S2 E34 Talking Bodies

Talking about our bodies tends to be a vulnerable topic, and as women, we are conditioned from a very young age to be concerned about our bodies. Which poses the question, is there a time that you can recall, where you realized bodies were something we should be concerned with?

We tend to live at odds with our bodies, thinking they aren’t enough (not fit enough, not functioning how we want it to, not pretty enough, not healthy enough, not strong enough, not enough energy, not the right shape or size etc.) Or maybe we have been taught that our bodies are carnal, of the world, not to be trusted, impulsive, need to be tamed and controlled, full of appetites and passions etc that we are supposed to overcome or suppress, or else we are sinful.

Today we are hoping to shift the concentration from the shapes and proportions of our bodies to how our body functions, realizing all the things we can do in and because of our bodies, and acknowledging the magnitude of the brilliance of our physical form.

MIND: Allow your relationship to evolve.

The way we feel about our body is a relationship-- and relationships change over time. Our body has evolved as we have evolved. We learn and grow and stretch, and oftentimes our body does too. Like any relationship, we can strengthen the relationship we have with our bodies. The more we get to know our bodies, the more time we spend with our bodies, the more we learn how to best care for that relationship, the better it will be.

When I think back to times I have been happy and proud of my body, it was when it looked and functioned the way I expected and wanted it to. When it looked the way I thought it should, I was happy with it. And when it doesn’t-- does it deserve less of my love and appreciation? Is that how an important and meaningful relationship should work? Just because we have felt pressured to look a certain way and to be sorely disappointed with ourselves when we don’t before, does not mean we have to continue that. We can allow our relationship to expand as we do.

BODY: Show up for your body everyday.

How do you balance being grateful and at peace with the way something is right now, and also want to change for the better? This question can be related to our bodies. Our answer is this-- The motivation to continue to grow, love, and deepen our understanding of who we really are comes from being grateful and at peace with who we are right now.

Make sure your body has a voice that you listen to, and you show your body that you value that voice by responding to it's signals and giving heed to it's direction. Do what you can to listen to your body everyday. Then show up for it.

PURPOSE: Focus on the union of body and spirit

When we care for our bodies, we enhance our spiritual abilities. We are not just a body and a spirit-- we are embodied human beings.

When we just focus on the body, we become a slave to the way society dictates that we function and appear. We rely on opinions and viewpoints outside of ourselves. When we ignore our bodies, there is so much harm that is done there.

What does it look like when I am glorifying (to praise and worship) my Heavenly Parents with my body? Our bodies are a place where the presence of our Heavenly Parents can be known and experienced.

We share a quote from author Ruth Haley Barton who illustrates the fact that when the Savior asked us to remember him, He gave us something to do with our bodies- partake of the bread and water- to remember His body. "And the metaphor for the presence of the living Christ here on earth is, of all things, a body!”

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