It has been almost two weeks since the Nourish Conference in Saskatoon and I’m still feeling like I haven’t been able to fully absorb and integrate all that I learned and experienced that day. The Nourish Conference was a labour of love that was at least 18 months in the making, birthed by a group of dedicated volunteers in Saskatoon. Inspired by The Body Love Conference hosted in Arizona, the Nourish Conference was envisioned as a space for people to come together and explore how to foster unconditional positive regard for their body.
I was particularly thrilled that right from the start the Nourish organizing committee embraced the Heath at Every Sizeⓡ principles as fundamental to the day and took great efforts to make Nourish a safe and welcoming space. This not only included creating a body- positive space that embraced body diversity and was free of diet-talk and body-shaming, but also keeping an eye to the broader social justice aspects of the Health at Every Sizeⓡ framework and paying attention to how the conference could be welcoming to people of all sizes as well as people with a wide range of economic realities, gender identities, abilities, etc.
Many local Saskatoon people gave of their time and brought their knowledge and experience to provide fantastic break-out sessions for the day. Sessions included topics such as a sharing of how drag performance impacted a body image journey, raising body-positive children, body-positive physical fitness, a support group style session that explored elf-compassion in the context of our relationship with food…and many more! I was happy to be able to share information on the Health at Every Sizeⓡ approach to weight and health, and explore in-depth the principles upon which the conference was built. The Health at Every Sizeⓡ precept to shift focus away from weight when we think about health is a radical one, and I was heartened to see so much willingness to explore the possibility. I think we are recognizing more and more that equating thinness with health is doing more harm than good and people are looking for a new way forward.
One of the biggest thrills of the conference for me was our keynote speaker, Vivienne McMaster. I’ve know of Vivienne for a few years now and have been impressed by her Be Your Own Beloved program, having participated in it and finding it hugely rewarding. I was fairly certain Vivienne’s offerings would enrich our day and contribute to our efforts of ‘supporting one another as we work toward body acceptance, and build a more inclusive community that values all people’….and did she ever! The insight, warmth, creativity and beauty that is reflected in her website also shines through Vivienne the person and infused her keynote sessions. Conference participants responded to her invitation to practice self compassion and were inspired to see where their cameras and other creative explorations might take them…how they might, with the power of self love, claim space in this world. Vivienne set the perfect tone for the conference and fully committed herself to the day, making herself available to participants’ and taking in the breakout sessions. I was happy to be able to spend some time getting to know Vivienne…she is a lovely person! We are so grateful she was able to join us.
Those of us who were on the organizing committee were just thrilled by the community response. We could not believe the conference sold out! This tells me our community is hungry for these kinds of spaces and opportunities. And, I feel hopeful that with events like the Nourish Conference and others like it, we can continue to challenge the unhelpful idea that everyone needs to try and conform to one body type to be healthy and happy.
Join a Revolution….Love Your Body.