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

Share 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:

1. I only care about “Anti-Aging” because the media was telling me to.
2. 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!
3. 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.

Share Tags: Body Image, Body Relationship, Uncategorized