I had a realisation in yoga recently, while I was struggling into a pose my newly numbed limbs couldn’t quite reach:

I love my body.

It doesn’t have to work the right way for me to love it.

It doesn’t have to look a certain way.

I will love my body and take care of it.

I love myself, in fact. Always and always.

And I love you, wherever you are in your journey with your body too.

However, I have, sadly, spent many years acting like this wasn’t the case, and pushing my beautiful body to go further than she could. I’ve been angry at my perceived ‘failures’, and berated myself for my limits and struggles.

If I love my body truly, it has to be more than just words, I have to act like it too. (Click to Tweet!)

So, what can I do to live my body-love today?

Take a look at my list below. What can you add to it? What would you like to do to love your body in this moment?

Ways to Love My Body:

 

– Listen to my body’s cues:

Drink water when I’m thirsty. Even though I’m tired and have to get up and reach some. Still, drink water. Make sure I have water on hand to make it easier.

Rest when I’m tired. Carry an eye mask and iPod for anywhere (safe), any time relaxation sessions.

Stay warm when it’s cold.

Trust in my body’s need to move. Move without needing that movement to always be flowing, easy and perfect. Know that flowing and ease comes as I release tension, stiffness, aches and pains through gentle loving movement.

– Be conscious of the media I consume. If something is promoting judgement of me and my beautiful healing body, click away.

– Unfollow people who post aggressively aspirational body and fitness pictures. They aren’t for me. Take care not to fall into thinspiration land on Instagram.

– Eat food that works for my body. Notice the media consumed around food. Is it making my relationship with food easier or harder? Act accordingly.

– Take care not to fall into orthorexia thinking on social media. Flax crackers will not allow us to live forever, nor save lives, no matter how really raw, organic and superfood filled they are. Check out Nutritiously Natasha’s amazing and needed critique of wellness online here.

– Seek out media and images that embrace all body types.

– Give myself what I need. Trust in my body to find it’s own balance. If I stop working for a day, I won’t suddenly morph into a sloth, and spend the rest of my existence lying in bed reading novels and eating bon bons. I don’t even like bon bons.

– Listen to my intuition around people and places. If something or someone doesn’t feel right, stop and leave. I don’t have to justify. I don’t have to have a logical reason. I don’t have to explain myself to anyone. If I don’t feel safe or happy, then I can make changes until I do. If I don’t like something I can move and change it. I’m not a tree!

– Dress in a way that feels good. Take time to take care of myself, or spend that energy on what I really want to spend it on. Dress for me, for my body now, for my needs and environment. Proudly.

Loving my body and caring for it just as it is in this moment can sometimes feel like an act of resistance.

I love my body. I state this truly, and simply do not care about the opinion of anyone who says my body is not enough right now, who sees me as less than I am, and hides that opinion in the rhetoric of ‘motivating’ me to do more, be more, have more, try more, push more. I don’t believe I’ve asked for a rescuer. Thanks but no thanks, allow me to show you out.

To body love and compassionate action!

Let me know how you love your body in the comments.

Image courtesy of Morgan Sessions.