What is Body Image?
I asked for Wikipedia for help, you can see their answer here. For me, it is how I feel in my own skin without worrying about what others may think of me. I think for a large portion of women, I don’t know about men, maybe they suffer too? but for women it is largely negative. We find a body part we don’t like,or someone has said something negatively and we fixate apon it and not listen to anyones positive input on the subject. I think that we measure ourselves to some high standards and those standards are usually what society demands we look like . Not everyone is twig thin, cover girl look alikes, and really who would want to be? Is it not better to be healthy, to have a healthy attitude to our bodies, to thank them for giving us the ability to move, to play and to be women?
A group of ladies and I had a pole fitness class this weekend and we were asked to wear shorts in order to do some of the moves on the pole. And a fair portion of these women, who are all attractive, do Pilates, have strong bodies, had issues with their legs. Now, I do understand that usually, unless we are hugely confident in what our legs look like, they tend to stay under cover of clothes for the most part. Which means that they don’t often get to see the light of day, which means that they are not overly brown and tanned(for us whities). but should that really stop one in wearing a pair of shorts. To have such a negative image on a body part that we think that people will look at our legs and judge them while moving? Or is it something else entirely?
As I get older, and I have to admit to enjoying this getting older malarky so far, I realise that the only person judging your body parts, is you. I think that we should all be kinder to ourselves, to shower ourselves with self love and gratitude for our bodies. If it wasn’t for our legs, we wouldn’t be able to walk, if it wasn’t for our arms we wouldn’t be able to carry things, if it wasn’t for our tummies we wouldn’t be able to bear children. Should we not then be proud of what we are, what we have achieved, and what we are capable of? And should that not bring a more positive spin onto our bodies.
I do believe that most of the judgments occuring around our bodies are self made or from a negative comment that someone once said to us. We then create the issues, we create the negative images. When the ladies that come here to do Pilates, I try to create a safe space for them to move. To be. Without judgement. To not worry about what someone else might (and most likely don’t) think of what they look like. Every single one of us is different and beautiful in our very own unique ways. If you had to ask a friend what they think of a something that you have an issue with, I can almost guarentee you that they would not have noticed anything amiss, and may even think that is one of your best features. We are all women, we all have our ‘ things’ but one thing that we should be more of, is kinder to ourselves and to other women. I am sure that more could be said on the subject, but before we do, remember to be kind. As long as we are comfortable in our own skin, healthy and moving, a lot can be said for positive body images!
Give it a go…
And some more food for thought, watch this from Dove. It just goes to show.