This article comes from The Washington Post, gifted by a member of our group so you can enjoy it here.
Washingtonpost.com
Listen to a 3-minute meditation: How to befriend your body
Sometimes we hold negative feelings about our bodies that we inherited from parents, friends or social media.
April 27, 2023
by Dora Kamau
Every day we’re bombarded with messages and images about how our bodies should look or how we should feel about them.
In the exercise below, we’ll spend some time reflecting on the different ways we use our bodies in our everyday lives and connect to a greater sense of gratitude and appreciation for our bodies, just as they are in this moment.
Listen to this three-minute guided mindfulness exercise to help you cultivate a kinder, more compassionate relationship with your body. And keep reading after the meditation for more advice.
Be kind to your body
Sometimes we hold negative feelings about our bodies that we inherited from parents, friends or social media. As someone who has been on a lifelong journey of befriending my own body, I’ve found that mindful self-compassion has allowed me to be kinder to myself. I’ve pushed myself through grueling, intense workouts, deprived myself of food and coped with a tormenting inner critic, but self-compassion has been a way to tend to the wounds of my body dissatisfaction.
One of the ways self-compassion helps us to befriend our bodies is by reminding us of our humanity. The human body, regardless of its appearance, is incredible. We shift from being overly concerned with how our bodies look and appreciate more of what our bodies do.
A helpful reframe may be to imagine what we would offer to a friend who was in a similar situation. What words of encouragement or support could you provide them with and what would it look like to offer this to yourself? This is how we can begin to befriend our bodies.
This is a habit and a new muscle we must train and build. It takes practice, discipline and time and to learn how to choose differently in those moments of criticism. It takes courage to rewrite your story and change the narratives you’ve been told or are telling yourself.
Change won’t happen immediately, but over time, we may begin to notice how that inner critic transforms into an inner friend.
Dora Kamau is a Headspace meditation teacher in Los Angeles and a former psychiatric nurse who approaches her practice through the lens of social and racial justice, clinical psychology and science. You can find her on Instagram at @dorakamau.
Well+Being and Headspace have teamed up [with the Post] to bring you short meditations for everyday life. To learn more about [this] partnership please read here.
Read the original article here: https://wapo.st/3PGXIFV (subscription may be required to read this article)