here with them.
So I know you may not like it and that's okay,
But you are doing it.
And then from this place,
I want to remind you that especially when it comes to body image,
You are not alone here.
There may be a lot of stories or narratives in your mind that you shouldn't be feeling this way,
Or other people don't feel this way,
Or maybe if you worked harder or were better,
You wouldn't have to feel this way.
And I want to remind you gently that this is part of being human.
This is part of being human.
Again,
You are not alone here,
And this is not unique to you.
Other people have been here,
Other people have felt this,
And perhaps most importantly,
This is not your fault.
You have an animal brain in a social context that took in a lot of messages about your body and how it should look,
And that's not your fault.
You didn't design this.
You didn't come up with this.
This isn't your voice.
These are not your ideas.
You didn't come out of the womb disliking your body.
You were taught to dislike your body.
And so when you find yourself in these moments,
It's not to take away the discomfort,
But you don't have to blame yourself for this.
And if you find yourself blaming or shaming or judging yourself for having this experience,
Allowing that to be released,
Because sometimes it's just hard.
It's hard to be a spiritual being,
Having a physical experience with an animal brain in a social context.
Sometimes we forget that the body is our home.
We are the soul that lives in the body.
We forget.
There are so many messages inviting us to forget.
And so in this moment,
Just remembering these emotions may not be comfortable and you may not enjoy this very much,
But this is not your fault.
You are not doing anything wrong.
You are not the problem.
And allowing yourself to just take a breath and breathe into that,
Knowing and breathe into that truth.
You are not at fault.
You are okay.
You are safe.
You are loved.
And part of being human sometimes is experiencing uncomfortable emotions about your body.
That's okay.
That's okay.
That's okay.
And then from this place,
I want to invite you to practice kindness towards yourself.
What does that look like right now?
If you were your best friend,
What are some things that you might say?
How would you be with yourself in this moment?
And I invite you to place a hand on your heart if that feels good.
Two hands on top of each other on your heart if you like that.
Or maybe just placing your hands on your cheeks,
Cradling your face for a moment and feeling your own presence here.
Because this is the truth of it.
Life is not always going to feel good.
It will not always be comfortable.
But you can remember that this is not your fault and you're on your own team.
You are here.
You,
The soul,
The spirit,
The self that lives in the body,
The version of you that knows that you are so much more than your body,
You are here.
So you don't have to take away all the body image issues.
But you can be with yourself in them.
And again,
Just breathing into this knowing your body is your home.
And when you looked in the mirror,
When you saw that picture,
You forgot.
You forgot for a moment that your body is your home.
You started judging yourself based on your looks,
Your size,
Your weight,
Your shape.
And that's okay.
That's your brain doing what it does.
But now you get to shift into remembering you are home.
You live here.
And you are safe here.
You are safe to be in this body as it is right here,
Right now.
Breathing into that.
Letting that land,
Allowing it to settle.
And coming back to this any time you need the reminder.
And just gently setting the intention to hold onto that truth that your body is your home.
And that you are safe to live in it for the rest of today,
The rest of the week,
And the rest of your life.
