I used to wonder what it would feel like to be comfy and at home in my own body

To put a hand on my skin and caress it with tenderness

To catch a glimpse in the mirror and smile back with affection

To embrace another and feel worthy of receiving their love

To quieten my overactive thoughts and feel a peace of mind

To let the words flow out of my mouth and trust they were good enough

To be with my emotions and let them move through my body

To marvel at others confidence and still know that I was more than enough

And now I know, I wonder what kind of world we’d live in if every being on the planet knew what it felt like to be comfy and at home in their own body

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I’ve done A LOT of work on improving my own body image. For nearly 25 years I was terribly unhappy with my body due to the size of my thighs, the amount of cellulite, stretch marks on my belly (NOT due to pregnancy) my being so overweight, my UK size 18/20 clothes…I could go on.

What I now see is women half my size and weight who I might have once longed to look like, are still not happy in their body.

Why? There are many reasons, starting with the fact that we live in a society that conditions us from a young age to feel like we’re not good enough unless we measure up & look like a certain picture of beauty, health and/or fitness that’s portrayed in the media.

We’re led to believe by a multi billion$ diet industry that if we just follow this restrictive diet for long enough then we would look like that and finally be accepted, free of judgement & criticism and only THEN is it OK to feel good about yourself.

Only we don’t see that if the diet solutions we were provided with worked in the long term, we wouldn’t have to “start again” every New Year after a blow out at Christmas and we certainly wouldn’t yo-yo in weight from one month to the next. If it did work there would be no such thriving industry.

We don’t see that hating ourselves thin will not miraculously result in us loving ourselves when (if) we arrive.

I first discovered it wasn’t my fault I didn’t like my body, about 5 years ago… I then quickly realised it was my responsibility to try something different if I wanted to find a better way to think and feel about myself.

When I stopped rejecting the parts of me that didn’t shape up to societies unrealistic expectations, I started dismantling years of shame, and began the journey of self-acceptance.

This is the inner game that I now show my clients how to play.

It’s a journey to accept your body, to redefine health & beauty, to appreciate who you are beyond the physical body, and see the deeply complex, emotional, spiritual being you are.

All in spite of the fear of judgement that exists in the world. But it’s so worth it. Because on the other side of fear is love. Love for life and living, for adventure and nature, for yourself.