“On a zero to 10 scale, how much love do you feel LOVE for your body?” Zero is UGH, I don’t like my body at all. 10 is I love my body exactly as it is. Reflect on where your love meter reads. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy and criticizer for ourselves. Sometimes we are the best friend or biggest fan for ourselves. We have a choice, to bring more acceptance or more stress to ourselves. The way in which we view our bodies greatly impacts our overall health.
Did you know the way you feel about your body affects every cell in your body? The more you accept, love and appreciate your body, the stronger you feel and the healthier your immune system is? We feel less pain and experience more pleasure in our bodies when the relationship we have with ourselves is one where love predominates.
I used to be very critical of my body as a young girl growing up. My older brother I remember would call me “chicken legs” because I have very thin calves. I also never actually “developed” as my mom had told me I would at age 16. My breasts and hips never seemed to round out as my mom’s did. I perceived my body as “not good enough,” comparing myself to my mom’s body. As a latin gal growing up, the more “full figured” woman was praised, and my thin frame, didn’t fit that expectation.
Today, at age 41, I can honestly say, I LOVE MY BODY! Yoga, belly dance, meditation, and therapy have helped me greatly over the years to reach this level of self acceptance, compassion, and love for my body especially because I perceive my body as the TEMPLE OF MY SOUL.
When you view your body as a sacred vessel, that houses your soul -the essence of who you are, it changes how you feel about and value your body. Our bodies are made up of trillion upon trillion of cells that communicate constantly. We are mysterious. After all, who invented your nose? There is so much that we will never understand or know about our bodies and it’s true origins. Yet what we can do is hold our opinions about ourselves, in the highest regard, with the deepest amount of admiration and adoration, regardless of color, size and shape. Your body is YOUR body. No one else’s. You are uniquely and divinely YOU! And you is truly an illusion, for actually we are all interconnected molecules that affect one another in every instant.
I remember also that the love for my body increased exponentially when I was pregnant and then when I started breastfeeding my baby girl. I would cry out of joy, for how amazing it felt that my breasts made so perfectly this magical juice of love for her, that would give her exactly what she needed to grow healthy, smart and strong! I had a new level of respect and admiration for the wisdom of my body.
It is so important to love your body because:
1. Your body cells are constantly being affected by your own feelings about yourself. The more the level of self-acceptance, love and happiness towards yourself, the more optimal your health and immune system functioning.
2. The happier you are with your body, the happier other people feel around you. When we love and accept our bodies, we feel more peaceful, more confident and we are a pleasure to be around. We are more calm and because we feel more connected within, it’s easier to connect with others. Connection is our nature, as is Being love.
3. When you are judgmental, critical, analytical and hard on yourself, you actually raise the level of cortisol, stress hormone in your body. This lowers our immune system, it makes digestion more difficult and we actually look different. Chronic hurtful thoughts about our bodies leads to chronic stress and that means pre-mature aging. Who wants that? CHOOSING TO LOVE YOUR BODY is something everyone can practice to reap the health benefits: enhanced immunity, increased pleasure, joy, passion, creativity, and connection with self and others.
Let us know, comment down below: “Do you love your body? What different ways do you let your body know you love it?” And in case, you don’t love your body as much as you liked to, what is helpful is to simply acknowledge and accept your feelings. Try your best not too feel ashamed or guilty. Acceptance of what is can be so healing! Contact me at [email protected] if you like to get more tips on how to increase the love in your life. This is what I am very passionate about sharing. It is actually very easy to rise in love with ourselves, it just takes some awareness and new ways of thinking and feeling about ourselves.
Listen to the guided meditation I created for you HERE to shift your beliefs to the highest frequency of self-love and appreciation. Trust me, YOU ARE SO WORTH IT!
Share with us! Share this article with a friend and let’s love our bodies more than every today, our sacred temples of our soul.