HEALTH YOURSELF
HOW TO OVERCOME NEGATIVE BODY IMAGE
We invest in gadgets, stock up on supplements and sign up to gym classes to improve our health and wellbeing, but what if we told you the most powerful tool you have is actually free? In our new weekly column, JANINE THOMAS explains how using your body, mind and breath can help you sail through life — and it won’t cost you a cent. Each week she takes a different, often challenging, scenario and shows you how to make the best of it using the simplest methods.
DURING the International Literature Festival Dublin, I went to see Caitlin Moran at the NCH. The How To Be A Woman author was witty, perceptive and fiercely outspoken, but it was a comment she made about being an overweight teenager that really struck me. ‘I felt like my head was literally stuck on a jar,’ she said, ‘and my body was about 300 yards away.’
When we dislike our appearance — for whatever reason — one way of coping is to disconnect. By separating ourselves in this way we don’t have to deal with the negative emotions that arise. We cover up, we ignore it, we don’t look after ourselves — and the issue escalates.
The first step to addressing negative body image is to reconnect mind and body. No diet will work, no exercise regime will be kept, until you do this. From here, you can build towards body neutrality. I’m not talking body positivity here. Loving your body can feel a step too far for many of us — and the #bopo movement sadly seems all about getting the perfect body, not celebrating the one you have.
Body neutrality is about accepting your body for what it is and what it is capable of. Think of it in terms of marvellous mechanics. We might think we are a clever species, but our high-tech inventions have come nowhere near to creating anything as awesome as the human body.
This yoga sequence is one way of starting out on your body image quest by using the breath to connect body and mind.
1. MOUNTAIN POSE Strip off your socks and stand with your bare feet on the ground. Lift every toe and lay them back down again. Sway from balls to heels until you find a place where you feel stable. Marvel at your feet, which carry you for an average of 180,00km in your lifetime.
Lift the kneecaps up a little and draw the tailbone down slightly. Engage the abdominal muscles gently and lift the chest. Relax the shoulders. Feel as if a piece of string is attached to the crown of your head, drawing you upwards.
Close your eyes. Inhale and make fists with your hands. Exhale and spread your fingers out as wide as you can. Repeat three times, paying close attention to how your bones move. Relax your arms and stay here as long as you like.
2. PALM TREE POSE (pictured). Cross right leg over left leg and raise your arms overhead. Anchor down through the feet and sway slowly from side to side with the rhythm of your breath. Feel the way your abdominal muscles engage. (If this makes your back sore, place hands on hips.)
After ten rounds, stay on the left side, arms overhead, and take hold of the right wrist with the left fingers. Feel the breath travel into the body. Note the strength and energy build in your abdomen. After several breaths, repeat on the other side.
3. STANDING FORWARD BEND. Take the feet parallel. Roll your upper body forwards, hands dangling towards the ground. If you have a bad back, bend the knees a little.
Take hold of your legs, ankles or feet. Enjoy the head rush from being upside down – it brings an unusual mix of energy and calm. Stay for several breaths. On an inhale, slowly return to standing.
Now take off your clothes and look in a mirror. Take in every wrinkle and dimple, every scar and roll. I can feel you recoiling already! Tell yourself that this is your body, unique from any other human being who has ever lived. Without it, you would not be alive. It is merely the outer case that holds your soul.
A step towards body neutrality brings self-respect. Slowly but surely, it may well lead you to be kinder to your body, filling it with the right fuel and keeping it in good working order, without any big diet or fitness overhaul. After all, avoiding extremes and heading for neutral territory is what finding peace — within your body or otherwise — is all about in the long run.
If you have a question email janine@ thisisyoga.ie. Follow This Is Yoga on Facebook and Instagram; thisisyoga.ie