How often do you find yourself relating to your body as a physical being rather than a physical object? Celebrating what it can do for you instead of fixating on how it looks in the mirror? If you’re like most people, not often! All too often we find ourselves comparing how our body looks to narrowly-defined cultural ideals that are unhealthy, unsustainable, and just plain inaccessible!
In this episode, Dr. Jennifer Webb, associate professor at UNC Charlotte, and Yael discuss strategies for responding to the cultural messages that we receive in ways that cultivate body kindness and inclusivity.
Listen and Learn:
- How looking at our body as process is more useful than looking at our body as an object
- How body shaming de-motivates healthy behaviors
- How to integrate an acceptance and commitment therapy take on “body flexibility”
- Specific practices to cultivate body flexibility and kindness
About Dr. Webb:
Jennifer Webb, Ph.D., is a clinical health psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Webb is also the Director of the MIND-BATCH Lab at UNC Charlotte, which is dedicated to furthering research about positive psychology, mindfulness, body acceptance, culture, and health. Her research is informed by multiculturally inclusive values and Dr. Webb is specifically interested in the experience of young ethnic minority women as well as the effects of weight-related body shaming and the mind-body connection on appetite, metabolism, and weight. Dr. Webb received her bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Neuroscience from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Southern California.
Resources:
To learn more about Jennifer’s research, follow these links:
- https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jennifer_Webb2
- https://www.researchgate.net/lab/MIND-BATCH-Lab-Jennifer-B-Webb
- Realizing Yoga’s All-Access Pass: A Social Justice Critique of Westernized Yoga and Inclusive Movement
- Is “Yoga Bod” the New Skinny?: A Comparative Content Analysis of Mainstream of Yoga Lifestyle Magazine Covers
- The interview with Jennifer on the Body Kindness podcast
To learn more about yoga inclusivity resources, check out the following:
- Yoga and Body Image Coalition
- Accessible Yoga
- Decolonizing Yoga
- Body Positive Yoga
- Curvy Yoga
- Jessamyn Stanley
- Dianne Bondy
- Yes! Yoga Has Curves
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