1. Your body doesn’t lie. You might say, “I’m relaxed!” or, “That pressure is great, you can work deeper,” but your body may tell a very different story. What goes on in your muscles, with your breathing, with your pulse is the truest you: the you that even you might not know yet. It’s a good thing to get in touch with. You’d feel much better if you listened and let your words match up to what your body was saying.
2. When you stretch, you open up space. This is physically true, and emotionally true. When you physically stretch (or allow yourself to be stretched) you create space and allow for greater movement, greater vulnerability and more growth. It’s the same when you stretch yourself emotionally, too. Your physical and emotional selves aren’t separate––stretch one, and you usually stretch the other, too. It isn’t always comfortable at first, but it’s a wonderful thing. Surrender to it. You won’t regret it.
3. That thing you’re embarrassed about? That you don’t want anyone to see? That you tense up and hold your breath over? The part of you that you wish were different? It’s ok. Let go. Enjoy it. It’s part of what makes you so beautiful.
4. Everyone has body hair in various places and amounts. There’s no one right amount. It’s all good. Same goes for moles. Even models don’t look like they do in the pictures. Smooth and hairless is a Fifth Avenue invention designed to create discontent (and sell grooming products).
5. Everything you’ve experienced is stored in your body at a cellular level. Each cell is a record of all of it. I’ve felt it in your skin. Being born. Being held. The time you fell off your bike and weren’t that hurt but very scared. That brutal sunburn on your shoulders at 14. The time you fell out of a tree and broke your collarbone. The first time you felt deeply loved. The person who hurt you so badly you thought you were broken for good. Your muscles remember it. They remember it like it happened 10 minutes ago. Your successes hold your shoulders high. Your losses pull your chest inward. You hold your sadness in your throat, your anger in your jaw and your fear in your belly. Your happiness rises and falls in your chest. Love rolls in and out on the tides of your breath. It’s all there, all the time. {You can release the parts that hurt, if you want to. Yoga and massage are the best ways I’ve seen.}
6. Your weight is the least interesting thing about you. I promise.
7. Your skin, however, is fascinating. Every line, every freckle, every scar tells the amazing stories of your life. Please don’t Botox, bleach or sand it all away. They’re all beautiful.
8. Your body is a f*cking wonderland. You are amazing just as you are, right now.
^ This is all great and true. As someone who has worked as a model full-time for 3/4ish years, this is true. Photos? Totally constructed. It’s true that a lot of my shoot photos don’t need photoshop, but that’s because the lighting and makeup were impeccable. I looked really skinny? Yeah, I was holding my stomach in and contorting my back in a weird way. It wasn’t comfortable and I could only hold the position for 10 seconds. Being behind a camera really gives you a different perspective on things. Anyone can look model-beautiful, if you want to adopt society’s standards of beauty. (And why would you? It’s a construct, made to sell you things and feel inadequate.) Sure, I’ve modeled, but I look terrible in a lot of my pictures. You wouldn’t believe it’s the same person. So it is for your favourite magazine models and celebrities. Don’t forget it.
I also think that everyone (literally, everyone) should do at LEAST one nude photoshoot in their lives. It will completely change how you see yourself. There’s no better way to internalize the above list than to do that. ;)
