Growing up I had a good friend with an eating disorder. Her obsession with her body and weight however, never really crossed my mind as being an issue.
In fact, it is only even looking back now that I would say she had an eating disorder, at the time it just seemed ‘normal’.
Unfortunately, this mindset is still rampant today and it is almost commonplace to be obsessed about your weight, or to talk negatively about your weight or the weight of other people.
As the calendar clicked over into 2017, millions of people in America and around the world started a new years resolution of losing weight.
While I think it is great to focus on the health and well being of your body, there is definitely an obsessive nature to weight loss that is extremely prevalent in society which fuels this- “You are not good enough” belief that is constantly rammed down our throats.
Loving your body and knowing that you are enough exactly as you are is definitely, 100% the ultimate cure for any weight loss problems you are having.
If you are looking to lose weight you first have to start with this and also explore the spiritual and energetic perspective.
An Energetic Perspective on Fat
Fat is energy, so if you have been storing some energy in a particular area of your body, it could be a sign that there is something deeper going on.
Our bodies are not designed to overeat or crave things that do us harm. Our bodies are not designed to crave lots of sugar or foods that are unnatural or laden with toxins, artificial colourings, preservatives and so on.
When this happens, it is a sign that there is a greater imbalance. This imbalance is most likely on a deeper emotional or energetic level that perhaps may be difficult to uncover without self awareness.
Fat holds energy; in ancient manifestation rituals, different oils were used as a way to hold onto intentions and manifest things. This is because fat has a way of retaining things and carrying thoughts and ideas.
When fat builds up in the body, it can indicate holding onto things, retaining things or a fear of letting go. Fat is also extremely protective, so a build up of fat could also indicate a need to protect oneself or hide oneself from the world.
Fat can also indicate part of your purpose. In fact many healers and “space holders” need more weight as they are in charge of holding space for other people.
Some of the greatest space holders in the world that I know are completely healthy, but they carry around what society deems is “excess” weight.
Who is to say what is excess and what is not? We cannot take a “one size fits all” approach to our bodies or our health. All we can do is follow what feels like the best and healthiest decision for us.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, and to really journey into the health and well being of your body, you have to understand it from a spiritual, energetic and emotional point of view as well.
You have to be willing to travel deeper and understand the energy or feeling that is behind it.
For true wellness to occur, you have to take a mind-body-spirit approach. Anything else is incomplete and true healing cannot occur.
I hope one day that we can all live in a world when the first thing we do when we get a physical ailment is to tune into our bodies and ask- what is my body trying to show or teach me?
This is an extremely powerful question to ask and will help you to travel into the energetic disturbance that is causing your body to be out of alignment in the first place.
Learning to Love Your Body
Your body is an amazing, incredible, awesome creation. Even at this very second, your body is going through millions of tiny processes and completing millions of tiny tasks all to keep you alive and well.
Every cell in your body is there to serve you, so by loving every cell and championing each and every one along, it can do wonders for your health and wellbeing.
When it comes to fat, every body is different and every body has the perfect amount of fat stores it needs to fulfil its purpose. Some people naturally hold more fat and that is ok, and some people are naturally very thin and that is ok too.
It is simply about allowing your body to be the weight that it needs to be.
When you are completely in balance in your life, your weight shifts to the optimum level for you. The level that feels right not from a societal or obsessive point of view, but the weight that feels the best to your soul.
This is why many people have a hard time shifting past or below a certain number on the scale. Some people are just designed to carry more weight than others and this is ok, as long as you are in alignment.
Getting into Alignment
Being in alignment is about truly loving your body from the inside out.
When I first started on my spiritual journey I started taking a Pilates class that ended in a guided meditation. This was the first time I had ever meditated or been exposed to this type of practice.
I remember after my first class, I felt like I was floating on air. I literally felt an incredible force awaken inside my body and the feeling was – “I love you so much I never want to harm you ever again.”
Of course, it took a few months, if not years of getting this message in order to put it into real practice, but when I felt the true essence and energy of my body, there was no way I could ever harm it again.
My body was my temple, and I felt that on the deepest of levels.
Shortly into my spiritual awakening process I also adopted a vegetarian diet and started eating organic foods. I shifted my diet completely to foods that felt energetically good and aligned with who I was.
There is no one diet to fit all people. Instead, you have to get in touch with your body and work out what foods FEEL the best to your body.
Eating with Love
There is no such thing as food that is “naughty” or “cheat foods”, there is just food that is in alignment with you, and food that is not in alignment with you.
You don’t need to judge what foods you eat or other people eat, all you need to do is follow what feels best to you and what feels right to your body.
When you love yourself and align with yourself on an emotional and spiritual level, it allows you to eat the diet that is perfect for you and your body.
It also allows you to eat when you are genuinely feeling hungry and to stop when you are genuinely feeling full.
You don’t have to eat just because its lunchtime, and you don’t just have to eat cereal in the morning because it is a breakfast food.
All you need to do is listen to your body and eat things that make you feel good and vibrant and alive.
No matter the calorie count, when you eat real food that is prepared with love and when you eat it with love, not guilt or with the idea that is ‘bad’, that food will nourish and protect you in return.
Loving Yourself is Always the Answer
Loving yourself more is the answer to every problem out there.
While there is nothing wrong with wanting to feel good and lose weight, it may help to take a spiritual or energetic approach in order to truly get to heal your body from the inside out.
If you struggle with loving your body the way it is, perhaps activities like meditation will help you to get in touch with that awesome, infinite stream of energy that lives within you that is impossible not to love when you feel.
When you love yourself, inside and out, the rest truly takes care of itself. I can’t say that enough about everything in your life.
When you love yourself whole heartedly and eat foods that feel loving and in alignment with you, there will never be a need for you to go on a diet ever again.