On the new moon in Capricorn this month past, my friend Bec B and I decided to launch an Instagram challenge on sharing the vulnerable & celebratory, true stories of our bodies. It was a bit of a last-minute thing, born from a conversation the two of us were having about out own past & present struggles, & where we currently found our own sense of self-love to be at.
We decided it would be awesome to share this convo on our social media & invite others to do the same. We were so blown away with the response! The out pouring of love, support & moving truths from people, was so confirming that this is a necessary conversation.. & we shall be hosting this challenge again in the future, so keep a look out!
In case you missed it & would like to check out my shares, I’m going to post them here on my blog. By following the hashtag on IG, you can also read Bec’s shares & the posts from the other incredible people who shared along ❤
#holisticbodlove Day 1::: When I was 18 I had my left hip replaced (total, ceramic on ceramic: swipe for a rad X-ray), six months later I had the right one replaced.
The scars it has left me with represent the battle I overcame with immense pain, which eventually became so bad it was causing my body to fail and my mind to atrophy.
Battle scars are sexy; don’t believe otherwise!
Every time I see them my heart swells with gratitude that not only was I led to an amazing surgeon, but also that my incredibly stubborn streak helped me navigate the shitty QLD health system (I ended up in Sydney for these babies), & propelled me through the waiting period & the recovery process… it was hard work. I put all of myself into it.
It payed off in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
Not only had I survived something which was a bit dicey (I weighed just under 30kg prior surgery, couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, lost so much hair, couldn’t string more than two words together), but I now had a future stretched in front of me so different from the one I had previously imagined in my 18 years.
I had better mobility than I had ever known, I could walk like a ‘normal’ person. I had my mental & sensory clarity back, only it seemed much more crisp than ever before. 
In fact, the space left in my body, mind & emotions from the crippling pain removal, was a shock.
It took many years to overcome that, integrate my past & find out who I was without it.. but that’s another story 😉 Whose playing along in this challenge? Do you have physical scars? What is your relationship with them?
I would love to know their stories! Much love 💖💖💖
#holisticbodlove Day 2:: Guys, I’m loving seeing all the amazing, brave shares from you all here on IG & FB! Keep ‘em coming & remember to use the tag!❤️
Inspired from a chat with a friend last night, who asked me how comfortable I am with my body now… I wanted to share how I perceive the journey of healing, self-love & acceptance. 🧜🏻♀️
I believe the inner human experience of life is cyclic, meaning we are walking a spiral path deeper into ourselves, our expansion & alignment. This is why similar themes or events seem to crop up in our lives. They are an invitation to go deeper into that ‘issue’, to expand into it, to mine every dark crevice for the bright diamond. 🌀
Each turn of the spiral gets easier (usually) as we learn more about ourselves & how to navigate the terrain. We learn more of the tools that help to create the healing space we need to move forward.
In other words, we don’t just do the work on ourselves or something once & then it’s done.. there are layers to all of this shizz!🌀
And this is how it has been for me with my healing & self-love journey .. The initial work I have done in loving my body, was in defiance of a system & society that only wanted to highlight what was wrong with it. It was also in understanding that the pain was my body trying to tell me something needed care, not punishment via taking drugs to numb it & then carrying on as normal. 🦋
If I’m ever in a place where I feel uncomfortable, frustrated or disgusting in my skin, I turn to the list of tools I have mastered to bring back my sense of love & appreciation for this body that allows me to experience all of planet earths magick. 🦋
It may be that all I can manage in a particularly bad moment is to up level the vibe of a thought.. for eg: ‘my body is an arsehole for allowing me to feel so much pain, why won’t it give me a break!’.. can become.. ‘I’m grateful my body can speak to me so loudly’. It’s not much, but it’s the start to shifting my vibe from self-depreciation, to self-love & care.
I then put myself to bed, make sure I rest for however long it takes without judgement, meditate on bringing in love to my body.. & do a bunch of other stuff that helps (supplements, Yoga, massage etc). This is such a small snippet of my process & journey, but I hope it makes sense to you how I go about navigating my ups & downs 🌊💕
I can’t wait to see what you guys have to share today!
Much love 💖💖💖
Art by Bedky ❤
The Holistic Branch 