***BODY SHAPE AND THE SUMMER OLYMPICS

Recently, I came across an interesting article about a former Olympian swimmer, Misty Hyman, now an assistant swim coach at Arizona State.

Here’s what interested me from the article: As a young girl, Misty Hyman thought athleticism equated to attractiveness. She believed being strong was beautiful.

Hyman, who would grow up to become an Olympic gold medalist swimmer, didn’t realize her personal beliefs about beauty didn’t align with society’s until her teenage years — and then the realization hit hard.

Coach Hyman saw her body shape as beautiful and strong… until the outside world told her differently! What a tragedy that is… that we would let the outside world tell us that our bodies aren’t strong and beautiful. EMBRACING YOUR BODY’S SHAPE…

Today, I want to coach you to embrace - and even love - your body’s shape. Here’s a quote from some other women swimmers talking about how they’ve done just that:

“It’s something that we make fun of now,” Franklin said. “We all joke about how we eat 5,000 calories a day. We joke about how we can’t fit into anything with our shoulders and how we’re breaking through the seams of shirts.

“Everyone knows what it’s like, and everyone’s also at that point now where we all understand that our bodies are our greatest gift and our greatest asset in the sport that we do every day. We’re all just going to own it.”

A HOLISTIC APPROACH “Are our body image issues different from a woman’s Olympic swimming team?”

No, not really. As women, we are all involved in some kind of ‘sport’ whether it is with our friends, our family, and our career. We can label our sport as being a mom or a CEO or championing ourselves and our friends.

As a former dancer I have witnessed firsthand body image issues which influenced me to become a Body Knowledge System ® Coach specializing in the challenges that women muddle through. My goal was to enhance their lifestyles and bring forth into the world what they want to express without feeling inhibited in their body.

Misty’s challenge was that although her body was that of an Olympic swimmer’s, it did not necessarily conform to society’s idea of “perfection. Misty had to overcome her own perceptions of what body shape should look like and a healthy relationship with her body.

Here’s How You Can Begin

As women, we need to see the value of who we are in the world and not worry about how the media expects us to live up to certain advertised body images (not that you shouldn’t look the best you can).

Today, I’d like to share with you my empowering “5 Easy Steps to a Better Body Image” Ebook!

Within our media driven culture, even our athletes are bombarded with what the “right” type of body should look like. But we are all unique.

Take a stand with me and my body and your bodies and change our mindset!

My Body Knowledge System® gives you practical steps to define yourself with better body confidence and abandon body shaming. We owe it to ourselves.

So download my new eBook today. It’s a short read of only 33 pages for $7.95. Start today! And I’d love to hear about any difficulties you’ve have with embracing your body’s shape.