How to Practice Body Neutrality

Hello Pelican readers,

I hope this blog finds you well & as always, I’m sending gentle encouragement and hugs to those of you that need it.

This month, Pelican Healthcare have been focusing on self love and body confidence, so I’ve decided to introduce you to something that comes on it’s own, or before body positivity, which is Body Neutrality.

We hear lots about Body Positivity, but for some, this can feel too much of a leap to make. Enter Body Neutrality!

What is Body Neutrality?

I recently did a post on my Instagram about this.

Simply, it is accepting your body as it is.

Body Neutrality takes the focus away from Body Positivity, removing any body talk (whether that be positive or negative) and, instead, focuses on self-worth not being centred around appearance and appreciating what your body does for you instead.

It removes any judgements towards ourselves associated with body confidence and encourages us to acknowledge our bodies as they are, with no pressure to feel a certain way.

A move away from looking for positive affirmations

A lot of the time, especially with body confidence, if we are met with negative self-chatter, we feel pressure to replace it immediately with positive affirmations. This can be a struggle and lead us to feeling inauthentic if we aren’t a firm believer of what we are telling ourselves.

The ‘middle ground’

Body Neutrality actually offers more of a “meet me halfway” approach, especially when you are experiencing the above. This middle ground doesn’t involve us trying to change our self perception but instead to just be. This can often free a considerable amount of headspace up in our daily lives when we remove this self-chatter.

Self-love – A leap too far?

For many, including myself, self-love can be so transformative. However, it definitely didn’t come easy and still doesn’t come easy on my bad days. It is a constant effort and a consistent state of mind which requires a lot of work within yourself.

Some people may find the leap from not being able to meet themselves with anything but negative chatter to loving and celebrating who they are too much. For example, for those who have just undergone life-changing surgery such as stoma surgery.

Positive affirmations and not being able to practice them can actually leave us feeling worse and disingenuous towards ourselves.

We can take more of our power back, we may feel, by practicing Body Neutrality.

How can we adopt Body Neutrality into our everyday lives?

There are so many ways we can do this, but below is a list of a few suggestions:

• Unravel your body beliefs you may have because of others and try and focus on what you feel. How you feel about yourself deserves to rank top of the priority list when it comes to your body image.
• Focus on what your body is doing for you, rather than aesthetics. So many processes and miracles are happening inside our bodies to keep us alive.
• Express more compassion towards yourself. If you realise your body is struggling, acknowledge that you may need to rest and that it is okay to do so.
• Follow inclusive social media accounts and unfollow any that trigger you or give you bad vibes. It always helps to surround ourselves with the things and people that encourage how we want to be with ourselves.
• Wear outfits that make you feel more you, instead of choosing based on how you look.

There is so much more to you than your body

Remember this. Everyone is different in the sense of finding what works for them to adopt the relationship they require with themselves. Some people find body positivity works, which is great, whereas others don’t, and this is okay.

Do you have any tips that work for you?

Until next time,

Amy

@ibdwarriorprincess