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Post by tapati on Oct 30, 2009 22:10:20 GMT -5
Day One Assignment Find some images online, in card shops, in books or magazines, or elsewhere of women (or men) whose body type resembles your own. It’s OK if this project takes more than one day, but spend at least 15 minutes per day on it until you have assembled several images. You might color-copy or scan some images if you go to the library to find them. When it comes to magazines, you might look in something other than fashion-oriented issues. Try everything from National Geographic to alternative press titles. Pagan magazines are a good bet for a variety of images. Older woman can find some wonderful images in a deck of cards entitled “Wisdom of the Crone.” You can find them at www.wisdomofthecrone.com/home.html but note that the site has music that plays right away—not a good idea at work! These cards simply have beautiful images of women from all backgrounds in their “crone” years, plus a word like strength or courage to focus on for the day. Once you have those images, you can proceed to the next step. You will need to display them in a very visible place or even spread them throughout your home. You could choose to make a collage or frame them. Attach a small one to the bathroom mirror. Each day you will see these images and realize that someone thought that a woman who resembles you was worth photographing or drawing or painting. Let that soak in. Know that this photographed, painted, lovingly drawn woman possesses nothing that you don’t have. If she was worthy, you are worthy. Please use this thread to discuss or ask questions about this project.
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Post by tapati on Oct 31, 2009 10:19:40 GMT -5
Please also feel free to post links to images you've found that others might appreciate. If the images are of nude models, please just post the html link to the page after giving a brief warning for those who don't appreciate nudity. I do want to try to make this topic accessible to a wide range of women and not everyone is comfortable with nudes.
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Post by tapati on Nov 1, 2009 23:36:02 GMT -5
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sarah
New Member
Posts: 10
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Post by sarah on Nov 2, 2009 8:45:52 GMT -5
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Post by castor on Nov 2, 2009 9:07:50 GMT -5
Sarah, I love those pictures. I thought this might be a good site to link to too theshapeofamother.com/. The welcome page says this: Welcome One day I sat in a restaurant in Anaheim, California eating breakfast, when a woman passed by my table with her infant carrier in tow. As she lifted it up to fit between the tables, her shirt raised and I saw that, although she was at a healthy weight and her body was fit, she had that same extra skin hanging around her belly that I do. It occurred to me that a post-pregnancy body is one of this society's greatest secrets; all we see of the female body is that which is airbrushed and perfect, and if we look any different, we hide it from the light of day in fear of being seen. That makes me want to cry. Sure we all talk about the sagging boobs and other parts, but no one ever sees them. Or if they do, it's in comical form, mocking the beauty that created and nourished our children. It is my dream, then, to create this website where women of all ages, shapes, sizes and nationalities can share images of their bodies so it will no longer be secret. So we can finally see what women really look like sans airbrushes and plastic surgery. I think it would be nothing short of amazing if a few of our hearts are healed, or if we begin to cherish our new bodies which have done so much for the human race. What if the next generation grows up knowing how normal our bodies are? How truly awesome would that be? Join us now, click to enter. Note, however, that there is nudity contained within and this website is not considered safe for work. Peace
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mari
New Member
Posts: 9
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Post by mari on Nov 2, 2009 11:38:54 GMT -5
Thanks for the links to the pictures.
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Post by tapati on Nov 4, 2009 0:18:37 GMT -5
Thanks for the links to the pictures. You're welcome! We rarely get to see what real women's bodies look like.
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Post by Vyckie D. Garrison on Dec 15, 2009 9:17:05 GMT -5
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Post by philosophia on Dec 15, 2009 10:32:59 GMT -5
That Shape of a Mother website was great for me! My issues are more of "battle scars" from pregnancy than of size. (Unless it is "lack of size") This is good.
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Post by grandmalou on Dec 15, 2009 11:05:33 GMT -5
The website you told us about, Tapati, is going to be a good one! I will need to wait until I get somewhere that has high speed internet though. Linked on, waited forever (as usual with dial-up). However, the beginning music I heard just won me over! It was Native American flute, which is my very favorite, as it is so calming, and contains sounds of nature...birds singing, rain falling, whales with their sonar sounds? etc...I love it! Thank you so much for doing this "Body Images Workshop"...I am at the age where my body is a perfect 42... all the way up and down and sideways. Blech! And my dh now weighs less than I do, which really ticks me off!
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calulu
Junior Member
Posts: 76
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Post by calulu on Dec 15, 2009 12:55:58 GMT -5
Tapati, what a wonderful topic!
I've come to love my roundish shape so I'm not going to do the exercise but what taught me to love my body for it's own uniqueness was going to the gym daily. I started working out earlier this year for the first time in over twenty years.
I used to be a serious gym rat in my late teens early twenties, I modeled, I did a number of things you had to fit into that 'mold' to do. I hated, hated, hated it, felt like a whore, felt I never looked 'good enough' Looking back I can see I was quite lovely and a size six, there was nothing wrong with me. It was all in my head. I laugh at my younger stupider me now!
Going to the gym pushed all of my boundaries. I didn't start going to be 'skinny' but to improve my crappy lung function and develop a healthier post menopausal body. But the biggest challenge for me was walking into that locker room and undressing with everyone else. I felt I was going to be judged, shamed, put down for not being perfect. Years of fundie living had left me with some strange modesty issues.
What actually happened wasn't that at all. What happened was I realized I was just one of many with bodies that do not conform to societies false standards, that there's nothing wrong with my body. I've come to love it. I'm also intrigued by the bodies of others in there, I've started coming home and sketching out all the imperfect beauty I see in that locker room. It's been one of the most freeing revelations I've ever had.
And yes, I can now get nude in that dressing room without a thought for my body now.
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Post by tapati on Dec 15, 2009 16:22:39 GMT -5
That Shape of a Mother website was great for me! My issues are more of "battle scars" from pregnancy than of size. (Unless it is "lack of size") This is good. Good, I'm glad you found the right images for your own body image. One day my daughter looked at my stretch marks while I was in the bath tub. She was 9 years old. She told me they looked like beautiful ribbons of silk! Startled, I looked down at them and saw them as she was seeing them. She was right! They were beautiful if you didn't look at them with a preconceived notion that they were "bad" or "ugly." They shimmered and wound around my belly like a ribbon on a package. From that day on I realized I could fully accept and even appreciate them. This process is called reframing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reframing
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Post by tapati on Dec 15, 2009 17:01:11 GMT -5
The website you told us about, Tapati, is going to be a good one! I will need to wait until I get somewhere that has high speed internet though. Linked on, waited forever (as usual with dial-up). However, the beginning music I heard just won me over! It was Native American flute, which is my very favorite, as it is so calming, and contains sounds of nature...birds singing, rain falling, whales with their sonar sounds? etc...I love it! Thank you so much for doing this "Body Images Workshop"...I am at the age where my body is a perfect 42... all the way up and down and sideways. Blech! And my dh now weighs less than I do, which really ticks me off! The site with the crone cards? I love the cards themselves. This is a commercial but it's also a wonderful representation of older women: You're welcome!
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Post by tapati on Dec 15, 2009 17:54:43 GMT -5
Tapati, what a wonderful topic! I've come to love my roundish shape so I'm not going to do the exercise but what taught me to love my body for it's own uniqueness was going to the gym daily. I started working out earlier this year for the first time in over twenty years. ... Going to the gym pushed all of my boundaries. I didn't start going to be 'skinny' but to improve my crappy lung function and develop a healthier post menopausal body. But the biggest challenge for me was walking into that locker room and undressing with everyone else. I felt I was going to be judged, shamed, put down for not being perfect. Years of fundie living had left me with some strange modesty issues. What actually happened wasn't that at all. What happened was I realized I was just one of many with bodies that do not conform to societies false standards, that there's nothing wrong with my body. I've come to love it. I'm also intrigued by the bodies of others in there, I've started coming home and sketching out all the imperfect beauty I see in that locker room. It's been one of the most freeing revelations I've ever had. And yes, I can now get nude in that dressing room without a thought for my body now. How wonderful! Yes you see all kinds of bodies when the clothing is stripped away with the foundational garments that hold things in gone and the truth is revealed: none of our bodies are ever factory-perfect. We aren't popped out of molds with quality control people weeding out the rejects who don't quite fit. We are living, breathing women with warts and birth marks and scars and stretch marks and gravity makes our most beautiful attributes sag over time. We're HUMAN, and that is beautiful! Each one of us is unique, one of a kind, never to be duplicated. Priceless.
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