In 2013, I discovered the body positivity/fat acceptance movement and since then, it has been a challenging yet fulfilling journey of unpacking my internalized fatphobia, unlearning diet culture and coming to terms with my fat body. At some point in this journey, I realized that I had internalized and adopted the voices of my fat shamers and I had started to believe that my fatness was the root of all my problems. Therefore, I linked the difficulties I was experiencing doing physical activities to how fat my body was and slowly, I started to lose trust in the capabilities of my body.
It has taken me some time to realize this, unpack this and I am now ready to heal. I am ready to regain trust in my body and rediscover the joys of moving intentionally without any weight loss goals. I understand that this is a personal journey and we all have our own struggles to overcome. In any case, if you feel called to, I'd like to invite you on this journey with me.
Approaching fitness/wellness spaces as a plus size person, I have come to realize that many practitioners are not fat positive and actively employ diet culture language and encourage such behaviour. Also, I do not see bodies that look like mine and move like mine and therefore, I feel very out of place.
In the past, I have stayed throughout the entire duration of a class even though the practitioner would have outrightly shamed me or made a fatphobic remark because I truly believed my fat body was the problem. I'm thankful that I have now developed the ability to walk out of such classes or any other similarly triggering situations.
Now, I am more mindful when signing up for these classes and I try to learn more about the organization, the practitioner and their beliefs and values before committing to a class. I actively seek out practitioners who are intentional about creating a safe, non-judgmental space for plus size folk and whose classes I feel comfortable and have fun in.
I feel very called to collaborate with such practitioners/businesses to bring to you sessions that are specially curated for plus size bodies. This way you can experience the joys of being in community while moving your body in a space that is non-judgmental, accepting and reminds you to meet your body where it's at.
If you feel inclined to join us, do click here to leave your email address and we will update you whenever we have a collaboration session.
Till I see you next,
Rani.