The Sexy Lie: Caroline Heldman at TEDxYouth@SanDiego

A friend sent me a link to this TED talk yesterday, and I couldn't watch it without some tears. I don't want my daughter losing brainpower to body awareness. I don't want her GPA to suffer because she is too busy thinking about what to eat to not to eat, about how she can be more appealing to a man or prettier than another woman. I work SO HARD to set a positive example for her. I never, ever talk negatively about my body. I don't let my husband do it about himself. We don't do it about others. We don't demonize any foods or food groups, simply talking about balance and health. BUT ITS SO HARD. Its so hard because I can simply control whats going on within these walls of our home. I can only do my best in these precious years when she is soaking it all in from  us, before she is receiving equal or more of her messages about her self, her worth, her value, and her body, from external sources.

I'm sure every generation of parents feels that they are raising kids in the "hardest time". Lately I am just so incredibly aware of how easy parenting is right now. Of how small our problems are. Of how relatively safe everyone is, how I know where everyone is at all times, of how they are so easy to please and to snuggle and to love. They literally have no worries. They literally have no stress. I want to prolong that for my kids for as long as I can. To keep their innocence intact for as long as possible.

I have no idea where I'm going with this. I just feel like everywhere I turn lately I am hearing from friends that they are unhappy with themselves. I read articles telling me that overwhelming percentages of women are hugely unhappy with their bodies. And it breaks my heart.

I think that what has drawn me so deeply into yoga is the peace that I find in honoring my body instead of abusing it. The practice of yoga is like self love, like a graceful dance between breath, body and spirit. Quite a contrast from the HIIT classes and intense plyometric workouts and long long runs or 50 mile weeks on top of hours of workouts I was putting in not that long ago. I look back at old blog posts and cringe. 6 AM hill runs, 45 minutes of stairs and a HIIT class? What in the actual what was I even thinking? I know that it was my way of dealing with the stress of three young kids and Nate's travel and eMBA program….but I was a flat out lunatic. And I paid a steep price.

I'm so grateful to have found a way to balance my physical and mental needs  ~ all in one place. My life is calmer and more peaceful for it. Julia decided not to play T ball this spring, opting instead for a combination Art and Yoga class at the local community art center. My girl loves yoga. And nothing makes me a prouder Mom than to see her sitting on her mat, following along with my practice, intently watching, learning, laughing. Perhaps by finding yoga so young she will have one more weapon in her arsenal to arm her in the battle that the world is going to wage against her ~ telling her that she is less than if she doesn't look a certain way. Maybe, just maybe, her mat can be a place of solace and confidence building for her as it has been for me. I can hope.