Your TRUE Body Image
You know the old saying “Numbers don’t lie”? Whoever said that, lied.
Recently I hopped on our bathroom scale “for kicks” … I say “for kicks” because I look the same, my clothes fit the same, I feel great. Nonetheless, that evil little scale was daring me to step on it and I was surprised to find I was 6 pounds heavier than expected. Now, being the incredibly evolved and enlightened yogini that I am, I laughed and took it all in stride….right?
Umm….right!
I embarked on a very grumpy day and started charting calories in a little I-phone app, planning my “6 pound weight loss program”. You see, I have a photo shoot in less than 2 weeks to get shots of me doing yoga for use on my new upcoming website and print materials. So I was not just paranoid in the general way that any woman would be about the number on the scale…I had a photo shoot in tight yoga pants just around the corner!
Well, since Monday I’ve had a few interesting developments on this front that I’d like to share. One interesting thing is that I had the good sense to weigh myself again a few days later. I had somehow magically dropped 3 pounds. Mind you, I did cut back my eating a bit after the “scale scare” but not enough for something that dramatic to happen. I reminded myself that due to hormones, water retention, and goodness know what else … our body weight can fluctuate rather dramatically on any given day.
I also received a bunch of photos taken of me recently at a class I was teaching and was quite pleased to see that my physique is just fine and doesn’t really seem anything like the horrible image that popped into my mind upon seeing the number on the scale. I enjoyed this article about Yoga and Body Image in which the writer seems to have had the same experience. She expected weight loss and discovered that her true beauty was not matching up with the scale was “trying to tell” her.
I absolutely guarantee you can have a transcendent experience with your physique with yoga–it happened to me and I’ve seen it happen to others. This change is in the way you carry yourself, an elongation and definition in muscles, an extra elegance in movement and increased, all-around radiance. it does not necessarily translate to smaller numbers on the scale, but it’s something more noticeable to the people around you than if you lost a couple pounds. In other words, FITNESS looks sexy!
DON’T live or die by the numbers, they simply aren’t reliable.
Finally, there aren’t ample words to describe the change in your attitude towards your own body. A regular yoga practice helps you to better appreciate and love this individual machine of a body you were born with. You love that you can do the dopest King Pigeon of anyone in your class. On the other hand, you’re curious and intrigued as to why your body just can’t deal with Crow Pose. But you still love your body’s unique personality, which changes on a daily basis. Perhaps we really are what we think…a synapse of confidence and love fires off from the brain and radiates throughout your physical self–I truly think that is something that people notice. I like this blog posting also that essentially says “Yoga works because it teaches you to love your body exactly as it is“.
Now I’ve got to keep meditating so I can hold this attitude in my heart and mind when that shutter starts clicking!
McKenna Rowe is the Founder of Chakra 5 Mobile Yoga, an experienced team of corporate yoga instructors that provides mobile yoga classes on location and by appointment at businesses, schools and organizations throughout greater Los Angeles. Call us to start your corporate wellness program today: 310-853-3885.