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  • Home
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  • / What is Body Neutrality, and Why it Matters

What is Body Neutrality, and Why it Matters

Kim Rounsefell·January 31, 2020
What is Body Neutrality, and Why it Matters - thankubody
Photo by Ryan Bruce from Burst

 

Imagine a day where you don't think about your body, or spend hours ruminating on things you don't like about it. You don't feel pressure to feel 'positive' about your body. You feel neither positive nor negative—rather more neutral.

 

Body Neutrality, like Mindfulness for the Body

Body neutrality is like a mindfulness practice for the body. The aim is to work toward feeling greater body acceptance by learning to acknowledge body thoughts and feelings that come and go daily without judging them good, bad, or otherwise. 

Body neutrality can help you become less invested in negative body thoughts that impact how you feel about your body. This leaves more room to listen and respond to the internal needs of your body (e.g., stress, tiredness, feeling hungry or full) with greater compassion.

 

Why Body Neutrality as opposed to Body Love?

Our bodies continuously change, evolve, age, get sick, endure injury, go through challenging times. It's difficult (if not impossible) to feel positive about our bodies all the time. Feeling positive about your body may seem unachievable. If this is the case, this is entirely a normal feeling to have. 

Body neutrality offers a feasible way to work toward improving your relationship with your body without the pressure of feeling like you have to be positive about it. It's like finding a midway point between negative body image and positive body image. 

 

How to Start Practicing Body Neutrality

The three ingredients when working toward body neutrality is i) observation, ii) non-judgment, and iii) self-compassion.  Start slow, when you notice a body thought or feeling enters your mind, acknowledge that it's there.

Try not to force it from your mind as this can make it feel more intense. Try not to judge it, notice it's there, and that's okay. This practice can take time to master if it helps take a breath or a short walk to see if you can move through it. 

Finally, and importantly treat you and your thoughts gently; with kindness and compassion, there's no right or wrong in this process. 

 

"It's OK if you don't feel comfortable or at ease in your body today. Just notice. Observe. Be curious. You don't have to judge. Be present with those emotions. And most importantly, offer yourself compassion" - Nicole McDermid

 

More Things You Might Like

Read: How to Evaluate Media for Friendly Body Image Content 
Read: What is Body Neutrality? (Happiful Magazine)
Zine: 50 Kind Ways to Protect Your Body Image
Zine: Pain is Really Strange

 

What is Body Neutrality, and Why it Matters 

 

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2 comments

  • That’s so great to hear Shelly thank you for sharing this. It’s such an important concept and differentiator from terms like body love or self-love that can lead us to feel like we must love everything about ourselves. But taking small steps to switch the focus to appreciating small things our bodies try to do to support us (and they’re not always perfect at it) can make all the difference.

    Kim on January 05, 2021

  • You know I never even heard of body neutrality until I came across this one article, https://www.ez.insure/landing/2021/01/body-neutrality-vs-body-positivity/ . It made me dig deeper into the concept, and I think it is great and everyone should do it! I am personally taking part in it now by writing down what my body does for me all the great things it has done, like grow kids, and continues to do for me. Thank you for writing about this, I hope it reaches more people!

    Shelly on January 05, 2021

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