The Body Practice

I want to make a list of 100 ways to take care of myself (or yourself)  Will you lend me a hand?  What are your favorite self-care routines and indulgent treats?

1…massage

Today I am grateful for…

*Lara’s insight about heartpower (read her willpower blog it rocks!)

*Waking up to do my homework with a feeling of refreshed excitement

*The healthy breakfast in front of me (mmmm!  Applesauce, plain yogart, nuts, whole grain cereal, and cinnimon)

*The attitude that all is well in my world.

What are you grateful for?

Rae

Gratitude is one of my favorite motivational tools. It is great for all kinds of ailments…of the spirit! What would your gratitude journal include for the day?  This is what I have included in mine for the day.

Five things I am grateful for today:

* Higher energy prices that are teaching me to conserve on gas, food, spending for the unneeded extras

* Peace with my scale

* Bison Burgers on whole grain buns

* A growing web of encouragement through this community

* The awareness that I am beautiful, strong, creative and capable of profound change.

*****WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR?*******

I am all about thinking out of the box now days.  So when my hubby (and fellow buddyslimmer) was celebrating his birthday with family last weekend, we opted for a Happy Birthday Watermelon!  It was a hit.  No one felt too guilty for eating it.  We could have an extra slice without turning heads.  It was refreshing and set us up for success.  What an affirmation for his birthday!

I would love to know how you are thinking outside of the box to benefit your bod!

Rae

What do you think about the idea that we express ourselves with food?  In a counseling class today, that was suggested.  I began to think about what I was expressing.  The DVD we watched talked about how women’s voices are often silenced and that food is a way of quietly saying what is going on in our lives.  Furthermore, it is a way for us to control our bodies in a world where healthy images of women are not upheld and images of women with bodies that are below the suggested weight guidelines are practically deified. 

More and more I like what I am saying with food.  I am certainly not perfect…but that is exactly the point.  I am tired of second guessing what I choose to put in my mouth.  More and more I am making good choices and expressing my love of myself by eating foods which are more whole and more healthy.  I am finding peace with food.  Certainly it is a process.  Some days I eat in and others out, but more that a month ago, I was stuck in a rut I didn’t like.  Slowly I drive around the potholes and take a walk on the wild side.

When I don’t eat in an idle way, I just let it be and enjoy what is in front of me.  The attempt to be perfect with food is what makes me overeat, because I can’t meet up to that standard. NO ONE CAN. So why beat myself up for not doing what I can’t do.  Instead, I give myself self-care points on my self-love ticker (see one of my earlier blogs for an explaination…you might be glad you did).

How do you express yourself with food?  How would you express yourself differently if your hearts dialog matched your food dialog?

Curious,

Rae

Today in stress management class (yes, it’s as great as it sounds), we did a Creative Visualization exercise.  It reminded me of an inner journey I did when I lost weight in my undergrad program.  I would visualize myself stepping into a very safe, calm, gently moving river.  The river had no dangerous animals near it or in it and was secluded so that I was allone. (Occasionally I would invite a favorite animal or angel or God to sit as my protector so that I could totally relax.) 

 I would begin floating in the river, allowing my mind to focus on the sound of my breath which became more intense because my ears would gently float below the surface of the water.  As I imagined being able to hear the undulations of my breath, I would feel the rise and fall of my tummy and the gentle rocking of my heart within the cradle of my chest.  I would begin witnessing my own progressive relaxation and imagine the stress gently disspelling in the water around me and being guided down the calm river.  I would grow more relaxed and at ease.

When I felt relaxed to a degree that I was comfortable with, I would then ask the river to take from me the additional pounds that had come to me as a result of my use of food to deal with stress in the past.  If any self-blame or guilt arose as I was asking for this, that too would be swept down the river so that I could concentrate on healing, not adding to the stress by shaming myself. 

The river, as if it were a benevolant healer, would begin togently warm the water around me.  I felt safe and loved. Relaxed and at ease. I would then begin releasing small layers of weight (only as much as I felt comfortable letting go of) and watch as it was swept from me down the river.  Sometimes I would see situations that were associated with layers of weight gain be released, as if by magic, to ride down the river (where I imagined they were transformed into something good and helpful for the Earth). 

When I was satisfied with the new feeling of my body (and it didn’t have to be “perfect”; it needed to feel safe and healed), I would rest in the warm, safe river, perhaps even standing in the water of my mind’s eye and dancing in celebration and validation of the body I was creating.  When I was ready, I would come back to paying attention to my breath, thank the river, the animal guardian and myself for the experience, then gently begin listen for the sounds of the room around me, until I felt renewed, peaceful but refreshed.  I would then take this practice of loving acceptance, of my body just as it is today, with empathy for the conditions it had used food to deal with, and begin moving through the real world with this new mind-set.

Eventually, I did begin to move toward the vision I was creating in the river.  I would connect with the river every time I drank water, letting it sweep away what I no longer needed, and allowing it to re-inforce the love and non-judgement I wanted to cultivate for my body as it exists in the present moment, but knowing that I could choose to gradually reveal a less stressed, ever more healthy body in the days, weeks and months to come.

 I wanted to share my creative visualization with you.  I would love feedback if you decide to use it and invite questions if you have them.  Please make it your own, so that it is tailor fit to your needs.  I would remind you though, not to add any self-blame, guilt or judgement of your self.  If that comes up, let your healing river receive it and bring your mind back to the ultimate healing…self-love. 

Happy Visualizing…Rae 

Last year at this time I was a mess.  I was at my top weight, in MAJOR pain, depressed and pretty hopeless.  I began reading about pain and found that stress management and self-love could be powerful medicine.  I have begun using those tools and have so much peace in my life.  I haven’t felt so good in years. 

Now I don’t have PERFECT days, but I do have great tools for dealing with whatever life brings my way… and sometimes that simply means being curious about what it would be like not to have to live up to the highest standards or how to be a bit more vulnerable and ask for help. 

This website is also about self-care.  I get positive reinforcement here and can complete the giving circle by wishing others a good time on their healing journey.  These are the kind of things that have lead to the best results for me this year. 

My hubby and I went on a Friday the 13th Tattoo Date.  We each designed a tattoo and went down to the local tatt shop for a special they were having…$13 on the 13th with a 13 somewhere in the design.  It was a bit impulsive, but was a great experience.   When I got home, I realized the wings on the tattoo were kinda crooked and not symetrical.  And here I was, stuck with the imperfection for life. 

I had to make a decision then and there.  What was going to determine how much I liked the tattoo?  Would it be how close to perfect the image was or wasn’t?  Was it an image I wanted to define me…forever?  We want to look great, right?  I want to fit in…not look too old, too fat, too out dated, too slutty, too anything.  But then I get older everyday, and somedays the scale has a larger number than others, and now and again I wear something that is just too dorky for my own good, and yes, I have even been known to where my makeup too dark and a skirt too tight so that some might wonder WHAT I was thinking! 

So what would the tattoo mean to me? 

I decided to embrace the imperfection and love it for everything it was.  I like it because it sorta fits with my body.  Some places crooked, some unbalanced, some things asymmetrical.  And it fits with the way I want to think and feel about myself.  Who needs to be perfect?  No one, because that is impossible…and trying to be what we CAN’t be kills us.  Our body and spirit.

So I have the perfect Friday the 13th tattoo…it exist on the plain of geographic bodily peaks, valleys, craters, ridges, undulations and massive muscular mesas, among the ever-striving gain for perfection, but is perfectly quirky… kinda like me! 

And further more, I would have this wonderful memorabilia from one of the greatest dates with the guy I love.  What more could I want?  That’s perfect to me.

Rae

Tomorrow starts my Summer schedule.  The rhythm is going to take a bit getting used to, especially given my desire and dedication to eating healthy from home.  But I set myself up for success by shopping this evening.  I have fresh fruit and veggies, lots of whole grains, nuts, low fat cheeses and a spectacular partner to support and work with me.

Late April, I started shaping what the Summer would look like.  It seems to be coming together the way I planned.  I wanted to do more massage therapy.  I wasn’t sure how it was all going to work, but I just started TALKING about it.  Lo and behold, Sunday, an former client called for an appointment. 

I think that is the way the food is turning out as well.  I was curious about what it would be like to eat at home for a whole week.  This is NOT a usual habit for me, most of our meals are out.  But I just started TALKING like I was going to change.  Then what I said I would do started to happen.  So hubby and I set out to see what the week would be like…and we did it!  A complete, glorious week of down-home (not-cho-mama’s crisco-soaked-refined-vein-cloggers) but healthy-getcher-heart-lovin’ whole-food yummy yum!

And today, with a new stock of food to get us through another week, I will layer on the challenge of living out of the home but eating from the home.  I don’t know how it will happen….AND ANYONE HAVING ANY IDEAS TO SHARE…GO FOR IT!….but I will take it one day at a time and go from there.  Baby steps….and one bite at a time.

Rae