I love my belly!
How many of us can say that? I LOVE MY BELLY! More importantly, how could you hate your belly? For just a moment, think of all the things located in your belly region: stomach, pancreas, liver, kidneys, bladder, intestines, gall bladder, and for women the uterus and ovaries! Imagine not having those organs well supported in our belly region? Now, say I LOVE MY BELLY for all it contains.
Do you know what is also in our belly region that we very much need? Our pelvic floor and core muscles. Without those muscles, our back would not be able to hold us up without straining and hurting.
We also have several lymph nodes in our belly region that a crucial for filtering out toxins, vitamins and minerals, proteins, and water so our body can continue to function.
When you hate your belly, you are hating everything it contains. Ok, I get it. You do not like the extra girth around your belly. That is what you hate, not what it contains, but love is all-encompassing and so is hate. You cannot hate one area of your body and love another because you are all one. Because you are all one, what you do or feel to one area of the body affects the whole area of the body. In myofascial release, I have come to realize that we are all one. We are an intricately interconnected system that 100% relies on every part of the body to do its job in order to function efficiently. If you stub your baby toe, you start to walk awkwardly which offsets your head, which causes your upper trap muscle to hurt all because you stubbed your baby toe. Do you see what I am getting at?
Love your whole self for it cannot be segmented. God makes no mistakes. He created all of us for certain jobs which require a specific body composition. I just recently purchased a new horse. Outside of the fact that she’s incredibly sweet, I love her short, stocky body composition because I know she will not be prone to leg or back strains or injuries. Long, tall and lanky backs and legs on horses mean a higher risk of injury in a horse. Go figure! Short and stocky isn’t such a bad thing. It’s a safety mechanism. That’s exactly what I am referring to when I say that God has made us all perfectly suited for the tasks we have at hand, physically and mentally.
Here’s another reason to love yourself. Love thy neighbor as thy self. Would you dislike your neighbor because they are overweight? I would hope not! So why would you dislike yourself if you are over or even underweight, or blond hair, not brown, or blue eyes, not green, or short, not tall? It just doesn’t make sense, does it?
Over the next many, many weeks, we are going to be loving our belly, learning how to support our organs, and strengthen the muscles. I hope you are as excited about this journey as I am. If you just can’t wait to learn more, click on this link and you can purchase the class I taught several years ago. I gave myself time to rest over the last couple of months and now I am ready to teach and get us all feeling great, me too!
Love yourself 100% inside and out for you are perfectly created by a perfect Creator.
Do not deny him that glory.
~ Your Inner Guide
Voyage to HEAL Weekly Task
Stretch: Let’s start laying on our back and puffing our belly out as we inhale and pulling it in as we exhale. Do this for at least 5 minutes. Place one hand on your belly and one hand on your chest. Feel the belly rise and then the chest as you inhale through your nose. As you exhale through pursed lips, feel your belly tuck inward. Inhale for 4 seconds, hold 4 seconds, and exhale for 8 seconds. Increase this time as you are able. Here is a breathing meditation I created a while back.
*Bonus stretch: Puff out your belly! We spend way too much time sucking in and it’s not good for our organs. Puff it out. This is a stretch from the outside in.
Exercise: Let’s return to basics to get those pelvic floor muscles engaged. I actually prefer to do this in standing. Squeeze the muscles between your legs as if you have to go to the bathroom. Imagine elevator doors closing between your legs. Hold this squeeze for 3 seconds and then raise the elevator up. Hold for 3 seconds, let it down, and open the doors feeling all the muscles relax. This is great to do whenever you think of it. Just make sure to soften all the muscles and not hold continually tight because that causes tension and fatigue in these muscles which is not the goal.
* Remember that I have an entire 11 week series on Activating the pelvic floor and core if you need extra guidance or really want to follow a strict routine of 5 exercises each week to strengthen this area. Click here
Habitual Change: Stop sucking in to make yourself look thinner. Tell yourself, this really doesn’t matter and I am only hurting myself.
Perspective enlightenment: I am an intricately, interwoven system that I fully love every detail God has created in me.
Journaling option: When did I start to not like my belly? Why? How can I change my perspective to be grateful for what I experienced and who I am?
For example: I remember the first time I dieted to lose weight was in junior high because I wanted to be popular and feel attractive. I thought my outward appearance was way more important than my inner beauty. Right before I dieted, I had an accident in which I lost half of my earlobe and needed plastic surgery. Yes, in junior high, I was made fun of. I was overweight and bitten by a horse. To feel accepted, I wanted to look acceptable per ridiculous junior high standards. I could say that I hated junior high because of my inferiority complex, but instead I am grateful that God gave me that experience to say, “Take care of yourself. Present yourself well, but also see your inner beauty and strength to get the job done.” At 44, I look around me and see that I have turned into a woman with a womanly figure. Yes, I need to take care of myself and be healthy, but I also realize that my stomach isn’t going to make someone like me or not. I can still dress nicely. I can still look pretty. I will still be loved and accepted regardless of how fit or not my belly is.
This week’s blog post coincides with week 1: Diaphragmatic Breathing and Week 8: Arm releases. You can purchase this week in the store on the webpage. You can also purchase the Inner Peace Meditation CD or start your full online Voyage to HEAL. Click here to visit the store. Most importantly, start being kind to yourself always. As God gives you grace, so should you give it to yourself. Stop fighting yourself. Instead, love yourself.
Godspeed on your Voyage to HEAL
Love,
Jocelyn
