I Am More Than My Body
The Body Neutral Journey
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From the founder and CEO of the be.come project comes an inspiring introduction to "body neutrality"—the concept of steering away from self-hate without the pressure of having to love your body—and how thinking in this way can lead to joy, peace, and fulfillment.
“Some days I love my body, some days I hate my body, but every day I respect my body.”
A lot of us were raised on toxic diet culture—restrictions, limitations, and deprivation. Then the pendulum swung to the other extreme, with messages that we could love ourselves at any size, any weight, any shape…but sometimes, even that can feel like a lot of pressure. There is a third option: body neutrality. For many of us, a neutral approach to our physical self—based on compassion, acceptance, and respect—can be a revolutionary, rewarding shift in how we move through the world.
I Am More Than My Body will help you strengthen your relationship with yourself and find balance, steering you away from shame without the pressure of having to love your body at all times. It will introduce a framework to help you practice neutral movement, recognize and arm yourself against bias, act with self-compassion, and navigate your feelings on this journey.
A longtime practitioner of the body-neutral approach, Bethany C. Meyers shares their own story together with the experiences and ideas of experts and activists to help us care for our bodies while not having them dictate our worth. Because happiness comes from honest acceptance, something that body neutrality has the power to help you find.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Meyers, founder of the Be.come Project, an inclusive fitness platform, debuts with a nuanced exploration of body neutrality, the notion "that our worth is not limited to our physical self." A longtime fitness instructor, Meyers was by all appearances a slim, fit "poster child for the standards of diet culture," but was privately starving themself so severely that they became violently ill if they tried to eat. ("No matter how much weight I lost," Meyers writes, "it was never enough.") They vacillated between rigid diet culture and a sometimes toxic, exclusionary body positivity that often favors midsize bodies, until they stumbled upon body neutrality while writing an article for a fitness magazine. To "mentally balance the ship" when harmful thoughts surface, they write that one should acknowledge the feelings "without judgment," assess possible triggers (stress, lack of sleep, hormones), and focus on "the innumerable ways our bodies serve us every single day." Meyers sets out a forthright, inclusive approach to body neutrality, spotlighting voices from the BIPOC and disabled communities, and depicting their own rocky path to a better body image through an eating disorder and fertility struggles. Those seeking a fresh, realistic approach to body acceptance will find much to gain.
