I was so excited this morning to see how many of you are already agreeing to participate in our Dress Your Best 2011. Of all the fun projects we have done on academichic.com DYB is by far been my favorite. It was so powerful to read all of the contributions last year – to read self-affirming, celebratory, love letters to your body!
Last night I was laying in bed thinking about what body parts I would choose to highlight this time around. To be honest, it took me some time to even remember which parts I had celebrated last year, and then quite a bit longer to come up with new ones. I lied there doing a mental scan of my body and noted how quickly and easily I could still identify the things I would like to change about myself. I went to sleep feeling unsatisfied with my body and disappointed with myself for having such feelings. So, after my shower this morning I lied out on my yoga mat and tried the scan again. This time really taking the time to think about every body part and what it was I did or did not like about it. I thought about what each of these parts have done for me. It was easy for example to remember that my thick thighs had carried me thousands of miles including across the finish line of 3 marathons. It took a little more time to re-consider my wide hips and imagine that some day those hips will likely allow me to carry and birth a child with more ease. I thought about my toes, my finger nails, my freckles, my knees and that space behind my knees and soon my list of thinks I liked was long, funny, and in some cases incredibly personal. I’m still not sure which parts I will highlight through dressing over the next two weeks and I certainly won’t be sharing my list with the world, but I will mentally hold it close to me and refer to it as needed.
I’m thinking I may have to repeat my body scan exercise every once in awhile. I encourage each of you to give it a try too!
A.
I *love* yoga! I’ve only been doing it once a week for about five months, but it has changed how I think about my body (to some degree). It’s a bit more about strength and flexibilty rather than just looking thin for me now.
I love that you shared this process with us, A. Sometimes it is easy to forget what we love about ourselves, and even if at one moment you can’t remember… taking a break and coming back to it can help shift our perspectives to celebrate the features of ourselves that we love!
I’m super busy this week, but hoping to participate in DYB since I absolutely loved doing it last year.
[...] warned you that due to my little yoga mat exercise I would be highlighting some pretty random parts during this round of DYB. Today I’m showing [...]
[...] I said, after my yoga mat body scan, I had a list of things I love about my body, both big and small. An intimate, funny, hopeful, [...]