I Am More Than My Body: The Body Neutral Journey - Softcover

Meyers, Bethany C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593544749 ISBN 13: 9780593544747

Verlag: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2023

Inhaltsangabe

From the founder and CEO of the be.come project comes an inspiring introduction to "body neutrality"—the concept of steering away from self-hate without the pressure of having to love your body—and how thinking in this way can lead to joy, peace, and fulfillment.

“Some days I love my body, some days I hate my body, but every day I respect my body.”

A lot of us were raised on toxic diet culture—restrictions, limitations, and deprivation. Then the pendulum swung to the other extreme, with messages that we could love ourselves at any size, any weight, any shape…but sometimes, even that can feel like a lot of pressure. There is a third option: body neutrality. For many of us, a neutral approach to our physical self—based on compassion, acceptance, and respect—can be a revolutionary, rewarding shift in how we move through the world.

I Am More Than My Body will help you strengthen your relationship with yourself and find balance, steering you away from shame without the pressure of having to love your body at all times. It will introduce a framework to help you practice neutral movement, recognize and arm yourself against bias, act with self-compassion, and navigate your feelings on this journey.

A longtime practitioner of the body-neutral approach, Bethany C. Meyers shares their own story together with the experiences and ideas of experts and activists to help us care for our bodies while not having them dictate our worth. Because happiness comes from honest acceptance, something that body neutrality has the power to help you find.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Bethany C. Meyers (she/they) is the founder and CEO of the be.come project. She has been a part of the fitness industry for over 15 years—as an instructor, a teacher trainer, and a workout creator. After battling an eating disorder for the majority of their fitness career, Bethany began to heal their relationship with exercise, food, and the physical self. Vowing to be the change she so desperately needed, Bethany founded the be.come project in July 2018, with the intention of sharing the powerful message of body neutrality with the world.

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The Journey Starts Here

When I was young, I used to watch Nick at Nite religiously. I particularly loved Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, two 1960s sitcoms featuring glamorous, magical protagonists. I remember being convinced that I had supernatural powers too, I just hadn't learned my signature move yet. Samantha the witch would wiggle her nose and Jeannie would stack her arms and blink to access her genie gifts, so all I needed to do was find my own twitch. I would sit in my bedroom, make a wish, and then try a combination of tongue swirls, head nods, and finger taps-hoping to unlock some magical power. If you had walked in on me, I'm sure it would have been a funny sight. Of course, I never discovered my magic move. Like all of us, I've had to ask, work, and plan for the things I want in life, some of which have happened and some of which haven't. To me, the realization that the things we want don't happen magically-instead they take conscious effort and practice, but are nearly always worth it in the end-is reminiscent of the body neutral journey that we are about to embark upon together.

In short, body neutrality is the idea that each of us is more than our body, and our worth is not limited to our physical self. It is the practice of respecting our body despite the fact that we may feel differently about it on any given day-love, hate, and everything in between. When I was first learning about body neutrality, I remember having so many moments when I just wanted to get there already and proudly declare, "Here I am, meet body neutral Bethany!" But that wasn't how my journey went. I would have days when I felt awful about my body, when my old eating disorder mindset would creep in and shame would take over. I also had days when I would pretend to be so completely in love with my body-and that felt empty as well, like I was masking the shame with a lie. And then I would have days when I would slide into neutrality, experiencing neither deep love nor deep shame, but rather a gentle respect for my physical self while prioritizing my emotional self. Sometimes that felt liberating and sometimes it felt unsatisfying. I'm here to tell you that both of those feelings-and anything in between-are okay!

Perhaps you may be hoping to read this book and find your quick fix into body acceptance. Maybe you are looking for a fuss-free solution to every problem you're facing. The truth is, that's not how it works, and you should be wary of anyone who tells you otherwise. This book doesn't make lofty promises, like fitness companies selling New Year deals or health food providers coming out with a fancy superfood. It is not the answer, the truth, the way, or the life. It is, I hope, a guide to a new set of skills which might support you. I'm not saying that the ideas housed between its covers don't have the power to have a profound impact on your life. They have certainly made dramatic shifts in mine. But I want expectations to stay realistic: this is not a book of life hacks, or a quick fix, or a one-stop-shop solution. It is not a cure-all. Practicing body neutrality in a world that is extremely biased is hard work. It's going to take effort, time, and a whole lot of grace.

What this book will provide you with is clarity, and a potential way forward. It will encourage you to deconstruct a lot of narratives in your mind, peel back the layers of the world you have been raised in, and interrogate the foundations of your relationship with your body and beyond. It will introduce a framework to help you manage and navigate some of your feelings, and offer lots of tangible guidance, journaling questions, and suggestions, to help support you on this journey. There is even a toolbox of tips from everyone interviewed in the book on page 205, which is a collection of their and my top advice. A lot of times, body neutrality involves sitting in a gray space-a place in the middle that can be uncomfortable. I promise I will be there to hold your hand and heart as you take these important steps.

As a fitness teacher, I developed a method to create an inclusive space for movement, founded in curiosity and a willingness to experiment without sticking to a rigid idea of what "success" looks like. That philosophy is something I have worked to bring with me into this book, and I hope it's something you will feel as you read it. When I present practical advice, I have aimed to do so in a way that feels nonjudgmental. I also present a range of experts' views for you to explore and connect with. I want you to think about how these ideas might apply to you. And also how do they not apply to you? What are you interested in getting curious about, and simultaneously what are you not? Where in this book do our ideas and beliefs align, and where do they differ? Individual thinking is celebrated here! I encourage you to do what is right for you, and not simply what has been suggested. This means you may not agree with everything in this book and that's okay. You are you, I am me, and together we have so much to learn from each other. What I will say is that you should give yourself permission to take this book at your own pace. Many of these issues run deep in all of us, and I want you to give yourself grace as you struggle with them.

In my classes I aim to give everyone practical tools they can use when I'm not there as well as when we are together. This book explains concepts and ideas, but ultimately it is encouraging a practice that you can take off the page, apply to your life, and keep getting better at. While there will inevitably be times when you slip off-track or feel like you've failed, the learnings never leave you. Once your mind is opened to the possibility that a new way of interacting with your body exists, there isn't a way to row backward from that. And the framework presented in this book will become easier to reconnect with over time, even if you're out of practice. Body neutrality is a journey and it doesn't have to go in a straight line, because the ultimate aim is to arm yourself with a new skill set.

Now, before we go any further, it's important for me to highlight how I have only ever experienced the world in a body that has been accepted and invited into nearly every imaginable space. As a white, slim person, the way my body intersects with society is privileged to an extent that I will never be able to fully comprehend. I have never experienced the realities of living in a marginalized body, nor one that the general population deems unworthy. While I have recognized elements of the queer identity in the process of my own self-discovery, in many contexts I get to choose whether I let the world judge me by my differences.

For some of you reading this book, the idea that you could be neutral about your body when the world you live in has so much bias and systemic prejudice may feel impossible. I don't know what that feels like, because I haven't walked in your shoes. That is one of the reasons I have welcomed so many other voices in the pages ahead. Voices of people who have had hugely diverse experiences in the world, due to their bodies, abilities, and identities. They include fat folks, persons with disabilities, queer folks, and people of color. My deepest hope is that this book will embrace a wide variety of bodies, and help open the door to body neutrality and respectful acceptance for everyone. The conversations in this book are not just my voice, nor only the voices of those I've interviewed; they are also your voice.

As we get ready to jump in, I am reminded of another silly memory from my childhood. On my first morning of kindergarten, my teacher told the class that we were going to play a game with a special shoebox. The box had been decorated and a hole had been cut in the top, and everyone had to stick their hand inside the box, feel the object within, and...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: G.P. Putnam's Sons
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2023
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593544749
• ISBN 13: 9780593544747
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 225
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland