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TEXTOTJE VAN DER LELIJILLUSTRATIONSLUCY DRISCOLL‘WHEN I’M ON MY RACING BIKE OR MEDITATING,
I AM MY BODY AGAIN AND I DO NOT JUDGE IT’the health aspect: The body can
digest food, absorb vitamins and heal
from injuries. Another focused on the
creative side: You can dance, paint
and write with your body. They also
wrote about their senses, physical
achievements and what the body
can do in relating to others: You can
cuddle with it, make love and make
eye contact. After writing three
different times, the women already
had a more positive body image and
felt better about how they looked. An
effect that still lasted a month later.”
I can totally imagine how that would
work. My relationship to my body has
changed since becoming a mother. I’ve
become kinder to it. That’s possibly
due to this mind shift from thinking
about how my body looks to how it
functions. I found it nothing short of a
miracle that my two girls grew in my
body, were fed by my body, and still
are wrapped in hugs by my body every
day. What I was not yet as conscious
of is that I also use my body to dance,
write and make music. And that it’s
actually quite special that my body so
clearly indicates when I’m overdoing it
(‘Stop!’) or feeling inspired (‘Continue!’).
My body is much more than the
aesthetic object that I’ve always been
critical of for not living up to the beauty
ideal. It plays a major role in everything
that makes my life worthwhile. My
body is actually my best friend.READING FACES
“Many people think that once you’re
satisfied with your body, you’ll ‘give
up’, as it were,” Alleva says. “But itworks the other way around: The
more you love your body, the better
you’ll want to take care of it.”
I can relate to that, too. I’ve started
eating healthier, exercising more and
putting the brakes on quicker when
things are stressing me out. And I’ll
definitely pass on things like Botox.
I think that Botox is too easily being
seen as similar to coloring your hair
or waxing your legs. Botox is actually
a poison that is injected into your
facial muscles, paralyzing them;
that’s what makes the wrinkles fade.
However, research has shown that
these muscles play an important
role in communicating: They are
important for reading as well as
feeling emotions. When you let
Botox do its work, you not only
disguise your own emotions, you
can’t read others’ facial expressions
as well anymore, either. We recognize
emotions by imitating them very
subtly. Botox disrupts that imitation
process by paralyzing your own facial
muscles, thereby limiting your ability
to see other people’s emotions.
Switching off one of my body’s
functions feels more like a mutilation
than a prettification. Not something
I’d call ‘being kind to your body’.AT HOME IN YOUR BODY
My relationship with my body has
improved even more since I started
exercising and meditating. When I’m
on my racing bike or meditating, I
am my body again and I do not judge
it. It seems as if the distance I always
felt to my body has become smalleras a result—I experience more
oneness. Perhaps this also explains
the current popularity of yoga and
meditation. People are in their heads
so much that they really need to feel
their body again now and then.
According to Young, who also
practices yoga and meditation, you
gain a more complete picture of your
own body on the yoga mat. “By slowly
stretching and bending you regain
a sense of your body because
you become aware of what usually
is unconscious,” he says. “Not only
visually, but also from the inside out.”
You experience a richer idea of
yourself, which Young compares to
a “kind of interior design”: you start
to feel at home again in your interior. I
recognize myself in these poetic words.
When I stretch or meditate, I become
aware of muscle groups I had forgotten
I had. I feel the air flow in and out of
my lungs, and notice where tension is
residing in my body. At such a moment
I feel very physical, very close to
myself. Just like on that beautiful day
on the riverbed of the Loire where I
played so happily as a little girl. I had
no body then; I was my body.