How can you befriend your body if it doesn’t look right to you? Read on…
A Reader writes:
I am a keen amateur adult dancer. When I take class and see myself in the mirror, I get stressed by my body proportions, over which I have no control. It feels wrong to have legs that are so short and they make all my movements look stunted.
I love to dance when I don’t see myself. But ballet and other forms of dancing need visual correction so it is unavoidable. I know I should not be judging but can’t seem to befriend my body.
Dear Reader:
It’s an interesting thing about befriending the body. It can be important not just to include how you feel about your body, but also how your body feels about you.
Friendship, after all, goes both ways.
Did you know your body can have its own feelings, its own point of view?
My colleague Colin Berg studied this, and found that life can be much enriched if we treat our body as a partner and listen to its perspective.
I wonder what you might find if you listen to your body’s response to not being the kind of body you want to see in the mirror. I’m just guessing, but I imagine it might feel sad at disappointing you.
You feel sad at not having a body you can feel good about when you look in the mirror, and your body feels sad (perhaps) at not being the body you want it to be, as well.
That sounds like the feeling that a friend might have.
If you try listening to your body’s perspective, will you let me know how it goes? I suspect that your relationship with your body will improve — even if you still regret not being able to look in the mirror and see a dancer’s body.
