This week I was in La Jolla, enjoying the mid weather, the fresh, California food, and the charming downtown while I was there to speak for a body image event with Lululemon, the noted athletic company famous for its unique ads and yoga styled apparel, and the San Diego Jewish Center.
I shared my personal struggle with body image, encouraging women to stop measuring their body with their inner critic; instead, to measure their body in love. I was struck by the numbers of beautiful, fashionable, trim women in the area: women, who while externally beautiful, didn’t look happy or content with their beauty. Body image is an internal feeling: how you feel about the body that you have, and not the body itself. A great way to start loving your body is with gratitude: appreciation. I think of the many years that I spent abusing my body with rigid dieting, bulimia, overeating, and hatred – and yet it’s still here. It has still served me well, as the vehicle through which to explore and express my life.
While I was there, I took the opportunity to explore some area fitness classes. I took the most advanced yoga class I had ever been to at Prana Yoga Center with Gerhard. I also took a class at the infamous Barry’s Boot Camp – which left me sore for two days.
Of course, I had to find the local bookstore while I was there – and I wasn’t disappointed in Warwick’s. As I travel more, my husband encourages me to get a Kindle – but there’s something about holding a book in your hand that is so comforting.
