How to love your body: Part 1 - Body Awareness
By Tanja _ January 13, 2020
How do messages like “You must love your body” or “You are beautiful the way you are.” make you feel? Does this kind of language discourage and stress you? Does it make self-love seem like an obligation or a social expectation?
For people struggling with body image issues or eating disorders, loving all parts of your body can feel so unreachable. Additionally, being told by others that you should feel a certain way can cause feelings of guilt, shame and inadequacy.
Indeed, body love isn’t that simple and you can’t switch it on easily like a light. The journey towards loving your body is long and challenging; at the start you might not even like your body, let alone love it. However, it is a very worthwhile journey, which can help you achieve calmness and peace with yourself.
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to show you the 4 steps ( Body Awareness, Body Neutrality, Body Appreciation and Body Acceptance) that will get you to the point of finally loving your body.
Body awareness: The first step towards body love and acceptance
How well do you know your body? When was the last time that you listened to your body actively? Probably a while ago.
As children, we are connected with our bodies; we are aware of what is happening in our bodies. However, as we grow older, many of us lose our body awareness without realising it, as we become caught up in our fast-paced lives. We are aware of the world around us and other people’s expectations, but hardly spend any time focusing on the physical sensations and the emotional comfort and discomfort inside our bodies.
But before you can reach the point of loving your body and accepting it, you have to learn to pay attention to what is going on in your body.
From my own experience, I know it can be challenging to start listening to your body’s needs. But it will be the first crucial step on your journey towards body love and acceptance.
The benefits of body awareness
- You feel less negative and anxious about your body, as focusing on understanding your inner body and its physical sensations will override your negative thought patterns.
- You experience more joy and peace, as with body awareness you will listen to your body and not your self-doubts.
- As you become more aware of your body and its sensations, you become better at noticing how your body feels in different situations and better at responding to its needs.
- You start to accept yourself, as body awareness involves passively observing your body and its activities without judging it as “attractive”, “unattractive”, “fat” or “thin”.
How to practice body awareness
Try these quick and easy exercises on your own – anytime, anywhere – to increase your body awareness and incorporate it into your daily routine.
Internal Awareness
This is a great exercise to help you to differentiate between your external (all stimulations that your body gets from the outside) and internal (all the physical sensations of your body) worlds.
At the start, just focus on your outside world. What are you noticing around you? For instance, it could be something like, “I’m aware of the birds singing”, “I’m aware of the smell of coffee” or “I’m aware of the sound of the train”.
Once you are aware of what is going on in your outside world, switch your awareness to your body and it’s physical sensations. For instance, you could say “I’m aware of my cold feet”, “I’m aware of the tenderness in my shoulders”, or “I’m aware of my stomach feeling hungry”.
Once you have mastered this, try to switch between your external and internal awareness.
Body Scan
Close your eyes (if that is comfortable for you) and begin to focus your attention on your body. Wherever you are seated, notice the weight of your body on the chair, sofa or floor. Then take a few deep breaths. As you inhale, feel how the oxygen spreads throughout your body and, as you exhale, have a sense of relaxing more deeply.
Now focus on your feet, their position on the floor and how they feel on the floor. Then move your attention to your legs and their position against the chair, sofa or floor. Become aware of your back against the chair or sofa. Notice your stomach area and pay attention to whether it is tight or tense. Let it relax while you are taking some deep breaths.
Shift your attention to your hands: are they tense? If they are, relax them by breathing deeply. Become aware of your arms and shoulders and let them relax. Then notice your neck and throat. Relax your jaw and facial muscles.
Bring your attention to your whole body, try to be aware as best as you can and take three more deep breaths. When you are ready, open your eyes.
Try to become more and more aware of anything in your life that may be causing tension in your body and think about what you could do to change it.
You don’t need to struggle alone on your recovery journey. Simply get in touch to discuss how I can help you.
It is entirely possible to overcome an eating disorder or body hate – I have done it, others have done it and so can you!
