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Mar-Apr-May-June 2005 |
Chubby in America |
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The truth has to be lived in the movement of relationship, it can't be lived in physical isolation. It can be appreciated, it can be talked about, but that's not life. To live is to be related and when that truth is allowed to express itself without fear, without ambition, without the desire to assert and dominate, when the truth is allowed to flow in that movement of relationship, then there is the fulfillment that you call enlightenment. It is the consummation. It is easy to perceive the truth, it is very difficult to allow it to consummate in your life. It's like an unconsummated marriage. - Vimala Thakar
Truth is not a theory, it's a fact of life. Truth vibrates in the movement of relationship. The perfume of peace can be there when you are with others. - Vimala Thakar
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Deena was crying. She had been making great efforts to lose weight. Her goal was to be able to weigh herself on the scales upstairs in the exercise area, that would mean she had to weigh less than 350 pounds. She had come to our center on referral by her physician who told her that if she didn’t lose weight she might lose a leg due to poor circulation. She had really tried. She did everything we suggested, including a water class. This was especially difficult for Deena because she was deathly afraid of the water and could not swim. Our pool was only four and a half feet at its deepest but that didn’t matter when Deena lost her footing and her mass began to float. She didn’t know about floating, she only knew she was no longer in control and would most surely drown. It was a tense moment that day in the pool. Even after her terrifying ordeal Deena returned to the pool. She had lost some weight. But, she hadn’t lost enough to get her to the “regular” scales upstairs in the exercise room. She still had to weigh in on the industrial scales in the lab. Those of us sitting in the support group session with her could feel her frustration. Deena is African American. The weekend before our regular support group meeting I had watched our Sunday morning programming. In Nashville televised church service is all about music. After all, it is Music City. After cruising a few stations I stuck with an African American Church. I was attracted by its lively gospel and colorful dress. In one selection the lead singer was a huge woman who had a voice as large and controlled as her body. I wondered if such a voice could ever come from anyone smaller. This was on my mind as Deena was talking. so I said, “Gee, Deena, at least you’re the right race for your size. Look at how a large woman is admired in the Black community. In the White community if we are large we are nearly always an embarrassment.” Deena quit crying. I heard the echo of my words and was beginning to think I had stepped way out of bounds. She looked at me as though I were something she had never seen before. The leader of our group gracefully changed direction and I left hearing nothing further from Deena. The next time I saw Deena was the following month at the support group. Deena had an announcement, “At the last meeting Dale mentioned how respectable it can be to be a large woman in my community. I hadn’t thought of it that way, at least not in a long while. When I began to accept myself as someone who was loved by her community and should, therefore, love and respect by myself, the weight began to drop off. And, now I can weigh myself on the exercise room scales.” She was smiling. Being overweight can be more about your well-being than about what you eat. After you have looked at your diet, after you have increased your activity level, spend some time preparing for the person who climbs out of the cocoon you created around yourself. For every action we take in life there is a reason. There was a reason you ate more than you needed for the time it took to reach the size you are now. You exercised less than you could and gained weight this time, last time, and the next time. If you want to break the cycle of weight gain and loss you must look at yourself from your point of view. A report in a recent issue of Psychology of Women Quarterly illustrates that women who practice yoga experience an improved body image and fewer eating disorder symptoms than women partaking only in cardiovascular exercise, such as aerobic class or using cardio machines. The study of college age women was completed by asking women to complete a survey on “Women and Exercise” at home and return the survey. There were three groups of women: those who practice only yoga for exercise, those whose only exercise was cardio, and those who had done neither for two years. Not only was there a distinct difference between the yoga and cardio groups, the difference was more pronounced the more hours participants were involved with their particular mode of exercise. The more hours spent in aerobic exercise the greater the tendency towards eating disorders, while the more hours a woman practiced yoga the greater level of body satisfaction. Lead author Jennifer Daubenmier observes, “Through yoga, this study suggests that women may have intuitively discovered a way to buffer themselves against messages that tell them that only a thin and 'beautiful' body will lead to happiness and success." Picture Courtesy Bob Hails
\Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti\
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Adho Mukha Vrksasana
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How do you personally gauge your strength? Is it something you do at the gym? Is it the amount of physical labor you can do at home or work? Is it your endurance? What tells you that you are strong, strong enough to meet the trials and challenges of your daily life, strong enough to allow compassion for those you love (as well as those you love not so much)? I suggest that how you stand on your own two feet says a lot about you. I would further suggest that if you stand on your own two hands you might feel even more personal power, especially if it’s something you have never done. 1. Stand in front of a wall and place your hands on the floor, shoulder width apart, close to the wall, with the fingers turned out slightly. 2. Walk in, bringing your hips closer to the wall. 3. Stretch one leg up. Keep it straight. 4. Swing the lifted leg like a pendulum as you hop with the leg that remains on the floor. Hop-hop-hop. With each hop your hips may come a bit closer to the wall. 5. Try again. As you swing one leg and hop with the other, engage the abdominals to help lift the hips. 6. Did your legs stretch up along the wall? Don’t things look different when you’re upside down? For Safety Remember: Keep your elbows straight. Keep abdominals engaged and the muscles of the upper back strong. Come down before you fall down.
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Volume
6 Issue 2
