Learn to feel Strong Body Love

Earlier in the month I was somehow extremely lucky to receive an email with the conference code for Ashley Burnett's self love conference. Since it was over the phone I, like many others, expected it to be something addressing a group of people who were very self loathing. What I got was the exact opposite.While on the line with Ashley and hundreds of other women I somehow felt that she was speaking directly to me and guiding me to the tools I really need. For an hour I took notes (five pages) and participated in meditation exercises - definitely not something I expected!

Ashley teaches about how despite women coming into power, there is still this aspect of not fulling loving ourselves. We have the ability to move towards beautiful and loving relationships with ourselves, so why don't we? For whatever reason(s) we are standing in our own way, and therefore missing out on the large amounts of people we can impact if we were in a space of complete love and confidence.

But how does one achieve such a thing? It seems really hard, but by the end of the call I was already feeling so much better about myself. Set your intentions. For me it was to be comfortable in all aspects of life. But you also need to establish what you would really like and why. Ashley offers quite a few programs, but the one she used to aid this call was her Body Compassion Boot-Camp. It is there that you will learn how to set your intentions in a very clear way and work on different ways to achieve these intentions. The course lasts six weeks and actually has a new session starting on Tuesday. If you feel that you are ready to or need to end a war with your body, stop negative thoughts about it, create a positive image of yourself, start eating clean, get to the next level of your physicality, or feel free in your body then this is definitely a program for you.

(Obviously) I also mean that if you are sick of diets that don't work and want to learn what you are doing wrong and how to take charge and make change, then this is how. Diets are designed to deprive and almost always backfire, she will teach you. You have to learn to love and respect yourself before any method of weight loss can work. Another thing she teaches you is that what you think can really impact how your brain reacts to things. If you've ever heard the saying "Telling a lie long enough enables you to believe that it is true yourself, though you know it is not," or something along those lines... this is exactly the same. If you say you hate your body enough, eventually you will. BUT YOU CAN REVERSE THAT.

"[Manifesting is] a process and always remember: thoughts grow stronger as they're shared, so say it out loud to the Universe, [write] it down, and share it with your friends!" she told me in an email. If you feel bad about your body but want to change that, than why not let everyone know? Since the call I've emailed back and forth with her a few times about if I would be able to participate in the program or not and also about blogging about her program. Never did I imagine that I would be so impacted by a call or further impacted by emails. I decided to ask her a few questions, so you can get to know a little bit more about her line of thinking:

BRIDGETTE: Would you say you're happier now that you've begun to help others?
ASHLEY: I've always known I've meant to do work that's of service to others...and in a way I always have.  Teaching dance, massage therapy, and coaching have all been areas of service based work that I've engaged in and it's all been very rewarding.  I will say that this does contribute to my happiness--to help people live more fulfilling, connected, and fully expressed lives.

B: In three words, can you describe Body Compassion Boot-Camp?
A: Strong Body Love (smiles) Or empowering, life-changing, and confidence-building.

TRIGGER WARNING: EATING DISORDERS. The following question is directly about eating disorders, but I felt it was an important question to ask, and I personally love her answer.

B: To any girl struggling with a disorder - anorexia, bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder, EDNOS, etc - do you have any advice or words of encouragement?
A: I have not struggled personally with any of these disorders but here's what I'd say to these women: YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL, you are powerful beyond measure, and you are wonderfully imperfect. You have a beautiful body and it is truly, truly AMAZING. It’s worthy of your LOVE and affection—it’s done SO MUCH for you over your life so far and will continue to do so, it deserves to be your BFF... Think about all the time, over all the years that you’ve wasted on thinking negative thoughts about your body and yourself. All time spent in your head and not in your body, driving yourself seriously crazy. All the comparison and judgment began. Here’s the thing, it’s not your fault.  You weren’t born hating your body…you were taught to hate it. But now it's time to let go and LOVE, love, love.

She has also done an in-depth interview with Michelle Konstantinovsky of the Huffington Post which you can read here. If there's anything you can take away from this it is to just love yourself. Without loving yourself you cannot create change in yourself as a person, in your workplace, or in life. If you think negatively about yourself, acknowledge that you do so and work on learning to be positive when you think of yourself or look in the mirror. And always, always know that you have to forgive yourself for whatever harmful thinking you have done and be open to receiving love from yourself and the Universe. Check back in the next month for blogs about my personal reflections since participating.

Photos were taken from the Strong Body Love website. Unfortunately I myself am not participating in this program at this time - this is why - but she has been so helpful in trying to accommodate me and helping me over email, so I do encourage that if you can take any of her classes that you do so. Stay tuned for my final thoughts on my Vita Vox Box and blogs about some companies that I'm really loving.