On this last day of the challenge, rather than present you with a specific practice, I invite you to reflect on your own favorites. What do you love to do that you rarely make time for? What one thing, when you’ve remembered or made time for it, always makes you think “Why don’t I do that more often?” What practice, done with your full focus and attention, leaves you feeling at peace with yourself, more connected inside and out?

Spend some time mulling this over — you may even want to do a free write, starting with the prompt “When I make time to…” and writing by hand without stopping for about 5 minutes. This will get your creative juices flowing, and shift you from brain memory to body memory. Maybe you forget how much you love taking baths, and that you have some amazing bath salts that are still unopened. Maybe you loved that foot massage earlier in the week and want to make a habit of giving those puppies some love on a regular basis. Maybe you never make time to get a mani-pedi and remember that your favorite local place is offering a special.

Whatever comes up, that is your practice for today. If it’s something you actually do on a regular basis, like getting a manicure or taking a bath, try to come up with something that’s truly a stretch, a forgotten or neglected yummy activity that never fails to bring you in tune with your deepest sensuality and self-love.

Thanks for taking this journey with me. I hope it has served you, reminded you how big an impact small bits of attention and compassion can have, and given you some good things to add to your repertoire of daily activities and self-care. Share your ‘freestyle’ body love practice with us by posting on the blog. And stay tuned for an offering that will take this topic further, and teach you how to start the new year with even more Body Love!

Perhaps you’ve had such a busy week that there hasn’t really been time to devote to each days’ challenge; if so, can you carve out some time this weekend for a mini-retreat of foot massage, dance, breath awareness and conscious eating? Wow, my whole being relaxed just writing that, and it could all be done within the space of an hour. Just one hour and you could shift your whole weekend…

Now on to today’s practice, a restorative yoga posture called legs-up-the-wall pose. The antithesis of active, demanding postures and movements, restorative yoga is about resting fully, often with the aid of pillows, blankets and other props, so that the nervous system and muscles can let go on the deepest levels. It is one of the most luxurious and therapeutic forms of stress relief I know; if this experience should spark a desire to explore further, I highly recommend the seminal book on the subject, Relax and Renew by yoga teacher and physical therapist Judith Lasater.

Here’s how you do it: First pick a place either on the floor or on a bed where you will have clear access to empty wall space. Gather some pillows and a folded blanket or towel to have handy in case you need to adjust for comfort once you are in the pose; you may also want to have an eyebag or clean sock to place over your eyes. Make sure that you have at least 5 uninterrupted minutes for this experience.

Lay on your back with your tush as close to the wall as possible and swing your legs up so you are in an L shape with your legs resting on the wall. You may be able to skooch yourself right up to the wall, or need to be an inch or two away. You can try putting a blanket or pillow under your tush to take some of the strain off the back of your legs, and may want to put a pillow under your head or a rolled towel under your neck for more support, and the eyebag or sock over your eyes so that they too can rest fully.

The goal of this posture is to feel totally supported by the wall, the floor or bed beneath you, and whatever pillows or props you need to surrender your body 100%. Your arms should be away from your body, palms up and fully relaxed; you can also play with placing them up over your head for a nice torso stretch.

 Ahhhh…let go completely into the pose. Adjust as needed to make sure every part of your body is comfortably supported and relaxed. This pose is a wonderful way to release the hamstrings at the back of the thigh, reduce low back strain and revive the legs.

Come out slowly, taking time to lie on your right side before sitting up. Repeat as often as needed! And please do post a comment to let me know how it goes…

Most of the time, even if we’re eating something really delicious and special, we are doing so in a somewhat mechanical way. Maybe we’re eating with others and focusing on the conversation, so that after that first delicious bite or two our awareness shifts away from what we are putting into our mouths. Maybe we’re sitting at our desk, or driving in the car, and just putting food in so we can fuel ourselves for the next burst of activity. But how often do you fully experience every nuance of what you are eating as you are eating it?

Meditation takes many forms, and today it is about mindful eating. And while you can bring mindful awareness to any meal, for this exercise you’re going to do it with a single piece of fruit.

First, take the fruit you have chosen and hold it in your hand. Feel the weight of it, the texture of the skin, the shape of its contours. Take your time with this exploration; try closing your eyes to heighten your tactile sensitivity.

Then look at this piece of fruit; really see the gradations of color and size, examining the stem end that was once connected to a tree, any markings or ridges or bumps that catch the light in different ways.

Next bring it to your nose and inhale its fragrance. Is it strong or subtle? If you were to smell it without seeing or touching it, would  you recognize it?

On to the eating; is it a fruit you can simply bite into or does it need to be peeled? If so, you will have a chance to feel and smell on several other levels before tasting. And when you take that first bite, bring all of your awareness to the activity and stop at one.

Feel the texture of what has just come into your mouth — let the juiciness and flavor play on your tongue and palate. Chew slowly and thoroughly, until the texture becomes something different. You will probably notice that the flavor changes too as it breaks down and mixes with your saliva. Wait until you have gotten all you can from that one bite before swallowing and moving on to the next.

Take each bite as if it is the first…breathe and enjoy engaging fully with this ripe, delicious, life-giving piece of fruit. Experience it as it goes from your mouth down your esophagus and into your stomach. Envision it sending vitality and nourishment to all of your cells. Enjoy every delicious nuance! And play with bringing this level of awareness and sensitivity to each meal, even if only for a few precious bites.

Today things get a bit more revealing — literally. Today’s practice is to spend at least 5 minutes in front of the mirror without anything on.  We’re used to checking our faces, putting on makeup, fussing with our hair, plucking our eyebrows or brushing our teeth, and probably look in a full length mirror just to check our outfit and make sure everything matches and lays smoothly.

But when was the last time you really looked at yourself, taking in every curve and lump and scar and sag? And if so, were you saying mostly critical things or were you revelling in the beauty of the body that has served you well for so many years?

This might be uncomfortable or anxiety provoking. It might be something you do every day without flinching (if so, please do post below to let me know!). But today, for just a little while, spend time with your naked self in front of the mirror without judgment or sarcasm.

See yourself as you would view a great painting by Rubens or Van Gough. Look with the eyes of a lover who sees you for exactly who you are — the woman who has borne children, or had surgeries, or lost a breast, or struggled with her weight — and adores what he or she sees because it is the manifestation of the beloved. Express gratitude for the arms that carry, the legs that stride purposefully, the belly that digests and softens with time and expands to take a deep breath.

Appreciate; enjoy; take pride; this amazing vehicle carries you through life, enduring tight shoes and bras and jeans that are too snug but make your butt look great. It’s the only home you’ve got and it is a perfectly crafted vessel. Give it the love, attention and honor it deserves.

Not to get too anatomy and physiology on you, I truly believe that any person living in a body should have some working comprehension of how their lungs and ribcage actually work. It’s easy enough to say “take a deep breath” but most of us have fallen into unconscious patterns of breathing that inhibit the fullest expression of inhalation and exhalation. This effects EVERYTHING — our blood flow, our muscles, our nervous system, our emotions and our ability to respond to stress, positive or negative.

What I want to remind you of and have you experience today is the amazing multi-dimensionality of the breathing process. You probably tend to envision your breath as something that happens in the front of your body — if anything you’re most likely aware of the rise and fall of your chest and abdomen. But the ribcage is a marvel of circular motion; it operates more like a balloon than anything else. Between each rib are small muscles called intercostals that can tighten and constrict breathing if they are not fully engaged and exercised, which is what full, deep breathing can do.

So today’s practice is to spend 5 to 10 minutes being fully present with your breath. Try placing your hands on different parts of your torso so you can connect more fully with the action of your ribs as they open and close. Feel the movement in your sides; at the upper part of your chest near your collarbones; in the back, expanding out from below your shoulderblades.

Your lungs, those marvelous lobes that work in conjunction with your ribs, are only used at about 30% of their capacity in automatic, unconscious breathing. With attention and practice, we can engage them more fully, oxygenating all of our tissues and the very cells they are comprised of. We become more efficient at moving fluids through all of our systems, helping us stay juicy and vital.

What can I say, I’m a freak for full body breathing! It is without a doubt the very best thing you can do for the health of your entire being — body, mind, spirit — and also connects you with every living thing on the planet as we all take in and release precious gases. If you only incorporate one of this week’s practices into your daily life, make it this one. It will truly show your body that you love it…

The feet are a marvel of physical engineering. They are each composed of over 30 bones  that articulate in many different directions. They support us, move us through space, endure being closed into shoes that are designed for form more than function, and bear whatever weight we carry in our bodies. They are full of nerve endings and have inspired an entire field of study, reflexology, that when done well can leave you feeling as if you’ve had a full body massage.

So take at least five minutes per foot and give back a little to a  part that gives so much and can sometimes be the Rodney Dangerfield of the body. Find a comfortable position where you can access one foot at a time without compromising your back or neck. It may be on a chair with one ankle crossed over the opposite knee, or on the floor with a leg in front of you supported by the floor or on a pillow. Above all, be sure that you can reach your feet without putting some other parts out of whack!

Begin with some overall rubbing and kneading, warming the flesh and muscles and getting familiar with the contours. Some areas will want more pressure, and sensitive areas will open beneath a firm, direct touch. If your fingers get tired, try using the knuckles — a great alternative is to make a fist and run the knuckles from top to the bottom several times.

Then begin to get more specific; pay close attention to the bottoms of the feet, the arches and the fleshy ball below the toes. Spend some time in the grooves on the top of the foot, the metatarsal area below each toe. And don’t forget to focus on each toe individually; squeezing, pressing, separating, rotating, massaging the spaces between as well.

And as you connect with each foot, RELAX AND BREATHE! Remember, this is a love fest, not a workout. It’s a chance to be with a body part that might experience pain, have bunions or corns, be calloused and rough or super sensitive and really in need of pampering.

When you are done, stand still for a few moments and simply feel the difference in how your feet are connecting to the floor. How does the rest of your body feel? When can you do this again, or share it with someone you love? I’ve always felt that the world would be a better place if we all could end our day with our feet in each other’s laps, giving them some loving care and letting the stresses of the day drift away…

The most basic ground rule for this week (and a good one for the rest of life as well) is that you enter into each practice wholeheartedly and mindfully. What exactly does that mean? It means that you hold the intention to remain loving, attentive and open-minded as you take time each day to experience what is presented. And if you get to the end of the day and find you haven’t taken the time to do the practice, you continue to be extremely kind and compassionate with yourself rather than blaming and shaming.

There is as much to be learned from what we choose not to do as what we choose to do. Perhaps one day’s practice touched a place of stuckness or sadness or a sense of “oh, that sounds too simple, why bother?” and you can’t bring yourself to do it. Perhaps you really were too busy to carve out even five minutes of practice time; what does that tell you about how you fill your schedule, handle the unexpected curveballs that life throws you, or bounce back from a rough meeting or family interaction?

Whether you take the time to engage fully or fall into bed without an ounce of energy left to read and follow that day’s post, at the end of each day try this – spend a few minutes writing about how your experienced that practice or what you felt by skipping it. And if you don’t even have the energy or wherewithal to write, simply lay with one hand on your heart and one hand on your lower abdomen and bring awareness to how you are feeling right now. Acknowledge any celebrations or disappointments without judgment. No praise, no blame, simply spending a moment to be present and bask in the truth of whatever arises. That is often more than any of us do in the course of a busy day.

OK, now on to our first experience! Whether your weekend was spent in continuous eating mode, from the feasting on Thursday through the picking at leftovers that often follows, or you got to spend lots of time outside, enjoying the relatively mild temperatures (as we are having here in the Northeast), or anything in between, take a moment to check in with your body right now.

Stuck and stagnant or loose and energized, we begin by moving in a pleasurable, rhythmic, sensuous way – with dance. Whether you love to dance or feel that you’ve always been incredibly uncoordinated, this is a time to focus on the inner feeling of movement rather than the outer image you think you’re projecting. Today you will “dance as if no one is watching,” and in fact no one should be – this and each of the modules in this weeklong challenge are for you and you alone (although you are absolutely invited to share them with a friend who can also do them in the privacy of her home or office).

We’ll begin with about 10-20 minutes of full body movement. First, pick music that inspires you to move. Fast or slow doesn’t matter – what song always gets your hips swaying, your feet tapping or your hands drumming when it comes on? What CD has taken up residence in your player or on your iPod and become the current background music for your life?

Put that on in a room where you can have privacy and preferably no view of a mirror. Turn it up as loud as you can stand so you really feel the vibration of the bass and the beat. Stand still for about 30 seconds and let the movement come from deep inside of you. You may want to start slow even if the music is fast, and focus more on the feeling of movement in your limbs and torso than on keeping pace with the rhythm.

As you are moving, bring awareness to every part with a mental body scan – really hone in on the articulation in the joints of your feet and ankles, wrists and shoulders, spine and pelvis.  Are your knees a little stiff and wanting some protection? Do your hips feel fluid and sexy or stuck and creaky? Can you bring a little more breath and compassion to the stuck places? Really revel in the fluid, sensual, high-energy parts?

The main point of this exercise is to feel your way through it; to breathe and stretch and sway and stomp and focus fully on what you feel as you do it. It’s easy to move through your days without actually inhabiting your body – lots of people read or watch TV while exercising, or walk while chatting with a friend. There’s nothing wrong with that, if it gets you doing what you need to do; it’s just not the same as the presence, love and awareness you’ll be reaching for today and throughout this week.

Go, enjoy, and remember to comment on the blog about your experience!

It feels especially important, as we head into this time of holiday busyness, gatherings, and indulgences, to make sure you take some time for yourself and feel good about yourself. And that’s what this challenge is all about. During the time you take each day to shower, dress, apply makeup, exercise, or whatever basic maintenance you are committed to, how much of it do you spend really appreciating, pampering, having positive regard for and consciously loving your amazing, strong, busy body?

Join us by FOLLOWING THIS BLOG (IN THE BOX TO THE RIGHT). Make sure to check for and click the link in your email confirmation! You will then receive the daily challenges as they are posted here, and hopefully come back to the blog to share your experiences. Let us know what you are thinking — what are you finding fun, difficult, goofy or upsetting? Where do you get stuck? What are you learning that is surprising you?

I also encourage you to keep a journal as you go through the week, or draw, take photos, make a collage. You will reap even more benefits if you exercise some form of creative expression as an outlet for the thoughts and feelings that will come up as you go through the week.

The first day of the challenge is Monday, November 28th. Look for your first email then!

While I am ever-so-grateful for air conditioning and can’t imagine living without it, it can also get pretty stifling. I begin to feel like I’m hermetically sealed and long for the real air that is most accessible in the late evenings and early mornings.

Summer also invites you to forgo clothes from time to time and really BE WITH YOUR BODY. One of the tenets of The Body Love Solution is to learn to love the one you’re in, no matter what it looks like. And let’s face it, as we go deeper into our 40′s, 50′s and 60′s, it does not look like the image we have in our heads!

Whether that image is based on what used to be or on external images of slimness, firmness or overall buff-ness, the reality is we get soft. We get fluffy (my way of describing the bloat and fullness that comes with age). We have sags and scars and veins and pouches. And we are beautiful.

ALL BODIES ARE BEAUTIFUL.

Not necessarily because of how they look but because of who we are. We have worked in them, we have birthed and nourished children with them, we exercise them or not. We make love with them, we bring in the groceries and haul out the garbage with them, we live every moment of our lives in them. They are the cathedrals for our spirits, and they deserve love and respect. They are the manifestation of our very being.

So give yourself a chance to really see and love your body — just because it’s yours. Spend some time naked. Not for sexual reasons (although sex is a perfectly good thing to do with a naked body, it’s not the point here), but because that’s how you came into this world. That’s the package you are so often trying to change, perfect, and mold to some image that you rarely take time to honor it in its current incarnation.

Go ahead, get naked. Hang out. Dance around. Really inhabit your body just as it is. Love the one you’re in, ’cause it’s the only one you’ll get in this lifetime…

And let me know what that’s like for you by posting a response below.

If you are feeling at war with the body you live in, or simply disgruntled and frustrated, you are in the right place. The Body Love Solution is about finding your way to loving the body you are in, even if there are things you want to change, or parts that hurt, or more freckles than you think any face should have to wear.

We only get to live in one body (in any given lifetime, at least), and yet so many of us don’t feel truly at home in them. They are so often seen as a project — lose weight, get fit, cleanse, find clothes to cover perceived imperfections — rather than a beautiful, sacred place that carries us through all of our experiences and is a deeply connected whole rather than a big bundle of parts.

Stay tuned for insights, aha’s, tools and tips for becoming a more joyfully embodied human being. Learn to take all of you every step of the way through the mysterious journey of life…