Improving Your Body Image
Thoughts About Your Body
Improving your body image
91% of women are unhappy with their bodies.
Nearly 70% of adult women report withdrawing from activities due to their body image.
“Your opinion of yourself is your most important viewpoint. You are infinitely greater than you think you are.”
Media & Body Image
Changes over time
The Victorian Era: The Corset Years
Full figure, small waist cinched by corsets
1920s: The Flapper Years
“Androgynous” and slim
1930s-1950s: The Marilyn Monroe Era
“Hourglass Figure”
1980s: The Supermodel Era
Simultaneously athletic, thin, and curvy
1990s: The Waif Years
Extremely thin
2000s: The Buff Years
6-pack abs, toned, and fit
Now: The Kardashian Years
Curvy, busty, small waist, and big booty
What is Body Image?
Your body image is created by the thoughts and feelings you have about your body: appearance, size, shape, height, weight, color, abilities, and more.
You get to decide what you believe.
A Poor Body Image
Scarcity and Fear
Hiding
Avoiding intimacy
Waiting until a certain weight
Settling
Comparing
Toxic cycles
Obsessive weighing
Low energy
Difficulty reaching goals
A Confident Body Image
Showing up powerfully
Body appreciation
Eating and moving out of love
Defining your own standards
Taking part in life fully
Dressing your body out of love
More energy
Body Image Perspective Shifts to Consider
Many women with “ideal” bodies also struggle with body image
How exhausting energy does it cost to reject your body?
Explore getting back into your body through care and movement
You get to decide what you think of your body
First, focus on how you want to feel in your body
You can be free in your body
You get to define beauty for yourself
How to Change Your Body Image
Awareness
Awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and actions toward your body.
Awareness allows you to be a loving witness to yourself: To observe your own mind and its impact on your life.
Your Reflection
What are your thoughts about your reflection?
What emotions do you experience?
What do these emotions drive you to do or not do in relation to your body?
Withholding Yourself
What experiences and opportunities has poor body image caused you to miss out on?
What have you been waiting to do, enjoy, experience, or create?
Decide
Making a decision cuts off other options
The decision to:
Accept your body
Appreciate your body
Support your body
Be present in your body
Choose how you feel in your body
Practice
You get good at what you practice most.
What have you been practicing when it comes to your body image?
The practicing of:
New thoughts about your body
New states of being
New behaviors in your body
Changing your body image:
What top 3 changes do you want to have in your body?
Why? What energy is driving your desire?
What do you desire to think and feel in your body?
Triggering Events
Notice the events that trigger a poor body image.
What are your thoughts, feelings, and actions before, during, and after a triggering event?
What plan could you develop for triggering events?
Your Ideal Body Relationship
What would an ideal relationship with your body look and feel like?
What would you think about your body?
How would you treat your body?
How would you support your body?
