26 April 2019
This is a guest post by James Lamper - you might've seen him whooping to his way backs at our Battersea studio! He's our dear friend at Boom and also the Clinical Director at EmotionMatters. Ahead of his workshop at Boom this May during Mental Health Awareness Week, he's shared with us a few tips on how to shift your mindset for ways to get you feelin' your BEST self!
Feel good in your body, as we ride into this year's Mental Health Awareness Week!
Boom drove #CutLoose, an amazing campaign on positive natural body image and acceptance back in 2018. I know many riders across all studios got snappy and had fun showing their sweaty, natural selves in the studio and on Instagram.
The Boom crew were obviously ahead of the curve, as the theme for Mental Health Awareness Week, which runs Monday 13th to Sunday 19th May 2019, is Body Image: How we feel and think about our bodies.
We also launched a workshop last year on body image acceptance that we are revamping for 2019. More on that later!
As Clinical Director of EmotionMatters, and as a psychotherapist specialising in body image, I know we can all get a little lost, confused and sometimes end up in a bad space about the way we feel about our body. Good news is that it does’t have to be this way.
Body image is something that develops through time. Messages we received from parents or siblings about the way we look, comparisons others make about how we shape up to other kids, when we first started dating, when we first became sexually active, health issues in adult life... you get the message, there is a lot that feeds into the way we feel and think about our bodies.
So when does it become a problem? Well, all the negative thoughts, social comparisons and decisions on how you must ‘make up for your body’ are all collected into a pair of glasses. You kind of wear them all the time, and the lens which you see the world and your body image have a negative skew. In the psychology world we call this schema - a collection of unhelpful thoughts that keeps activating each other.
"Get these glasses off me" you must be screaming. This can take a little time, because we are so used to wearing them, sometimes not even aware that we have them on. Drum roll....
"FEELIN' MY BEST SELF" is the new body image workshop I am leading in conjunction with Boom. We have some new exercises and tools to help you lose those old and dated glasses!
Join me on Saturday 18th of May for a 90-minute dive into creating a healthy body image, where you will learn how to declutter your mind from unhelpful thoughts, and have some fun learning new ways to be kind to your body. Be sure to RSVP in advance - places are limited and we were sold out for our last workshop!
To get you in a positive mindset and attitude about your body, here are three tips to get you feelin' YOUR best self!
1. List 10 things your body does for you, for example: keeping you alive, letting you play sport etc. Come on, give your body some credit!
2. Instead of negatively comparing yourself to others, notice what it is that you admire about them, shifting your mind into a positive focus.
3. Wear clothes that fit your body now in the shape that it is. Feel comfortable in the way you look, so you are feelin' yo' self when out and about.
Let's stand up to the negative voices in our head, trash those nasty glasses, and get ready for a bumper summer, where we are feeling just fine! See you at the workshop!
Following the previous sold-out series, EmotionMatters returns to Boom Cycle this May for a journey to discover and create a healthy positive body image that you can take away beyond the workshop.
Featuring a 90-minute dive into creating a healthy body image, you will learn how to declutter your mind to make space for positive thoughts, find new ways to be kind to your body and have some fun along the way!
Date: Saturday 18th May 2019
Time: 1:15pm (90 minute workshop)
Location: Boom Cycle Battersea, 1-3 Arches Lane, Battersea Power Station, London SW11 8AB
Tickets: Complimentary for riders on the day (please email battersea@boomcycle.co.uk to RSVP); £5 plus eventbrite fee for non-riders.Your ticket will include a tea/coffee upon arrival.
