Oh What A Beautiful Body!

What do you get when you gather 9 pilates trainers, 5 significant others, and a holiday get together? Answer: Alot of left over food and wine. This past holiday season has been especially busy for me, and the truth is, I simply can't pull my party weight like I used to. This seems to be an epidemic that is spreading amongst my friends and colleagues. Granted many are in the health industry and I have worked long enough to realize that many people who choose this profession are completely neurotic and obsessed with their looks/weight. But what do you expect when people are working in mirror walled rooms all day looking at themselves.

Regardless, it begs the question - Is there such a thing as being too healthy? Has our committment and discipline to our health and weight alienated our right to indulge every now and then? It all comes down to body image and becoming aware of how are thoughts affect our actions. Body image is clearly related to many psychological disorders and a cultural obsession with fad diets and and exercise trends.

Now to be completely fair, I am making a living based on this cultural obsession, but our number one goal when we opened our pilates studio was that no matter what, we wanted people walking out of our studio at the end of their session feeling better than when they walked in. While most times it is about the amazing work of pilates which speaks for itself, it is also about encouragement and empowerment.

The point is there are two sides to every story and living a healthy lifestyle simply makes our body more pure and less likely to crave things like alcohol and sugar that often accompany the holiday spirit. However, when it becomes to be less about what your body is actually feeling and more about control and fear, that is when we need to back up the bus, and check in with ourselves. Take this quiz to find out more about your body image.

If you are seeking some ways to be more positive and understand the connection of your thoughts to your body, check out Louise Hay's You Can Heal Your Life.

Tis the Season, so enjoy yourselves. And frankly, a splurge every now and then is not going to kill anyone. When all else fails, take the example of my 3 year old nephew who says "Oh What A Beautiful Body!" pretty much everytime he sees himself in the mirror:-)