Afghan Girls in Rwanda Receive a Be Body Positive Workshop posted by Elizabeth Scott / April 28, 2023 School of Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA) Begins Again in Rwanda Remember the images of the airport in Kabul as thousands of desperate people attempted to leave Afghanistan as the Taliban marched into the city following the American withdrawal? In the summer of 2021, that was just where 250 students, teachers, and staff from the girls School of Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA) found themselves as they attempted to escape a country where educating girls was about to, yet again, be made illegal ..read more

Mud & Magnolia: Declaring Your Authentic Beauty This Spring   posted by Martha Krausz / April 10, 2023 On the night of the vernal equinox (here in the northern hemisphere), I participated in a meditation with spiritual guide and yoga teacher, Clara Roberts Oss. Some of our Zoom rooms showed dimly lit squares, bedrooms flickering with easy flames; others burned a bright blue-white of an overhead kitchen light. Some boxes were motionless with only the silhouette of a cross legged form, others a flash of a body still fixing, situating, arriving. Together we were a quilt of dark an ..read more

Will You Be Your Valentine? Gifts for Cultivating Self-Love   posted by Martha Krausz/ February 14, 2023 When I was in college studying Virginia Woolf among the Jersey-cowed fields of rural Massachusetts, my mother would send me boxes of See’s Candy. In February, the black and white checkers would brighten into red cushioned hearts, holding an assortment of dark and milk nuts, truffles, and chews. Reaching into the mailbox to upright the slanted heart, I would hear the crimped paper cups slide back into place. From Mama Bear, to my Mouse the card read. Each year, I would take my Val ..read more

Now… Now… and Now…   posted by Connie Sobczak / July 31, 2021  “It’s human nature to want to bind ourselves to the parts of life we hold dear whether those parts are actual people, events, items, or dreams. We want to fasten them to us so they’re safe and near us forever. But this type of binding frays and tears until, even when we fight the awareness, we’re forced to see how illusory the reliance on permanence is. What we have, in all its glory, to hug and hold, to caress and learn, to feel and grow, is simply right here and right now.” —Michele Harper, MD The Beauty In The Br ..read more

Now… Now… and Now…   posted by Connie Sobczak / July 31, 2021  “It’s human nature to want to bind ourselves to the parts of life we hold dear whether those parts are actual people, events, items, or dreams. We want to fasten them to us so they’re safe and near us forever. But this type of binding frays and tears until, even when we fight the awareness, we’re forced to see how illusory the reliance on permanence is. What we have, in all its glory, to hug and hold, to caress and learn, to feel and grow, is simply right here and right now.” —Michele Harper, MD The Beauty In The Br ..read more

The Personal and the Political: Body Neutrality and Body Positivity   posted by Leah Berkenwald / May 24, 2021 The views expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Brandeis University or The Body Positive. Something is happening. More and more, I am hearing people suggest that we reject “body positivity” in favor of “body neutrality.” They imply that “body neutrality” is somehow more socially just – more inclusive – than “body positivity.” The work I have done in the field of health promotion and specifically body positive educat ..read more

Fat Liberation, Diet Culture, and Reimagining Our World   posted by Dariana Guerrero / May 14, 2021 Trigger Warnings: diet culture, shaming, fatphobia, descriptions of dieting, and disordered eating   In 1973 a group of radical fat therapists created The Fat Underground[1], a collective of fat folks radicalizing the space of therapy to focus on eating disorders, unpack fat phobia, and interrogate the health care industrial complex that so often marginalizes fat people for just being fat. Sara Golda Bracha Fishman co-founder of The Fat Underground implicates the medical fie ..read more

The Personal and the Political: Body Neutrality and Body Positivity   posted by Leah Berkenwald / May 24, 2021 Something is happening. More and more, I am hearing people suggest that we reject “body positivity” in favor of “body neutrality.” They imply that “body neutrality” is somehow more socially just – more inclusive – than “body positivity.” The work I have done in the field of health promotion and specifically body positive education has trained me to be mindful – to pay attention to my body and how I feel in it. Each time I hear someone say “body neutrality,” I experience ..read more

Fat Liberation, Diet Culture, and Reimagining Our World   posted by Dariana Guerrero / May 14, 2021 Trigger Warnings: diet culture, shaming, fatphobia, descriptions of dieting, and disordered eating   In 1973 a group of radical fat therapists created The Fat Underground[1], a collective of fat folks radicalizing the space of therapy to focus on eating disorders, unpack fat phobia, and interrogate the health care industrial complex that so often marginalizes fat people for just being fat. Sara Golda Bracha Fishman co-founder of The Fat Underground implicates the medical fie ..read more

A Message About Planting a Seed   posted by Sarah Kessner / February 17, 2021 In the spirit of self-compassion, I wanted to speak a little to planting a seed, and the importance of reminding myself of this when I’m feeling stuck. I learned about The Body Positive upon a random internet search. I don’t really remember what I was looking for, except that I wanted relief from my suffering around an eating disorder I felt like I couldn’t get a handle on. And I found a blog post written by Connie Sobczak around honoring our changing bodies and appetites during the colder seasons. And I f ..read more