Yoga with Louise George

The nervous system is our surveillance system from birth.

If you’re someone who’s lived in a body that attracts comments, advice, stares or criticism, your nervous system may have become incredibly skilled at spotting potential threats.

You start reading people’s facial expressions.
You wonder what they’re thinking.
You compare yourself to others.
You brace yourself before walking into a room.

That’s hypervigilance.

But hypervigilance isn’t weakness.
It’s not being dramatic.
It’s actually a very intelligent survival strategy.

My nervous system wasn’t trying to make life difficult for me around my body and the lipoedema that I had…It was just trying to protect me.

I see this same pattern a lot in my young clients with eating disorders too. But more on that another time.

The psychological impact of lipoedema 🎀

I am very quickly becoming a “yes” person - I’m saying yes to the things that scare me the most.

It would be so much easier to stay comfortable and keep myself small but I don’t think that’s what we are here for.

I want to grow to my fullest potential and I want to see other people do that too.

I hate it when I hear people say things like “who does she think she is?” or “she’s too full of herself” when really we should all be cheerleading each other on to reach our fullest potential.

In the words of Marianne Williamson in this iconic passage…

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate... We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?”

Keep saying yes to the things that scare you! 💖💖💖

It’s been more than 8 years since my first kitchen dancing video on IG and I can totally remember how anxious I felt posting it.

I remember feeling very exposed and I was worried about being judged. It was definitely anxiety provoking.

But if you have followed me for a while you will know that over the years kitchen dancing videos have become a fairly regular occurrence on my page…. and it’s not just because I love to dance and to share the joy of that, but it’s also to keep my self-consciousness about my body and my fear of being judged in check.

Honestly, the fastest way I know to get over yourself is to post yourself dancing on Instagram!! I’m sure there are many who have judged me, and they’re totally welcome to their opinions, but all I have gained from it has been positive. The biggest plus is that I feel I am able to show up fully as my true self on here. And that feels really good.

Last year, after my lipedema diagnosis, I found the courage to dance in shorts (bearing in mind I rarely even wear shorts in public) but dancing in a bikini is a whole other level, especially since this body has gone through menopause and several kilos of weight gain since that first dancing video!!

But, much of my therapy work is around body image and reducing body shame, so when posted herself dancing in a bikini the other day for lipedema awareness I knew I needed to rise to the challenge too.

I am grateful for this body. For all that it has overcome…. and for being my home.

So… here I am.
Getting over myself (again).
Embracing it all.

(P.S. No one was harmed in the making of this video, nor did the world crash down around my shoulders 😅)

This will be a gorgeous event with limited numbers.

See yesterday’s post for more info 😀