You are already ready to facilitate change.

I’m coming to Yoga Journey from L.A. to lead the Embody Love Movement facilitator training: a weekend workshop that will teach you how to inspire girls and women to perceive their bodies as lovable and themselves as whole. Notice what happened to your breath upon reading that sentence. Keep breathing, and read on, because you are already ready to be part of this movement toward body liberation.

How do I know? Because there is no “there” there. There is only here, now, and this. Which

means, at any point, any one of us can self-determine that we are enough and we have enough to step into what’s possible. So when I ask you to join me in resisting the systems of

oppression that create self-hate and body dysmorphia for most of us, why wouldn’t you listen to the part of your heart that yearns to say yes, me!? Because the mind says “you can’t do it. You can’t be involved. You don’t have good enough body image. You don’t have enough experience/education/passion/fill in the blank.” And with all of that chatter, it’s easier to shut down the part of our heart that says yes, and instead lean back into what’s known, comfortable, and easy. I get it. It’s understandable to hope that someone else will show up and empower girls. It’s reasonable, even, to wish that the women around you felt more powerful, self-compassionate, and caring, without you needing to be or do anything to support that effort.

Given how much simpler it would be to say “not me”, why would any of us do such a thing as spend a weekend learning to facilitate change in the way those who identify as girls and women perceive themselves? I have a few ideas I would like to share with you, if you’ll give yourself the time to read along: Any time we allow ourselves to offer up our courage to be part of something greater than ourselves, the reward is visceral. It’s powerful to choose to step into the arena, regardless of outcome. We suit up and we show up, and we feel better about ourselves. Every time.

The practice of yoga benefits us in countless ways, physically, mentally, emotionally. As beneficiaries of this practice, who better than us to be the ones to unite girls and women toward standing up and speaking up for themselves and others? Yoga is the yolk. When we’ve been wounded by a system of oppression, such as patriarchy, misogyny, white supremacy, or heterosexism, we’ve got more to give. As someone who’s measured my worthiness against a standard created to make me feel invisible, ashamed, and rejected, it’s my responsibility and my privilege to dismantle the internalized self-beat within other girls and women.

It’s namaste in action. It’s yoga off the mat. It’s embodying love to care about those around us, to see the shared humanity between us, and to recognize that when any of us are bound, we are all bound. As it relates to body image, when any of us is made to feel unworthy or unwhole or unwelcome, we are all unwell. The experience of facilitating this workshop—the one you’ll be taught to offer—is ineffable. Bearing witness to the courage of the participants, those who resist and those who embrace it, is a profound privilege. It’s humbling and it’s beautiful. And I want you to have it for yourself. It’s just too gorgeous not to share.

So, what do you say? Can you open your heart to the opportunity to come for the weekend, to share who you are, and to learn to facilitate self-determination and self-compassion workshops for the girls and women in your community. I hope so. I’ve led this training over 30 times, and I’ve seen the difference that it can make in the life of the leaders. Join me. Let’s create a ripple effect of revolution in the way each of us perceives and treats ourselves. Let’s embody love.

With Love,
Melody

Embody Love | Join the Movement