This summer is starting off with a bang. Not only am I once again taking on clients in my private practice, I am also delighted to have an article featured in Holistic Parent Magazine. Last year I wrote a piece for the same magazine about how parents can help their children have a positive body image – read it here. Hint: to be a good role model and support children in having a positive body image, it is important for parents to acknowledge and address their own body image issues.
This year my article for Holistic Parent focussed on self-compassion as an important tool for children struggling with body image issues. Many parents, especially when confronted by painful body image issues experienced by their children, look to build their children’s self-esteem as a remedy. In my article, I argue that self-compassion may be a more helpful tool for children to support mental well being. You can read the full article in the digital edition of the magazine here (page 22).
I’m particularly excited to a part of this issue because the whole thing is dedicated to Body Positivity! Many other fantastic practitioners and activities in Waterloo Region have contributed articles. You may want to check out:
-Suzanne Dietrich’s Feed Your Soul: Intuitive Eating Means Fun, Freedom, and Choice (p 24)
-Dana Rourke’s Body Rebel – Taking Back Your Body Through Radical Self Love. (p.26
I also love the beautiful photography in the magazine by Jennifer Lyons, a local photographer (https://www.jennydoesstuff.ca/) Her work adds such beauty and depth to the magazine.
To launch this amazing summer body positive issue, Holistic Parent hosted a networking event a couple of weeks ago in Waterloo. As a contributing author, I was invited to attend and take part in a panel discussion. There were delicious refreshments, displays from other vendors/contributors and a talk on body positivity by Dana Rourke of Reclaiming the Wild. It was a wonderful evening and I was so glad to be a part of it. I’ve been lucky to connect with really great body positive practitioners and activists since I move to Waterloo Region in 2016 and attending this event was a great opportunity to deepen and expand my body positive tribe.
I believe community plays a big role in reclaiming body sovereignty. As a practitioner and as a fat woman, it is very empowering to be able to be in a room with people who ‘get it’. In this thin-obsessed culture, it can often feel like we are swimming upstream or banging our heads against the wall in our efforts to live a body-positive life. To know that there are others who feel like you do is extremely helpful and can keep us motivated -it certainly does for me.
I invite you to consider your body positive community. Do you have folks you can talk to who ‘get it’? If not, how might you intentionally be able to find and connect with people who share your body-positive values? Maybe in online body positive communities? Are there body-positive spaces or groups in your community that you can connect with? It can be challenging to find these spaces and places, but well worth the effort. This summer edition of Holistic Parent is a great place to start. If you live in Waterloo Region, check out the article on page 18 of the magazine for Space to Move – A Celebration of Body Positive Movement Spaces in the Waterloo Region Dana Rourke & Suzanne Deitrich (p.18) for potential places of community for you. If you live in another community, use the power of the internet to see if you can find similar spaces in your own community.
Thanks for reading!
Sydney