Here’s to being mindful and healthy
MESSAGE FOR THE NEW YEAR starts with reflecting on lessons from the one gone by
Hard to believe another year is drawing to a close.
We’re all so busy these days, it’s easy to understand, but hard to comprehend.
That’s why I thought it would be nice time to look back at a few life lessons learned this past year from people I’ve interviewed whose messages bear repeating.
Joe Flanders of the MindSpace Clinic.
Oxford dictionary named “selfie” the word of 2013, but I think it should have been “mindfulness.”
In this day and age of email and Twitter, Instagram, iPhones and Facebook, to name just a few, we never seem to be able escape from the constant barrage on our time.
I’ve seen people — and families — out for dinner when each has eyes glued to a screen — they’re not even conversing with one another. And that’s in public, imagine at home!
Too often we don’t even remember what we ate yesterday, let alone all the other things we’ve got going.
And so Flanders’s message about taking the time to meditate, to learn to live fully in the moment, was one that I loved.
Flanders said that “learning to quiet the mind will help us tune in to our values, help us with clarity and with decision making.”
And the beauty is you can begin with just 15 minutes a day.
Perhaps a new year is the perfect time to start, because really, who couldn’t use more clarity in their lives?
Linda Bacon, author of Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight.
Bacon overcame a lifelong battle with body image, and wrote a book to help others.
“People give too much power to what we see physically. We are so much more than that.” And she’s right. Bacon said we have to put an end to yo-yo dieting and a never-ending quest for thin- ness, which we equate with health and beauty.
“Our diversity is what makes the world such an exciting place. We can celebrate size diversity in much the same way we are learning to celebrate cultural diversity.”
Our goals should be health-directed and not sizedirected. Bacon also said the best place to begin is by being kind to ourselves.
We are our own worst critics. If we were as kind to ourselves as we are to others, wouldn’t that be wonderful? To stop with the constant criticisms of ourselves (and other people), and learn to stop listening to negative selftalk and replace it with positive and encouraging words instead? Wouldn’t that be a good thing to start practising
in the new year? I think so.
Tiina Veer, a plus-size yoga instructor and massage therapist from Toronto.
Veer, one of Bacon’s supporters, fell deeply in love with yoga when she started, but found it was often difficult for those with rounder bodies.
“I believe yoga can be for everyone,” the outgoing and articulate woman told me. “Sometimes, it’s about adapting positions to make it more comfortable for those of us who are not long and lithe.”
And so, after more than 700 hours of yoga training, she began teaching her Yoga for Round Bodies classes.
Veer understands firsthand how intimidating it can be for not-Size 2s to head into a fitness class of any kind. She’s doing her part to change all that.
As she told me in our interview: “It’s sad so many still believe people can/should be changed through shame and derision … determining human worth and values based on the superficial, as in looks and body size.”
And interestingly, many of the larger-size women who have taken her classes have since found some of their difficulties had nothing to do with their size, it had to do with their flexibility — and yoga can help that. Deanna Howard, a woman struggling with anorexia. Without a doubt, hers was the strongest message for me this year.
Howard wrote to me about how often we applaud those who have lost weight, but what about people who struggle to keep weight on? I had truly never thought of it that way before. Sad. A struggle is a struggle is a struggle.
I had a lot of positive feedback from that column and I loved that it started the conversation that Howard said she felt was taboo. Eating disorders make people feel uncomfortable, she told me. “It’s not looked at in the same way at all.”
What’s even more frightening is that people told her how good she looked when she weighed 95 pounds. “I didn’t look good at all, I was clearly unhealthy, but I was thin; I guess that’s what looks good to some.”
Howard said people would tell her to just eat. As if it were that simple. “It’s the same as telling overweight people to just not eat — it doesn’t work that way.”
Thin does not always equate health.
As much as being overweight does not always equate illness. A leading Montreal dietitian told me recently: “God made chihuahuas and he made St. Bernards. Remember that.”
So, I guess the message for the new year? Aim for making it healthy. When we start to be aware, conscious of our decisions and the choices we make every day, then I do believe we will all be headed in the right direction.