“You must have been a beautiful baby,
You must have been a wonderful child.”
-Johnny Mercer
You were born with the best body image possible. At birth your thoughts were without judgment. Your thoughts were pure expressions of what your body communicated in the moment. Happy, alert, warm, comfortable, and safe feelings sent by your body directly to your brain and expressed directly by your body. As pure ego, your vibration operated at an extremely high level, because of the purity of that positive communication between your body and your brain. You expressed your positive feelings through your body’s contentment.
As an innocent beautiful baby, you attracted attention naturally. All you had to do was “be”, simply exist. Then, your appearance was more than accepted, it attracted positive attention from everyone. Regardless of what you wore or how much you weighed, your presence on the planet inspired smiles and warmth from everyone around you. You and your body were one, united in survival and growth. In order to make that happen, you smiled, cooed, giggled, drooled and batted your eyes at your caregivers.
How does this relate to your body image as an adult?
As an adult, our survival depends only on ourselves, not our caregivers.
To bring back that pure high vibration of infancy, reunite with your body to strengthen your presence in your world. The Body Knowledge System® teaches the importance of reuniting with your body to improve your body image through a simple process designed to increase your health and well being. Because each of us is unique, you are in charge of your process. As you progress in the Body Knowledge System® you will feel more energy at a higher vibration every day of your practice.
Body Knowledge System® Brings You Back to You
The basic principle in the Body Knowledge System® is ending the estrangement between you and your body. Reuniting you with your body is as easy as re-establishing the open communication you were born with—the energy that raised your vibration so positively as an infant.
Most of us live our lives unaware of our body’s importance, until something goes wrong. Illness, injury, or chronic pain gets our immediate attention, and as our body’s caregiver THEN we divert our attention to remedying the situation. Perhaps our lack of constant communication with our bodies allowed us to miss her earlier attempts at alerting us of an imbalance that resulted in this distraction.
Holistic and integrative medical theory supports the importance of considering the entire person when considering treatment for illness or injury. Logically, whole body unity should contribute to improving our daily lives as well.
The Body Knowledge System® approaches the concept of body image from the holistic point of view. In order to improve our body image, the first step is going within to raise our personal vibration. As in all things pertaining to the Law of Attraction, it occurs in the present and produces results in the future.
“You must have been a beautiful baby,
Cos, baby look at you now!” Johnny Mercer
Begin your path back to your birthright, the best body image that will ignite your high level of energy to carry you through and with all of what you desire for yourself and others.
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Tags: Body Image, Body Relationship, Self Esteem
As I’m sure you know the Rio Summer Olympics have come to a close after revealing the extraordinary men and women from all over the world who have dedicated themselves to their sport of choice and to the care of their bodies creating magnificent achievements.
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BODY SHAPE AND THE SUMMER OLYMPICS
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Recently, I came across an interesting article about a former Olympian swimmer, Misty Hyman, now an assistant swim coach at Arizona State.
Here’s what interested me from the article:
As a young girl, Misty Hyman thought athleticism equated to attractiveness. She believed being strong was beautiful. Hyman, who would grow up to become an Olympic gold medalist swimmer, didn’t realize her personal beliefs about beauty didn’t align with society’s until her teenage years — and then the realization hit hard.
Coach Hyman saw her body shape as beautiful and strong… until the outside world told her differently!
What a tragedy that is… that we would let the outside world tell us that our bodies aren’t strong and beautiful.
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EMBRACING YOUR BODY’S SHAPE…
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Today, I want to coach you to embrace – and even love – your body’s shape. Here’s a quote from some other women swimmers talking about how they’ve done just that:
“It’s something that we make fun of now,” Franklin said. “We all joke about how we eat 5,000 calories a day. We joke about how we can’t fit into anything with our shoulders and how we’re breaking through the seams of shirts.
“Everyone knows what it’s like, and everyone’s also at that point now where we all understand that our bodies are our greatest gift and our greatest asset in the sport that we do every day. We’re all just going to own it.”
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A HOLISTIC APPROACH
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“Are our body image issues different from a woman’s Olympic swimming team?”
No, not really. As women, we are all involved in some kind of ‘sport’ whether it is with our friends, our family, and our career. We can label our sport as being a mom or a CEO or championing ourselves and our friends.
As a former dancer I have witnessed firsthand body image issues which influenced me to become a Body Knowledge System ® Coach specializing in the challenges that women muddle through. My goal was to enhance their lifestyles and bring forth into the world what they want to express without feeling inhibited in their body.
Misty’s challenge was that although her body was that of an Olympic swimmer’s, it did not necessarily conform to society’s idea of “perfection. Misty had to overcome her own perceptions of what body shape should look like and a healthy relationship with her body.
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Here’s How You Can Begin
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As women, we need to see the value of who we are in the world and not worry about how the media expects us to live up to certain advertised body images (not that you shouldn’t look the best you can).
Today, I’d like to share with you my empowering “5 Easy Steps to a Better Body Image” Ebook!
Within our media driven culture, even our athletes are bombarded with what the “right” type of body should look like. But we are all unique.
Take a stand with me and my body and your bodies and change our mindset!
My Body Knowledge System® gives you practical steps to define yourself with better body confidence and abandon body shaming. We owe it to ourselves.
So download my new eBook today. It’s a short read of only 33 pages for $7.95. Start today!
And I’d love to hear about any difficulties you’ve have with embracing your body’s shape.
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Tags: Body Image, Body Relationship, Self Esteem
As women, we need to see that the value of who we are in the world and not be dependent of how the media expects us all to live up to certain advertised body images (not that you shouldn’t look the best you can). Personally, my body shape is ever changing and during the past year I have been compelled to speak out.
Within our tabloid culture (of which are 63% male writers) we are bombarded with the same type of body images to emulate and follow. The same habitual messages of how we (yes! us women) should look are perpetuated everywhere we turn. This tabloid culture is motivated to use the same tactics around defining women solely on their appearance because the articles and pictures sell!
I am taking a stand for my Body and I want for you to stand by me and your bodies. Let us contribute to this movement together.
My Body Knowledge System® gives you practical steps to define yourself with better inner body confidence messages and abandon feeding into any body shaming. We owe it to ourselves.
So download my new eBook today. It’s a short read of only 33 pages for $7.95. Start today!
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Tags: Body Image, Body Knowledge Articles, Self Esteem
I have been exploring the notion of creating a better body image and have become more aware of how advertising influences our self-esteem with our bodies with negative and positive messages.
My questions to you are:
- Has your body been sending you messages about health issues?
- Are you just experiencing day to day aches and pains?
- Or, do you accept the way you look and the other relationships in your life are flowing?
Whether it is aches and pains or joyful moments, let’s go on this better body image journey together and explore techniques and tools for creating good self-esteem.
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The Truth about Self Esteem
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Self Esteem: it is a way of thinking, feeling and acting that implies that you accept, respect, trust, and believe in yourself.
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Consider these beliefs
(from Body Knowledge System®)
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- Respect your own uniqueness
- Be your own Best Friend (treat yourself like you would treat others)
- When outside environmental challenges come your way , you maintain consistency with your own values that make you happy
- You deserve everything that makes you happy
- You learn to practice confidence to do things your way
This is wonderful to read on paper but let’s start using tools and techniques to practice and make these beliefs a part of your daily lifestyle.
A technique you can practice right away is the Body Knowledge Dance®. You can do this in your living room or in your head.
- Set an intention in words. For example: I love being in tune with my body and what she is telling me.
- Picture your intention
- Now literally “move with the words” (just move freely)
- Imagine what you are wearing and the music you are hearing in your mind
- Commit this dance to memory so you can dance the movement in your head
The Body Knowledge System® has been created to address your body Image issues and help you practice on a daily basis simple and fun techniques to boost your self-esteem. Self-esteem and better body image go hand in hand
Today, I invite you to answer three questions. Answering these questions can give you a better sense of how you can create the self- esteem that will guide you to do all the things you set out to do.
Remember, my system is sustainable because it is NOT a ‘one size fits all.’ You create your own better body image on your own terms and in your own way.
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This series compares the conventional approach to beauty to the natural approach, and is designed to help you make choices for yourself as to which one, or which elements of each one, are best for you.
Conventional vs Natural
What do I mean by Conventional and Natural approaches to beauty? To put it simply, conventional beauty is imposed on us from outside influences, natural beauty more about self-acceptance.
The Conventional approach teaches us we must strive to reach someone else’s idea of a “perfect” body.
The Natural approach teaches you to be happy with who you are and to celebrate your true self.
While much has been written about natural beauty and accepting your true self, following only one approach doesn’t always work for everyone, nor should it. I believe each of us should have the freedom and flexibility to choose between each approach, as well as how we use both of them in our lives every day. Remember it is your choice to pick whatever approach best fits you and your body.
WHAT IS BODY ACCEPTANCE?
Body Acceptance is exactly what it sounds like: it is learning to accept and embrace your body’s style (The Natural Approach). Your body’s style is how you emanate the way you walk and talk and communicate with yourself and others in a way that makes you feel so good.
On the other hand, cultural influences tell us that we need to change our bodies and alter our appearance to ‘fit into’ the visual images we see in magazines, billboards, movies and TV. This is what I call The Conventional Approach. If we allow this outside pressure to dominate how we feel about our body and interfere with how we present our self to the world and our self we will be miserable.
Many of my clients are thriving as they learn to practice Body Acceptance. And it’s because of this one easy tip I’ve shared with them.
HOW TO PRACTICE BODY ACCEPTANCE
I encourage you to look at visual images that show all body sizes and shapes (just go to the grocery store and you will see all body shapes and sizes). Pay attention to all the different heights, shapes and sizes. Note the different hair styles, hair color, types of skin, etc. Focus on what breaks the standard of beauty, not what conforms to it.
Practice this and become more empathic with yourself and others. The bottom line is to feel and be healthy at whatever weight you and your body feel comfortable with. If and when you chose to change your size and shape then you will independently take those steps and choices to make whatever changes you desire.
I encourage you to be aware of outside cultural influences that make you second-guess your choices.
It is about you and your body in partnership ( Body knowledge System ®) to make the best choices for how you eat and move and showcase your talents to the world.
As Lillian Bustle, a well know burlesque dancer, once said:
“The more body diversity is normalized in our minds, the kinder we can be with ourselves and with our bodies”
BODY KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM WISDOM
Here’s a practical example of what it looks like to practice Body Acceptance and live with a posture of confidence.
Let’s consider Barbra Streisand when her career first got going in the early 60s, potential managers and agents worried that she wouldn’t fit the bill of a traditional female pop star.
Honestly, they were worried about her nose.
140 million albums sold later, nobody’s worried about the nose.
- Presence begins with a positive body image.
- Your body’s wisdom projects that image through expressing the respect you have for yourself.
- And thereby, you attract positive energy from those around you.
NEXT STEPS
So far over the course of this Natural Beauty series, we’ve looked at makeup, pro-aging, and now body acceptance.
I’ve shared this Natural Approach with you, because I think it will help you and me to find a lot of freedom in how we interact with our bodies. And again if the Conventional approach is good for you, go forth.
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Size Matters
Why does size matter? Throughout the last few decades advertisers and the media have inundated us with images of women who are impossibly thin and way above average height. From television, movies, magazines, and every other form of media, these images are inescapable. For women of different all types, these images are almost bulling us into placing a value, either positive or negative, on what size we wear.
Before WWII, there were no standardized sizes, because clothes were made at home where they were made to fit the individual body of the person for whom it was being made. The very wealthy looked to Europe for fashion and styles and had their clothing tailored to fit by professionals.
The Birth of Standard Sizes
“Standardized” sizes came with the marketing of off-the-rack and mail order merchandise. And yes, as early as the Revolutionary War, men’s sizes were standardized. Based on the size of men’s chests, uniforms were mass produced and stocked on shelves waiting the next war. In the late 1930’s, when women’s standardized sizes appeared, women’s sizes were based on the same standard as men’s were, their bust measurements. Dolly Parton’s 4’11” would wear the same size as 6’8” Amazon Eve, the world’s tallest model. When the “returns” outnumbered the sales, Sears and Montgomery Ward, the leading mid-century mail order and retailers, realized the need for more realistic standards for women’s clothing if they intended to sell to women across the country.
While sizing guidelines were developed about this time, retailers and clothing manufactures soon found it was advantageous to stray from these standards. Many believed that a size 12 woman would buy more of their brand if that size 12 dress and an 8 on it instead. How many times have you heard “This brand runs small” or “This brand runs big”. It’s because that brand is playing psychological games with their consumers. Each brand and retailer will slap any number on any item of clothing if they think it will help their bottom line.
Traditionally, the more expensive the clothing, the smaller the size on the label, i.e. a Coco Chanel original size 8 suit was in reality a size 10 or even a 12 if purchased at J.C. Penney’s in the 1960’s.
A Real Revolution
So here we are in the 21st Century and finally things are changing to reflect reality. How do you feel after pulling a pair of jeans in your usual size (12/14 US women’s average pants size) off the rack and then disappear into the closet sized dressing room to try them on? A few minutes later, sweat pouring from your brow, hopping on one foot, then the other as you yank, pull, and tug them over your knees and onto but not past your thighs before falling through the curtain into the aisle. Beached like a whale, rolling on your back like a turtle, your happy to shop mood dissolves into tears of shame and wonder “why my size is no longer my size?”, or “Did the pants shrink on the way to the dressing room?”.
Lousy, right?
Well, hope is on its way with the Real Revolution for Real Women in the Media. And we have Barbie to thank for it (See my article Death of a Doll, Barbie R.I.P. in the April 2016 issue of The Science Behind the Law of Attraction Magazine)—how ironic! Since Mattel has updated their unrealistic representation of a woman’s body to reflect real women, others are following suit. The cover of this year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, their most popular issue every year, featured plus size model, Ashley Graham, with two other real women looking lovely in bathing suits. Ebony Magazine followed suit with real black women gracing the latest cover of their magazine. Kudos to Redbook for banning the term “plus-size” from their pages, and to Dove Industries for featuring real women in their full page advertising a decade ago.
We are witnessing a marriage between advertising/media and “models” based on real women. The tall, thin, unhappy looking young women considered the ideal image for couturier fashion in Europe are disappearing from print and media advertising aimed at American women. Even the definition of the word model according to the Encarta English Dictionary, “A copy of an object, especially one made on a smaller scale than the original” tells us that “less is usually more” in real life.
It’s Time to Step Up
Isn’t it time to take responsibility for our own shapes and sizes, with physical and mental health being the only relevant standard for each of us? As soon as you accept accountability for your appearance, you are back in control of it.
And by “you”, I refer to you and your body. When you allow anything or anyone outside of you and your body to create shame, you are relinquishing control over the one single thing you were born with control over: yourself.
With the media and advertising standards becoming more realistic, this revolutionary idea of representing women as they really are only becomes real when women accept their appearance with confidence and pride.
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Hey there,
It’s Coach Stephanie, and this week I am sharing ‘body acceptance’ choices from my “Natural Beauty Series” where we compare a Natural approach with a Conventional approach to body acceptance.
The Conventional approach teaches us we must strive to reach someone else’s idea of a “perfect” body.
The Natural approach teaches you to be happy with who you are and to celebrate your true self.
My hope is that you’ll learn to find freedom in the different areas that we discuss. Remember it is your choice to pick whatever approach you desire.
WHAT IS BODY ACCEPTANCE?
Body Acceptance is exactly what it sounds like: it is learning to accept and embrace your body’s style (The Natural Approach). Your body’s style is how you emanate the way you walk and talk and communicate with yourself and others in a way that makes you feel so good.
On the other hand, cultural influences tell us that we need to change our bodies and alter our appearance to ‘fit into’ the visual images we see in magazines, billboards, movies and TV. This is what I call The Conventional Approach. If we allow this outside pressure to dominate how we feel about our body and interfere with how we present our self to the world and our self we will be miserable.
Many of my clients are thriving as they learn to practice Body Acceptance. And it’s because of this one easy tip I’ve shared with them.
HOW TO PRACTICE BODY ACCEPTANCE
I encourage you to look at visual images that show all body sizes and shapes (just go to the grocery store and you will see all body shapes and sizes). Pay attention to all the different heights, shapes and sizes. Note the different hair styles, hair color, types of skin, etc. Focus on what breaks the standard of beauty, not what conforms to it.
Practice this and become more empathic with yourself and others. The bottom line is to feel and be healthy at whatever weight you and your body feel comfortable with. If and when you chose to change your size and shape then you will independently take those steps and choices to make whatever changes you desire.
I encourage you to be aware of outside cultural influences that make you second-guess your choices.
It is about you and your body in partnership ( Body knowledge System ®) to make the best choices for how you eat and move and showcase your talents to the world.
As Lillian Bustle, a well know burlesque dancer, once said:
“The more body diversity is normalized in our minds, the kinder we can be with ourselves and with our bodies”
BODY KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM WISDOM
Here’s a practical example of what it looks like to practice Body Acceptance and live with a posture of confidence.
Let’s consider Barbra Streisand when her career first got going in the early 60s, potential managers and agents worried that she wouldn’t fit the bill of a traditional female pop star.
Honestly, they were worried about her nose.
140 million albums sold later, nobody’s worried about the nose.
- Presence begins with a positive body image.
- Your body’s wisdom projects that image through expressing the respect you have for yourself.
- And thereby, you attract positive energy from those around you.
NEXT STEPS
So far over the course of this Natural Beauty series, we’ve looked at makeup, pro-aging, and now body acceptance.
I’ve shared this Natural Approach with you, because I think it will help you and me to find a lot of freedom in how we interact with our bodies. And again if the Conventional approach is good for you, go forth.
Look out for more conversations with understanding your natural beauty forthcoming.
I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts and comments below.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter and Facebook for more natural beauty tips.
Talk soon,
Stephanie
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Tags: Body Image, Body Knowledge Articles, Body Relationship
This week I’m continuing my “Natural Beauty Series” where we’ll compare two different approaches to the way we care for our bodies, The Conventional approach, which is driven by external influences, and the Natural approach, which is driven by your internal self.
The Conventional Approach: The conventional approach says we must make alterations to our true selves. This is where cultural influences become a big part of how we see ourselves physically. They suggest we should look a certain way. If we don’t we should alter or remove something on our physical bodies to look more like what is considered acceptable beauty. People all over the world spend billions of dollars a year on makeup and plastic surgery because of these cultural influences.
The Natural Approach: Alternatively, the natural approach teaches us to celebrate our true self. It suggests we make alterations to our inner selves and leave the outer self alone. The natural approach encourages us to appreciate our natural beauty versus trying so hard to meet the image of ‘perfection’ that is forced upon us through a myriad of social and cultural influences.
PRO-AGING Vs. ANTI-AGING
Pro-Aging is quite simply the opposite of Anti-Aging. Rather than covering up or altering grey hair, wrinkles, etc. Pro-Aging is all about embracing the way that you age in a natural way and celebrating your body’s expression of yourself!
Time out!
I admit that every 4 weeks I go to my beautician to get my hair colored versus keeping it grey.
Is that conventional or is it natural?
It is a choice.
I am not saying one way is better than the other. My goal is to raise your awareness that beauty can be real and natural. I want to help you understand you can choose to ignore the external pressures to be a perfect physical self.
And here is the catch: For me, maintaining a red head with blond highlights makes me feel beautiful. And I use natural products.
My point is this. It’s YOUR call to go pro-aging or anti-aging and you don’t need to choose one or the other. There is no reason you can’t do both. You simply make choices that make you feel beautiful.
CULTURAL INFLUENCES
Let’s be honest, everywhere we turn, we see messages about how we need to look and how we need to age. My question to you today is this:
Do you want to fight against your body as she ages, or do you want to embrace her natural expression of herself?
Everything you hear, read and see in the media will tell you to fight your body’s natural aging process. They try to sell you creams, surgeries, and dyes. And if that’s what you want to do – go ahead! There is nothing wrong with that approach.
But you may find a lot of freedom in embracing your body’s natural expression of aging. You might find freedom in no longer fighting what your body wants to do. And really this is all about you being you. It’s about being comfortable in your own skin. Learning to look in the mirror and going out into the world feeling confident and comfortable.
Now, this isn’t to say you can’t take advice from external sources. But the natural approach to beauty may free you from comparing yourself to those sources.
I believe that self-acceptance, in a more natural way, could be an option for you!
BODY KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM WISDOM
One day, I realized a few things:
- I only care about “Anti-Aging” because the media was telling me to.
- Aging has its place within our lifetimes. I don’t want to look like I’m 16… or 35… I shouldn’t and I can’t!
- I was ready to embrace my age and my body’s expression of that age.
How about you? Are you ready to do the same?
My message for you today is this: listen to what your body is trying to tell you about aging. For me, it was incredibly freeing to embrace my body’s expression of my age. Maybe it will be for you too!
The Conventional approach to beauty is reliant on alterations. The Natural approach is all about celebrating your true self.
NEXT STEPS
We will be looking at Natural Beauty in other areas of your life over the coming weeks. In the meantime, are you someone who feels trapped by external standards of beauty? Do you feel pressured to fight against your body’s natural aging process? Are you ready to experience the freedom of the natural approach to beauty, stay within the conventional mindset or both?
It’s always your call.
I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts and comments below.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter and Facebook for more natural beauty tips.
Talk soon,
Stephanie
See part one of this series, Makeup.
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Tags: Body Image, Body Relationship, Uncategorized
This week I’m launching my “Natural Beauty Series” where we’ll look at natural beauty as it relates to several areas of your life.
Today, we start with makeup.
Do you wear makeup?
If so, why? If not, why not?
Clients and friends are following my lead by ditching makeup and exploring the “Natural Beauty” option.
And guess what? They’ve found it to be incredibly freeing. Read on to learn more about it.
ARE YOU FEELING TRAPPED?
In the conventional option, beauty is reliant upon external and cultural standards for how a woman should look.
From billboards to magazines to commercials on TV, we’ve seen the media prop up a standard for how women should look. That’s unfortunate, and it’s left a lot of women feeling trapped, feeling like they have to look a certain way (maybe you feel that way, too).
In the natural option, beauty is all about your body’s free expression of herself.
And really, this is all about being yourself. About being comfortable in your own skin. Learning to look in the mirror and go out confidently to approach the day.
Now, this isn’t to say you can’t take advice from external sources, but the Natural Beauty option will free you from comparing yourself to those sources!
I believe that self acceptance – in a more natural way – could be an option for you!
BODY KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM WISDOM
One day, I realized a few things:
- Putting on – and taking off – makeup every single day just isn’t fun.
- I wasn’t doing it for myself… I was doing it because that’s what I was expected to do.
- The world didn’t come crashing down simply because I didn’t wear eyeliner one day.
My message for you today is this: listen to what your body is trying to tell you about makeup. For me, it was incredibly freeing to not worry with it every morning and every night… maybe it will be for you too!
Again – if you’re feeling trapped by the conventional option, the natural option can set you free!
NEXT STEPS
We’ll be looking at natural beauty in other areas of your life over the coming weeks.
In the meantime, are you someone who feels trapped by external standards of beauty? Do you feel pressured to make yourself look a certain way every day?
Are you ready to experience the freedom of the Natural Beauty approach? Share your comments below.
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Tags: Body Image, Self Esteem
