You Deserve to Feel Powerful in Your Body.

Most of the women with whom I work (and several of the men) have grown up grasping this idea pervasive in the overculture - the one that tells us that our bodies are made for the viewing pleasure of others, and our worth is found in those favorable opinions.

I've been there, too; in fact, I got into the fitness industry in the first place hoping that a degree in Health and Exercise Science would help me finally solve the dieting mystery forever. I'd learn the science behind the propaganda in the magazines, I'd finally succeed in my lifelong quest to get smaller, and I could, at long last, move on with my life, as a skinny, confident, toned, radiant woman.

At some level, we all know that the beauty and fitness industries are stealing from us. We know they're designed to profit off our insecurities, but that doesn't stop us from having them.

When we're sold an ideal based in the physical, we're never enough. We can always find a lump, a stretch mark, a muscle that's too big or too small (as the case may be), a too-long nose, or a rough patch of skin. We spend hours in the mirror or glancing at car windows on a walk, examining our angles and how our clothes lie on our bodies and, if a bra strap is pinching or a shirt isn't skimming lightly over a belly, we measure it against how we've eaten recently. Thoughts of failure come rushing in, and we rush out to buy into the next solution.

We deserve so much more.

Much of the work I do with clients is digging into the why behind their goals: did they choose them for themselves, or are they operating in a system from which they're trying to escape? Is your goal really your goal, or are you hoping that those 20 pounds lead to greater self-acceptance? More confidence? More ease in your eating? A better relationship with your body?

Often, we find that the goal is a feeling more than a number. We've been told that we should be chasing a numerical result, but what most of us are after is a little more confidence, a little more ease, and a lot more power. But many of us are afraid to say those things, because we think they're not "real" goals.

We've been conditioned to shrink. To not say what we really want. To put ourselves second.

You deserve to feel powerful in your body.

You have a right to cuddle up to yourself, hog the fluffiest part of the blanket, make yourself a steaming mug of tea, curl up with a good book, and get lost in a world of freedom.

You’re entitled to the rush of blood coursing through your veins as you strap in for the rollercoaster, heart pumping, ears pounding, mind wild, knowing you’re safe but feeling the exhilaration all the same.

You’ve earned the liberty to choose for yourself what’s best for your body and for your life, justified in making a stand for your innermost mystic yearning to breathe free.

You’re justified in feeling positively about your body. You’re ready to drop the shame, loathing, stolen glances in mirrors and snuck late-night bites of cake.

You deserve to show up fully as yourself: to feel the full experience of life dancing in the shadows, throwing your head back in laughter in the rainstorms, appreciating your being for carrying you through each step.

You deserve to feel powerful in your body.

It's all available to you. It's yours for the taking.

xoxo,
Steph