To my darling Bianca, this is my siren song to your glorious body and it's fullness of beautiful capabilities, together with your healthy approach to self acceptance and graceful manifestation of the unique value you add, here and now, and for infinity and beyond.
The search for the 'perfect body' is relentless, indefinable, and unachievable.
The standards and benchmarks are based upon media indoctrination, false idols (my generation have been subtly influenced by the 'Barbie' doll stereotype), and confounding marketing strategies to drive consumer habits.
Personally, one has never understood, what the ideal is that one can base ones own, God-given, set of physical attributes, as a set image one can settle upon, without invasive and 'unnatural' manipulation.
At five-decades, of age, I have experienced the flux of fashionable fixations, there was the 'aerobics age' (Jane Fonda, Olivia Newton John, Jamie Lee Curtis and John Travolta come to mind), the 'heroin chique' phase (paradoxical in itself, where being ultra skinny and just about starved to death, was all the rage, and boy did we rage - sex, drugs & house muzak was 'de rigueur'), then we had the rise of the empowered working woman (the movie '9 to 5' comes to mind) and she has squared her shoulders to fit into the boxified uniform, where narrow hips allow her to slip through the corporate cracks and heels click-clack to the official tune of a man's world, we have the 'shabby chic' of bohemian influences that allowed us to cover our mummy-fied lumps and bumps with girlish grace, we have the organic, green-clean movement of yuppie guppy trendy, bendy, mindful multi-metrosexual beings as the processed bamboo fast fashion brigade, and to avoid continuing in this fashion (excuse the pun), ad nauseum (interesting how fashion is attributed to causing eating disorders), my final example brings us into what appears to be acceptable currently (if you don't blink and miss it!), super-sized everything (like a Micky D's fast food joint) from lips, boobs, bums and downsized waists, tightened vaginas, whitened buttholes, giraffe eyelashes, production-line brows, and anything that masks our appearance into doll-like perfection.
Some would comment that we are objectified (as consumers and profit drivers for plastic producing corporations as prototypes of the current trends) by the patriarchy.
They would say they feel the pressures of compliance towards the predatory nature of capitalism and fast fashion through societal conditioning and manipulation of standards and ideals.
It is important to note that this matter is not limited to the female of the species but that it's toxic tentacles seems to reach far and wide, young to old, man and woman, all colours of the rainbow in which the human manifests in physical form. It seems very few are exempt from the need to confirm to 'standard unspoken rules' of the zeitgeist to feel valued and accepted by their environment, and thus themselves.
As we see, we are influenced by diversity, and we are, as individuals, uniquely designed, with no two being alike, identical and/or same-same as an other(s).
Thus the goal of achieving a universal standard is mute and simply and illusion.
To illustrate this statement, lets consider that according to both Ayurvedic approach to wellness, and the Western aesthetics determination thereof, there are at least 3 definable 'body types'.
Dosha's
From the East, we are introduced to body types and compositions, as #doshas
In Sanskrit (the language of Ayurveda) this word means fault or defect.
It describes the three main categories of states of being; in body and mind.
Our humours and elemental make-up, determines which category we fall into, and how we can live in order to support and enhance our natural tendencies towards vitality.
According to wiki
"...Beginning with twentieth-century Ayurvedic literature, the "three-dosha theory" ...has described how the quantities and qualities of three fundamental types of substances called wind, bile, and phlegm (Sanskrit: वात, पित्त, कफ; vāta, pitta, kapha) fluctuate in the body according to the seasons, time of day, process of digestion, and several other factors and thereby determine changing conditions of growth, aging, health, and disease"
They also go on to say:
"The Ayurvedic theory of doshas describes how bad habits, wrong diet, overwork, etc. may cause relative deficiencies or excesses which cause them to become imbalanced in relation to the natural constitution (prakriti) resulting in a current condition (vikriti) which may potentially lead to disease.
For example, an excess of vata is blamed for mental, nervous, and digestive disorders, including low energy and weakening of all body tissues. Similarly, excess pitta is blamed for blood toxicity, inflammation, and infection. Excess of kapha is blamed for increase in mucus, weight, oedema, and lung disease, etc. The key to managing all doshas is taking care of vata, that is taught to regulate the other two."
This article explains:
"A person’s unique ratio of vata, kapha, and pitta is said to define their Ayurvedic constitution, a blueprint to achieve optimal health."
They also go on to define the dosha's characteristics as follows:
vata types are usually described as slim, energetic, and creative.
kapha types are described as strong, thick-boned, and caring.
pitta types are said to usually have a muscular build, be very athletic, and serve as strong leaders.
To determine your dosha type do this 'discover your dosha' quizz. As we know self knowledge is key.
Somatology
From the West, we become aware of the 3 main identifiable body type categories through somatypes (somotology is a branch of anthropology primarily concerned with the comparative study of human evolution, variation, and classification especially through measurement and observation.).
"People are born with an inherited body type based on skeletal frame and body composition. Most people are unique combinations of the three body types: ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph." (source)
They go on to explain:
Ectomorphs are long and lean, with little body fat, and little muscle. They have a hard time gaining weight. Fashion models and basketball players fit this category. While most of us love to hate these genetically-blessed individuals, some male ectomorphs may not be thrilled with their narrow-chested frames, and some female ectomorphs long for more womanly curves.
Endomorphs, on the other hand, have lots of body fat, lots of muscle, and gain weight easily. "Football lineman tend to be endomorphs -- they're heavier and rounder individuals," says Colby. "And they don't have to necessarily be overweight. Both Oprah Winfrey and Marilyn Monroe are classic examples of endomorphs."
Mesomorphs are athletic, solid, and strong. "They're not overweight and not underweight," says Colby, "and they can eat what they want without worrying too much about it." They both gain and lose weight without too much effort.
Classic combination somatotypes include pear-shaped ecto-endomorphs with thin, delicate upper bodies and high fat storage in the hips and thighs, and apple-shaped endo-ectomorphs, with high fat storage in the mid-section and thin lower bodies.
Use this site to help determine your body type.
Fashion & Food & Mental Health
Then we have fashion, defining us as the following shapes:
'Calculate' your body shape here.
Our shape is also determined by our size and this is often relative to our weight.
Body shape issues and poorly fitting fashions lead us, possibly, to an unhealthy relationship with our body through food.
Fashion can affect how much we eat, too little to be 'thin' and Hollywood presentable, or too much in order to emotionally comfort ourselves, for our shortcomings of being able to measure up to societal expectations.
The uniform shapes of fashion and the need to place labels on things in order to understand them seem to narrow our view of beauty because fashion is designed for standard sizes and uni-form shapes (to sell products!); and unless you are able to find your own flair, it can lead to feeling unacceptable and not being able to fit in and, in worst case scenarios, a disconnect and alienation from our peers and environments, leading to isolation and mental distress.
Needs vs Wants
As we know, isolation can lead to a physiological state of emotional and sensory depression and a neural spiritual state of anxiety and distress.
Maslow introduced us to his definition of a 'hierarchy of needs' that indicates our driving forces from our (primal) needs to satisfy hunger, thirst, fatigue, and tending to personal care/health/hygiene needs, for survival, through to requiring shelter and safety, and clothing for protection against the elements.
This need for garments, transforms when we add in the dimension of that for social acceptance needs, where we thrive as part of a community and through collaborating with each other(s). At this point, it becomes a statement of expression and a means for collective integration through peer tolerance.
It seems that we have found many ways to use clothing to alter our natural form and appearance to suit the current trends in 'fashion'. Think back to when corsets, or a cods piece, where a part of ones daily wardrobe, and the pervasive influences of values and morals of society, at any given time in history, and how they drive our actions to conform and comply with trends (and sometimes even an antagonistic middle-finger of non-compliance...and, a twist in the devilish tail, even those out-standing niche market groups fall into stereotypical categories).
How we clothe ourselves is both a means to state who and what we are, e.g. doctors wearing white coats, personal trainers wearing tracksuits and sports stars as sneakered and peaked sponsored promo-wear idols, nuns donning habits or women of Muslim faith wearing their hijab and bourka, scantily clad models in 'outrageous' attire, etc. as well as determining our state of mind, preparing us for our 'role'.
Defining our 'place' in our current space and place in time.
Fitting into the projected visual expectations of our community and environment, can push us into a 'filtered' state of being, where we decide that unless someone looks a certain way, they can't ambassador nor champion that concept and/or cause.
Lets take, for example, that of a yoga instructor.
When you picture a yogini, what picture do you create in your mind's eye?
Is that individual tall or short, lean or more fleshy, bony or muscular, black or white, man or woman...?
What are they wearing? What do they eat? What daily habits make up their lifestyle?
Is your 'vision' real?
What if, they were just another version of you, manifesting in different form?
What if, they were an expression of a version of the you you wish to become?
What if, the image you imagine, is projected onto you through marketing and consumer indoctrination?
Well then, we could begin to accept the possibility that every one, through their be-ing, offers us all we could want and/or need, without having to fill a preconceived notion of what that should be.
Meaning, that regardless of appearance, perhaps people, are capable of teaching us through example.
A person's value lies in what they have share with us, through experiential certification in this university of life, from their unique set of courses of actions and lessons gleaned.
Perhaps it draws us back to the axiom of beauty is more than skin deep.
Leading us to understand, and inherently operating from the premise, that the ideal body type, shape, appearance is as illusive as trying to catch water with our hands, and an illusion based upon disconnection from ones self (image, confidence, belief, will and power) and the reflection of judgement of the external (which, paradoxically, is a projection of the internal perceptions of self) environment.
Could we consider being courageous and brave enough to use our skills, abilities and experience, as a cloak of confidence, in our functional living experience and also a means to trump the superficial display of selling a concept of being.
Be who you are,
Do as you will.
Shapeshift ideology and dogmas through your celebration of being, fully and as a fulfilled (self-actualised) be-ing. As sacred beings we are an expression of the 'all that is' (apply your own version/concept of God force/source). We get to choose how we express our godliness, in thought, word and deed.
Embrace your different,
Flout your unique.
Stand out and shout,
I am ME!
Let me be...
P.S. I love this quote and hope it inspires youse as it does me:
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