Body lovin’ pioneers

Today I will be serving up the most juiciest platter of body lovin’ pioneers. They all have their own way of supporting, well, everybody through their work and practice.

Get a loada these:

 

Carolyn Becker (Professor of Psychology, PHD)

Carolyn began a study combating body dissatisfaction. She researched the subject for eleven years. She began testing this out on young girls. And it worked.

She found that, when we believe one thing, our behaviour follows accordingly. I.e. if we believe in focusing on health for the body, we will be healthier and compare ourselves less.

She then developed the reflections programme; training young women in sororities to reprogram the way they thought about their bodies. The programme spread and ended up helping 20,000 young women to feel good about their bodies. Good job, Carolyn!

“My dream is that every little girl gets to grow up without living burden of the thin ideal, so she can spend her time and her energy on more important endeavours.”

 

Chelsea Dagger (blogger extraordinaire)

This girl is seriously gutsy. She was able to post this blog post about how she has hated her body every day of her life. But that’s not all. She explains in a beautifully articulate way, how she got over hate and got onto body lovin’.

Ans she helps other women get past it. Cool.

“We’re a rag-tag, gorgeous, brilliant bunch of dorks in Dumbledore’s Self-Love Army, and every time we tell ourselves that we’re good enough just the way we are, we’re one step closer to knowing it’s true.”

 

Adriene Mischler

This is someone who has helped me to accept my body. She encourages seeing it as a whole and loving it in the moment. Her quirky and humorous style of teaching mean it’s a joy to follow her, so the focus always feels like it’s about just enjoying your body.

Which is why, when I thought I would ‘just try’ yoga two years ago, I am still doing it now.

#findwhatfeelsgood

“Naturally, the more you practice – the more you fall deeply in love with… your bod, your breath, your moves, your grooves, your curves, your lurves (no clue) and your all around awareness & attitude.”

Lillian Bustle (burlesque artiste)

Burlesque led Lillian to body lovin’. Seeing more of any body type in a glamorous setting, means we like that body type more.

 

“We are on the edge of a brave new world of body love and acceptance.”

 

Annie Leibovtiz (photographer)

©Liebovitz 2016

Annie has taken photos of powerful women, of all different ages and sizes, for the Pirelli calendar. I think that seeing more of these kinds of images (diverse and sans photoshop), is really good and healthy for our ‘visual diets’ and also, for our souls.

 

“I wanted the pictures to show the women exactly as they are, with no pretence.”

 

Jessamyn Stanley (yogi)

Jessamyn is a yoga instructor who loves her body and encourages the belief that everyone can do yoga. She sees herself as setting an example, beings she never believed she could do the moves she is now teaching.

“I’m out here, this is who I am, it’s what I am, and if you don’t like it, then you can suck it!”

 

Jade Beall (photographer)

©Jade Beall

As stated in my previous post; the more we see of a body type, the more we like it.

Jade Beall aims to help us see as many different bodies as possible. She’s told many women’s stories through her art, and consequently put the human into her photos.

#empowerallbodies

©Jade Beall

“It’s about, uniting, celebrating it all… so that we may feel so good in ourselves… then we can serve our sisters, and hug each other. And instead of hating; of being trained to hate the girl on the billboard, we know that she, too, has known pain, that she too, has vulnerability. That she too, probably wants to explore vulnerability as a collective; with us.”

 

Mary Lambert (singer/songwriter)

Mary leads women towards self-lovin’:

Warning: this song is pretty intense!

“My body is home”

 

I like to focus on the positive. The more rumination there is about the pressures women have to face, the more those pressures exist, even if indirectly through reaction to them. That’s why I hope this post is focused on love, on the ways you can love you, and these pioneers for body lovin’.

Because after all, isn’t that what we all deserve?

 

❤

 

Is there anyone else who’s inspired you to do a bit of body lovin’? What do you do to love your body? Or, what part of your body do you love? I would love to know- post in the comments below! 😉