Patience, Patience / Yoga+

Sorry for the lack of writing — I felt uninspired this week and kinda bummed out, as my weight loss didn’t seem to be happening at MY desired rate.

Last night, after a pretty emotionally charged week, I decided to re-try heated yoga. For those who don’t know, this style of  yoga takes place in a heated room somewhere between 85-95 degrees. By the way..I HATE the heat. But I wanted to cleanse and detox, so this was a good way to.

I was soaked, dizzy and proud all in the same breath. WOW what a good burn! It felt energizing to be physically at your wit’s end, but as the yoga instructor said, “That voice you’re hearing right now telling you to stop? That’s just your mind — YOU are fine.”

I needed to hear that, in all areas of my life. My minds been racing lately mainly with thoughts of inadequacy in my life. Poisonous thought they are.  But I flag them quickly and work through them — knowing they pass and knowing they come in to remind me of who I really am. And I learn something new each time.

 

[ The dark side of weight-loss ]

Being overweight my whole adult life, I’ve paid special attention to how other heavy people describe themselves and the weight-loss endeavours they take on. More often than not, I come across people who label themselves in very negative ways, such as “fat”, “obese” and other technical terms. Am I technically fat? Yes. Do I go around acting, labeling and viewing myself as that? No. I’m not in denial either — I just know what motivates people to change and dis-empowering messaging is NOT one of them.

This is where the mental and emotional implications of being overweight are most complex — people who set out on a weight-loss effort are already setting themselves up for challenges from the get-go due to the beliefs they have about who they are as a person. Having an image issue is often times at the core of those who later develop a weight issue. We tend to view ourselves with disapproving eyes and that leads to shame, guilt and deeper insecurity.

As I scan through the bazillion blogs on wight-loss I’m astonished to see to many of them using harmful headlines like “Fat” or “To be skinny one day” ect. I’ve also noticed that they equate weight-loss purely with the physical aspects, and seldom the mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions.

Through my years of trying to manage my weight, I can say with near certainty that weight is a spiritual issue first and foremost — it only lastly shows up in the physical realm. Fat, thin, chunky — our souls are our most prized possession and somewhere alone the line, we’re not sure what to do with this incredible brilliance. Some may turn to drugs, sex, money and others, to food — all of these are ways to grapple with the overwhelming awareness that perhaps  we feel we’re not deserving of this treasure…

I’m also a life coach who understands just how important personal growth and awareness is to encourage and fuel transformation. This is why my weight-loss blog doesn’t just count calories or how many miles I ran. It tells the story of a woman who has an eclectic life and curious eye for the world around her — who among many other things, is also aware of her own body and devotes time and energy to cultivate it.

I’d love to see a shift in the weight-loss community that moves away from purely physical measurements of success, and into a direction that respects and appreciates the wholeness of a person incorporating the emotional healing and growth that occurs, and how weight is an interpretation of our soul’s worth.

That overused Gandhi line is pretty applicable to me now…Be the change you wish to see in the world.