June, the month for brides, especially for those of us “of a certain age” when weddings followed graduations as just one more rite of passage. Ideally, you diet yourself to the point of fainting when you zip up the dress several sizes smaller than you usually wear. Your hair has a posture of its own in height and form, your make up is just this side of “clown” to enhance those immortal pictures.

There’s every reason to feel as confident of your appearance as you did on the day you married the love of your life, or the next one(s)!

It’s all about your body, and how you feel about her.

And that begins with how she feels about you—

Say, What?

How my body feels about me?

Huh?

I don’t get it.

You will as soon as you learn the Body Knowledge System® and there’s only one way to do that:

Contact Coach Stephanie Wood, founder of the Body Knowledge System® the sustainable solution to body confidence!

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“A New Model: What Confidence, Beauty, and Power Really Look Like” by Ashley Graham debuted this week with a national publicity tour and rave reviews.  As the voice of the body positive movement, Ms. Graham has expanded her modeling career to include television appearances and becoming a clothing designer and entrepreneur to prove that curvy girls can do it, too!

Since there are more curvy girls and women than stereotypical runway models, publishing this book is another step forward to ending body shaming forever.  As the Barnes & Noble’s review of “A New Model” says,

“A woman who proves that when it comes to beauty, size is just a number, she is the voice for the body positivity movement today and a role model for all women—no matter their individual body type, shape, or weight.”

A model since aged 13, Ms. Graham almost abandoned her career at age 18, when her mother told her, “It doesn’t matter what you think about your body, because your body is supposed to change somebody’s life.”  A decade later, she affirmed her mother’s sage advice in an interview in the current issue of VOGUE magazine,

“I’ve used my body as a tool to talk about taboo subjects, such as cellulite or being insecure about lower belly fat—and also [how to] talk life into your body and have an affirmation kind of conversation with yourself. ”

You, too, are a champion for Body Confidence through your use of the Body Knowledge System ®.   To find out how, contact Stephanie Wood.

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“You are Beautiful” is not just an empty affirmation. It’s a movement started by a Chicago artist who posted billboard signs, wall murals, and other notices all over the city. A small business with a large idea in Chicago grabbed Oprah’s attention and support with their message on walls, billboards, and now products.

I saw it on GMA’s Deals and Steals last week, and of course reading these signs in an instant reminder of  Body Confidence to all who see it.

T Shirts, stickers, posters etc. available on their website. It’s a great way to start your day, and spread the message of the body knowledge system.

Your body knows you are beautiful!

Let the world know what your body knows!

Stop Body Shaming Now!

On to Body Confidence, one step at a time!

Your Body Confidence, You are Beautiful! Pass it on!

For more information: Contact Coach Stephanie, info@bodyawe.com

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Who knew that for “so many years I’d go to bed and be like, ‘Please wake up with Kate Moss’ body,” said reality star Kelly Osborne to USA Today in Tuesday’s interview for her book launch.  She continued to say, “Please wake up with all these different things that would make me accepted and fit in…and it’s so miserable.”

Photo credit: Jordan StraussInvisionAP

Those miserable feelings of not fitting in because of our appearance may be the only thing we have in common with Kelly Osborne and other celebrities who appear regularly on talk shows, podcasts, and book covers to share their body shaming stories with the rest of us.

Who knew that behind the couturier clothing, $300 haircuts, and fabulous appearances at the “in” places to be, those women we envy share moments of misery based on the false pressure to be something they aren’t: Perfect.

After many years of therapy, Kelly concludes “It’s Ok not to be perfect.” Some of us already know that and without years of therapy, because who can afford all those hours spent on some high paid professional’s couch to tell us what we already know from our body’s knowledge?

We are already flawless! Excellent in every way!

How do we know? When we communicate with our bodies, she tells us so!

All we must do is listen!

How to we listen?

We get up and move! Try it now:

• Stand up,
• Breathe in,
• Reach up,
• Breathe out,
• Step up!

There, feeling “excellent”!

If not there yet, repeat.

That’s your body knowledge in action.

For more information, contact me!

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The essence of my Beauty Knowledge System is changing the conversation with yourself. Together we learn to communicate with our bodies and the result of that communication creates a natural approach to body confidence.

This concept is catching!

Award winning psychologist, Dr. Renee Engeln, PhD, based her new best seller, “Beauty Sick” on solving our cultural body shaming crisis with changing the conversations with have with each other, with our daughters, and with ourselves.

Dr. Renee Engeln’s  “Beauty Sick” addresses the harm body shaming does to all women’s body image. Her Tedx talks on that damage have received over a quarter million viewers. After identifying the far reaching negative effects on women, she provides realistic solutions to recovering our power, our promise and our true selves.

“Today’s young woman face a bewildering set of contradictions when it comes to beauty:

• They don’t want to be Barbie dolls but, like generations of women before them they are told they must look like them.
• Angry about the media’s treatment of women but, hungrily consume the very outlets that belittle them.
• Mock modern culture’s absurd beauty ideal and make videos exposing Photoshopping tricks, but feel pressured to emulate the same images they criticize by posing with a “skinny arm.”
• Understand what they see isn’t real, but still download apps to airbrush their selfies.
• Ready to fight back against their beauty sick culture, they need a way forward to create a different world for themselves.” Amazon Review

Every woman in the world knows the symptoms of beauty sickness. Every time she compares herself to the image on a screen, on the pages of a magazine, on an Instagram image on her cell phone, her negative reaction to her own appearance is a symptom of the national epidemic.

It will “take a village” to cure this cancer assaulting our self-esteem.

Become a part of the promise guaranteed by a better body image, one confident woman at a time!

Contact me, and together we’ll Stop the Body Shaming Now!

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This week I want to present you with “The French Option.” Now, if your mind goes straight to carbs and wine . . . just hear me out!

Bringing Up Bebe

In her book, “Bringing up Bebe,” American journalist, Pamela Druckerman points out the differences between French women and American women when it comes to food and body image.

She suggests that American women are going about it all wrong…that we could really learn something from the intuitive approach French women have towards their bodies.

This thought is synchronistic with my Body Knowledge System® which promotes listening to your body bringing better results within your lifestyle choices.

Yesterday I took a walk with a young, American mom. She talked about food like it was an enemy. She compared herself to other women on the walking trail.

I couldn’t help but think that Druckerman was onto something.

The American Woman on a Walk

American women tend to have an all or nothing approach. Here are some examples I heard from my walking partner yesterday:

• “See those women running? I could never run that fast so I just don’t even try.”
• “If I ever did go for a run, it’d be toward some chocolate.”
• “Oh, I can’t have a bag of chips in my house…I’d eat the whole thing”

The French Woman on a Walk

French women listen to their bodies. They indulge cravings in moderation and incorporate physical activity into their daily lives. If my walking partner had been French, here’s what I think she might’ve said:

• “I don’t enjoy running, but I like to walk with friends and family.”
• “See that ice cream shop over there? Sometimes I like to stop in and enjoy a scoop”
• “I just have a few chips whenever I want them. That way I never feel deprived and eat the whole bag.”

You on a Walk

Do you see the difference?  With hardcore diets and exercise, failure is inevitable. With failure comes negative self-image and the cycle repeats itself.

Intuition and balance make life more enjoyable and success attainable. With a fuller life and achievable goals comes true body confidence.

Are you ready to break the cycle of negativity and find true happiness in your own body?

Download my free eBook today!

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Over the past few weeks, we’ve asked the question, “Why are we even talking about body confidence?”

We’re talking about it because it provides true freedom for you in all areas of your life!

And we are very excited to see that someone in the fashion world truly embracing and promoting body confidence!

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WHAT HAPPENED?

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Fashion designer Michael Kors recently included a plus-size model (meaning a model beyond size 12) in his runway show! He also made some great comments about body confidence for women of all body types.

From the Huffington Post, Kors said:

“I don’t like it when the models all look the same,” he said at the time. “To me it’s so incredibly boring to turn them into mannequins; it’s so much more interesting if we have different ages, ethnicities, body types, heights.”

“The show was about strength and sensuality, and also about the diversity that we see here in New York that has inspired me my whole life,” he said. “There were models in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, models who are petite, tall, and curvy, models who are tomboys and others who are bombshells. My whole career, I’ve dressed a huge variety of people, because my job is to make everyone look great and feel more confident.”

How wonderful it was to see so many different body types gracefully moving down the runway.

We hope this is the beginning to giving all body types the confidence to see themselves reflected in models who represent “their” body!

Bravo Michael Kors for refusing to perpetuate the unhealthy eating disorder culture of modeling! He chose to promote the beauty of the diversity of various body types!

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NOW…..WHAT ABOUT YOU?

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My friend your unique body confidence matters.  And I want to help you.

Why not start with my 2^nd edition eBook, Five Easy Steps to a Better Body Image.

You can also listen to some of my radio shows (only ½ hour each) with Debi Talbert to give you the experience of my Body Knowledge System ® with the sprinkling of Law of Attraction principles.  Download here. 

Both of these offerings share some of the information you need to get past the decades of low body confidence you’ve experienced.

It’s time to take control, take charge of becoming the confident woman our body wants us to be.

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(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!

Of course Body Confidence matters, and the Body Knowledge System® shows you the way!

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Ah, Men!

They’re Finally Joining the Movement to Banish Body Shaming.

These men were upset their body types were not represented on the runway. (Can this be true?)

This picture shows men resembling our brothers, husbands, fathers, and sons reacting to male body shaming at LONDON FASHION WEEK

Perhaps there’s hope for all of us…

Men – yes, men – real men, normal men, protested the lack of their representation at the recent London Fashion Week.  They were offended that the male models on the runway were the tall, skinny prototype seen at female fashion shows. Does the fashion industry focus on “every man” or only the tall skinny men appearing on runways, and in magazines?

It’s about time they know how their girlfriends, sisters, daughters and mothers feel about the body shaming that occurs hourly in modern fashion media.

#fashionforeveryman is their tagline.

What about #fashionforeverywoman?

When you google that hashtag, the skinny female counterparts show up wearing designer clothing in size “0”s.

Every woman?

I think not!

Perhaps #fashionforeveryBODY?

That eliminates the gender bias and makes “fashion” accessible to everyday people, not human coat hangers.

Hey, we’ve put up with that for years, so it’s good to know there are sensitive men out there who may now understand the unnecessary pain caused by that perceived “put down”.

I hope this is the beginning to the end of body shaming!

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THE ARTICLE

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According to the Huffington Post, over 500 women participated in this year’s event in China.

A 68-year-old participant said, “Who said we are too old for bikinis?”

And get this… the oldest participant was 80-years-old!

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POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES

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Okay, here are my thoughts…

• On the positive side – it’s encouraging to see women getting out and being confident in their bodies!
• On the negative side – why is there so much pressure on women to look good in bikinis??

For years now… we’ve heard that if you don’t look good in a bikini, you’re not worth anything.

And that is ridiculous.

Who says you have to look good in a bikini, or even wear one at all?

Who gets to decide these things?

Our Culture?

Or you and your body?

Why not promote swimwear that works for all kinds of bodies?

Ask yourself – What would make *me* feel confident?

And then find clothes that are in line with that.

Find clothing that makes *you* feel confident.

Again, don’t let culture tell you that you’re only worth something if you look good in a bikini.

Listen to the voices in your head… and learn to laugh with them!

If you’re a woman who feels good in a bikini, go for it!

But what if you don’t?

Should you work and work until you do?

Wear one anyway?

Find something else?

What do the voices in your head say about that?

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WHAT DO *YOU* THINK?

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So… I want to know:

What do *you* think?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, and help you work through any questions you might have.

Post your comments below.

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