How’s your summer going? For many of us, summer vacation is right around the corner. And, unfortunately or fortunately some changes often comes with the territory.
You know what I’m talking about, right?
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The Vacation Dilemma
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The ultimate vacation dilemma may be temptations and schedule changes that might get you off with your relationship between your body’s wants and needs and you.
Do I eat everything and then feel gross and guilty, or do I stick to the nutritional values me and my body have created.
From cold beers on the beach, to platters of fried fish and tartar sauce, to quaint little ice cream shops on the walk home from dinner, there are countless opportunities on vacation to wreak havoc between you and your body’s intentions for each other.
It might feel like there’s no way out, but there is.
The“Way Out”
I’m proposing a new approach to food while in different environments such as a vacation. One that allows you to enjoy vacation without losing control or depriving yourself of food and fun. My Body Knowledge System® Styles in my Playbook will help you get back in tune with your body rather than relying on your mind to know what she needs.Once you’ve rediscovered the close partnership with your body you can trust your body to tell you what she wants and needs in any environment where changes influence your healthy choices.
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Here are some choices on how to begin:
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My latest free eBook will help you take the first step towards that.
Bonus: Know your Body Knowledge System® Environmental Style by downloading this part of my playbook to get you practicing being aware of how your environment effects your eating habits and how you can match your style with your environment so that you and your body are in concert .
When you have Body Knowledge, you can eat on vacation just like you eat year round, without fear of overdoing it.
I encourage you to join me on this journey to freedom and enjoy this summer’s vacation without food-related stress!
The other night, my husband and I made a delicious dinner – Spaghetti Bolognese with a salad. We ate and we enjoyed and I was full. Funny thing is, I was hungry again two hours later.
I asked myself, “Should I be hungry after eating such a luscious balanced meal?”
I even went so far as to worry that eating something in addition to my dinner would make me gain weight.
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My Body Knowledge wisdom between you and your body eating in a conversation:
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Thankfully, after a few minutes I was able to overcome how my mind thought my body “should” feel and just pay attention to what me and my body needed.
Note: This article will not be getting into balance of carbs and protein for your body or emotional eating loopholes
Know your Body Knowledge System® Eating Style by downloading this part of my playbook to get you practicing what eating looks like between you and your body in partnership
Rest of Story
I grabbed some lemon yogurt and sat down to watch a show with my husband. When I felt satisfied again, I put the yogurt away.
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My coaching Message to you is this:
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There are all kinds of “shoulds” our culture wants us to believe about our bodies.
From what time of day we should be hungry to what kind of workouts we should be doing, we are faced with constant pressure about how we should treat our bodies if we want to look a certain way.
The truth is, no one knows what your body needs as well you and your body does! Tap into the fountain of health knowledge inside you and discover true body confidence for good.
My latest free eBook will help you take the first step towards that.
Bonus: Know your Body Knowledge System® Eating Style by downloading this part of my playbook to get you practicing what eating looks like between you and your body in partnership.
A recent study from Harvard University revealed the one word that is used in an online dating profile that is a turn-off to potential dates, male or female is….wait for it:
“Happy!”
HUH?
This contradicts common sense, lyracists, and the law of attraction.
“Everybody loves a lover,” right?
Not so, say the online social scholars at Harvard University. When you post the word “Happy” as part of your profile, expect a pass from those who may like your face, your background, your interests, you!
At the heart of Body Confidence is happiness, that feeling of contentment with yourself as expressed in your posture, movement, and speech is attractive to others. At least to others you hope to impress, or attract.
The Law of Attraction is based on raising your vibration so that you will attract what you want, (happiness), not what you don’t want, (loneliness). Raising your personal vibration means being “happy”, or at least acting as if you are happy.
The bottom line is always who do you want to spend time with? A positive, happy person or a Debbie Downer!
Body Confidence is always positive, so never be afraid to say so—just don’t use the word “happy” when registering your online dating profile. 😉
(Part One of the Spring Blog Series about the benefits of age and body image.)
Body Confidence evolves from a positive body image, but which comes first? From DoSomething.org, “”Body image” is the way that someone perceives their body and assumes that others perceive them the same way.”
Fortunately, as we age the second part of that statement loses its influence.
As young women we were led to believe that our body image reflected the current cultural standards for beauty as addressed in the media. To the degree our body conformed to those standards, our body image rose or fell. That may have been true during our youth when fad diets, exercise programs, and hip fashions occupied most of our attention. Changing our appearance was as easy as dying our hair, changing our makeup, or buying a new outfit and was all about our image…not our body or who we were.
Older women know it takes more than a change of clothes, or a new hair cut to better one’s body image. We also acknowledge that weight comes naturally with each passing decade, and that the 22 inch waist of our teens and twenties has relaxed with the arrival of each child, and that regardless of the number on the scale, the appearance of the pounds on our frame has shifted. Sure, surgery can take care of what the effects of exercise leave untouched; but that’s a drastic solution to a naturally occurring change.
Besides, the person within is the source of the confidence, and not our external trappings.
Those external changes had nothing to do with body confidence which as an internal transformation can occur at any age.
The best part is we have total control over our body confidence. True body confidence begins within us and emerges in a vastly improved body image…at any age. Others reactions to our improved body image serve to energize our body confidence. And the positive cycle begins again, your body confidence is a renewable resource!
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!
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.
This summer learn how to connect with your body and feel beautiful inside and out. Become comfortable with your body, wherever you are!
Here is the video of my May 7th class. This class covered two techniques that will carry you through the summer barbecues, beach parties, pool lounging events and beyond.
This announcement is for those of you who enhance the health of others and yourself.
I’m looking for women business owners who want to grow their business and want to keep their existing clients and attract new clients consistently.
I’m launching a special program to help Wellness Professionals use my Body Knowledge System® with their clients and I need your smart feedback.
This survey is short (about 5 minutes) and it would be SOOO helpful to me to have your insights.
In exchange, you’ll receive a free consultation with me. We’ll comb through your answers and strategize for how you can best grow your business and keep your clients.
Many health and wellness experts extol the extraordinary fitness of professional dancers. All professional performers, athletes, and competitors rely on their bodies to support them on stage. Their professional success depends upon their body’s ability to express their talent. The exceptional performance begins within, however, depends on the external demonstration of their gift.
For a moment, please consider your body’s perspective. Your body is an animate, energetic, and functional machine supporting your mind, emotions, and spirit to make it through your day fulfilling your obligations, taking care of your responsibilities, and enabling your performance of everything you do.
When your professional or personal activities result in compliments, rewards, applause, or simply satisfaction, to whom do you give the credit? If you’re a dancer (or an athlete), your body receives a large amount of appreciation from the rest of you. If you are a professional, a manager, a sole proprietor, spouse, caretaker, teacher or health care worker, you acknowledge your intelligence, your training, your innate ability, your passion for the position—rarely, if ever…..
Do you appreciate your physical self for delivering the results you’re so proud of?
Dancers do… They give their body Respect.
Making the body first priority is natural for those whose livelihoods depend on their physicality and ability to deliver a performance on demand. Particularly true regardless of whatever else is going on in their lives emotionally, psychologically, or intellectually. If the kids are sick, the debtors calling, parental criticism, car won’t start, a full moon, whatever…the show must go on…and that depends on their ability, physical ability, to show up. Regardless of personal distractions, their professional commitments rely on their bodies to fulfill them.
While we cannot control the inevitable results of the aging process, we can maintain many of our physical attributes: strength, flexibility, and energy. Certain elements decline with the passage of time; however the rate of decline as well as the amount of decline can be managed providing we pay attention to our bodies.
Spot on….
Dancers’ edge relates directly to dancers’ awareness of what’s going on INSIDE their bodies, as well as what’s going on in their environment. A technique ballet dancers use to orient themselves is called “spotting”. (Ice skaters have adopted this strategy to maintain their relationship to where they are on the ice.) Prior to beginning a spin, the dancer/skater selects a spot on a nearby wall to direct their focus.
A laser stare keeps the dancer’s head in place as their bodies pivot in a tight circle. Just before the body returns to the starting point, the dancer’s head whips around to re-align itself with the body there. The “spotting” allows the dancer to rotate as many times as the choreography dictates. This dual awareness merges the physical self with the intellectual and spiritual self in a perfect internal unity. At the same time, the totality of the person identifies its placement in the room, on the stage, in their environment.
The dancer’s orientation is perfect within their body and in their environment. The audience observes this unity with respect bordering on awe, because of the perfection visible in the performance.
“Happy feet” refers to every aspect of your body…
If you can move any part of your body, you can and you do, dance. It’s more about attitude than it is about ability. Happy feet happen at any age—and are not necessarily restricted to your feet. Happy feet, too, is an attitude applied to every physical aspect of your body.
Dancers have “happy feet” when their performance lives up to or exceeds their expectations. When that happens, the dancer attributes it to their body’s leadership in aligning the other elements (spirit, knowledge, muscle memory) to create the awesome, almost an out-of-body experience of beyond perfection into the ephemeral.
For the rest of us the experience of physical, mental and spiritual unity is often described as “being in the zone”, “on the top of your game”, “awesome”. And when that happens, how often do we give credit to the body that brought us to the dance in the first place.
Body Awareness leads to Body Awe…
To achieve the dancer’s edge, follow the dancer’s lead. Begin with awareness of your body: if your body is healthy, then your body supports you. Actions, thoughts, inspirations begin within. As soon as you become aware of your body’s messages, your enhanced awareness provides guidance for your choices.
Awareness of your body guarantees personal and professional success. Listening to your body provides the dancer’s edge when it’s time to make decisions, take the first step, “spot” prior to the spin in your office, your home, anywhere in your life.
The essential elements of success are demonstrated in the Dancer’s Edge: the who, what, where, and why are explained in the article above.
The how is up to you…learn to talk to your body, learn to listen to your body, learn to perform at your peak…with perfection!
Body Talk opens the door to the open exchange of information between you and your body.
Did you know that your body wants to talk to you? This is a conversation started a long time ago. Your Body Knowledge began at birth but time and technology throughout our lives have silenced those ongoing conversations.
Those intimate exchanges are necessary for our growth, maintain our health, and make good life choices. That kind of communication enhances our well-being every day of our life. When we allow distractions, or interference from societal demands, or look outside of ourselves for answers to challenges, we regret our actions based on the answers we receive from web searches, psychics, television “experts,” or APPS.
When we replace our gut reaction with information gathered from impersonal sources, we discover “one size” rarely fits all, particularly you or me! These digital resources are universally available through our advanced technology, but
Can we rely on the information?
Are the suppliers well informed, knowledgeable, and experienced?
Should you trust un-verified data?
There is one reliable resource available to each of us, all of us; and it is on demand, 24/7/365. Technology provides overwhelming amounts of information. Our
Objective data rarely substitutes for knowledge gained from our best friend, our body.
With the first breath we draw, we are at one with our bodies. The body feels and we react. Our body responds to our basic needs for security, shelter, food, and water with an immediate direct expression of our discomfort. Traditional “normal” birthing establishes a direct communication link, first between the infant and his body, and then between the infant and his primary caregiver, his mother. The mother provides for her child’s every need—often before the baby expresses hunger, thirst, or chill.
Instead of clear stimulus and response between warm sentient human beings, we insert a filter. The intrusion of technology in our relationships, particularly this primary one, alters the course of the rest of our lives…and not in a good way.
In so-called “primitive” cultures, the attachment between mother and infant lasts as long as instinct requires. Technology brought us a replacement for the natural nursing process with the invention of a nipple on a bottle. Hard glass or plastic filled with mother’s milk or formula places the infant one step away from his or her mother, regardless of who holds the child during the feeding. As the child matures and is capable of sustenance from a “propped” bottle and eventually a portable bottle, he or she becomes aware of a separation between his or her “self” and the sentient body containing the “self”.
Traditions develop from successful practices within a culture. When our bodies experienced hunger, approximately every 3-4 hours, we ate enough food to satisfy our body’s need to maintain our health. Our sleep cycles evolved from the sunrise and sunset. Without artificial light and with the hard work to ensure our survival, our bodies dictated the amount of sleep we needed every day. There is no word for “insomnia” in primitive cultures, as sleep disturbances do not exist; human beings slept when tired, awoke when rested, and filled their days productively.
The more “socialized” we become as technological advances replace traditional solutions to human activities, the effect creates challenges to the individuals taking advantage of this progress. Time saving, energy saving, and in some cases cost saving, technology enriches our lives. At the same time, it deprives the individual of the most reliable guidance system available to him or her: their body, their instinct…their body knowledge.
Isn’t time to get to know your body’s knowledge to help you navigate your body’s intelligence to make the best choices ever?
