Moving Towards Spring and Connecting with Your Positive Body Image
Dear Deep Soul,
The beautiful month of March indicates that the Earth is starting to slowly warm up, and we are moving closer to the beginning of Spring on March 20, 2023.
Many people are eager to move ahead and get to warmer and longer days—like NOW!
It is coming for sure. However, when I get this form of spring fever, I find myself not being in the present moment. To bring me back, when I find myself “futurizing” I remind myself to get back to the present and enjoy this winter period. We are seeing record amounts of snow, rain, and freezing temperatures in places and areas that don’t normally get this kind of weather. Winter is not over yet!
As the seasons guide me through what happens outside, they are also a beautiful reminder of what is happening within me. What about you? Allow this “wintering” phase to continue. Do what you do in winter—nestle in, read a good book, cook a warm meal, watch the night skies, talk to friends, or watch a good show. It really is not time to spring into massive action yet. Please—take your time to enjoy and not start something that might not be ready to “grow” yet. Nurture and go slow. I find myself enjoying the times I have alone more and more. I call this soul-tending.
Cosmos and Nature
Changes are afoot in March. March 1st and 2nd had two planets, Jupiter and Venus, closer than ever as the sun set in the western skies. This is not a common thing to see! Take a moment to get outside and notice the beauty around you. Remember, the future can wait as it is not here yet. Get up from your computer and stand, walk, move, and be in the present with the small but incremental changes you might notice outside now.
You can look forward to the full Worm Moon on March 7th, an indication that the Earth is slowly warming up and the worms will begin moving up to the surface, digesting decayed materials and helping to break down nutrients for the plants and trees to absorb.
March 20th is the Spring Equinox when we experience equal day and night. This is a day for you to cultivate balance. The days begin to stretch out longer and longer as they march on toward the Summer Solstice. March 21st will be the new moon, a time to take greater initiative. Spring has sprung! Now follow that energy of what inspires you, recommit, and begin taking ACTION.
Health and Body Image
With Spring Equinox on March 20th, you will start to notice how your body is shifting internally as well as outwardly. You might feel a need to get outside more; your body says it wants more sun, and you strive to have fewer layers on. Notice what happens for you. This is your personal experience—so claim what that is by noticing.
I want to share some insight that I have had for a few years now about body image and health. Our culture has some very limited ideas of what a healthy body looks like. This can be very disempowering, and many people respond by going on diet after diet. In my mid to late 50’s I bought into this on some level. Hormones had shifted, and as I worked out more, I was taxing muscles, and my body was trying to balance itself out. I tried all the “old” ways I used to gain or lose weight. Last year, I found myself gaining more than 15 pounds. You might be saying that is “nothing” and yet we each have our own experience of living in our own wonderful bodies.
What is painful to share is how I saw myself really shifted in these last few years. As I got older, I found myself comparing myself to younger women. I noticed that I allowed and believed my own negative self-talk. I was not finding the food program or way to eat that really served me. I had found strength training that was delightfully serving me and helping me mentally and emotionally deal with the pandemic and aging gracefully. Yet, my body image was all over the place.
I finally decided to learn a new food program that used whole organic nutritious food. I had to be seriously committed to log the foods I ate and to learn more about macros (Protein, carbs, fiber, & fat). I was ready for something different, since intermittent fasting, calorie deficit eating, Keto, paleo, and so much more was not doing what it once had done for me.
I have lost 10 pounds now and am slowly on my way to where I want to be with my new health goals. I want to see my abs, I want to reclaim my healthy body and give it the food it needs while doing strength training, cardio exercise, and working with new levels of hormones at 60. I want to gain muscle not fat now. It is truly a different way of thinking for me. I am comparing my progress now to myself, not to those 30-year-olds with their “perfect” bodies. Now, commitment is the biggest, most important, and valuable thing to me—and I am committed to myself. I love my personal health goals and feeling my muscles develop, focusing on my exercise intentions, and claiming my own badass strength. I appreciate my “perfect” body that is perfect for me right now. I want that for you as well—in whatever form that takes for you.
Social media has many negative aspects and many positive. It can negatively impact body image, or it can promote a healthy lifestyle. Be discerning where you get your messages. A 2021 study showed that when people looked at body-positive images and words, they improved their own body satisfaction. Are the messages or exercise programs you are part of positive and focused on what YOU want? Or do you continue to compare and despair?
In the USA, 60% of our teens end up with body image disorders. This is the time when bulimia and anorexia really kick in for young women and men.
As we age past 45 or so, many, especially women, talk like they are seen by the outer world as “invisible.” That is NOT OKAY. Here are some tips for you:
1. Look for the body-positive social media folks who talk about health, not appearance.
• Check out Darren, a fitness coach just turned new parent.
• Or check out Joan at 75 years old who has a new lease on life!
• Get inspiration with the KSMG app.
• Read why strength training is a MUST after age 40.
2. Check out a down to earth nutrition coach Neelee Tschetter (who I have worked with)
She is my nutrition coach when I signed up for the Faster Way to Fat Loss program. (I am so taken with this program I have decided to go through the training to continue learning more about nutrition. Beginning in April I will be supporting others in this healthy lifestyle eating program.) If you are interested in the app and program that I use and don’t want to wait for me, let Neelee know you were referred by me. This is a program you can commit to for life. I have.
Review this link for more info. And please email me or call so we talk before you do anything. It has been a powerful support that wraps together macros, an app that does the math for you, a fabulous food library of delicious meals, and some engaging exercise videos. (Of course, I always prefer live online classes every time!) Regardless, the program is priced right and doable.
3. No more flabby muscles! If you are struggling with consistency, accountability, not seeing muscle definition, want to save time driving to the gym, and losing the ability to do things that were once “not-so-hard,” then join the Exercise for Health live online community. I offer two weeks for free. Claim your Badass Strength from the inside out. Or check out my full 90 day program called the Wellness Plan that cares for all your physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health.
4. In April, I am offering a workshop that support an ever-evolving practice of self-love and creating better boundaries for yourself: https://drkarinlubin.com/online-workshops
5. If you find yourself getting anxious over body image or anything else, consider journaling about it. Take this free three-day Journaling Challenge and get back to connecting with yourself, with kindness and compassion: https://drkarinlubin.com/journal-3-day-challenge/
May you find joy in every day. The small and the big stuff matters. With health, vitality, and a positive self-image, we can do what we were brought here to do—one day at a time.
Go Deeper to Be Greater,
