Research on meditation and self-compassion interventions

I did a bit of research today looking at body image, meditation and self-compassion interventions. It was eye-opening to see the number of different scales looking at different elements of self compassion and body image, which I think will be really useful in my project.

The conclusion of the paper I read "Brief self-compassion meditation training for body image distress in young adult women" by Aubrey M. Toole and Linda W. Craighead stated that whilst some people noted significant positive changes in their self-compassion, some were resistant to the idea of self-compassion - one participant even stating ...

"I know I must work to achieve the level of fitness I want. . .I must not ease my perception of my body, and must continue to be hard on myself to actually achieve good results."

 This statement really shocked me whilst reading it, but mulling over the statement I realised that this is how a lot of myself and my friends think about their bodies.

For example, I have been ill this week, possibly due to my half marathon training and a long run on the weekend followed by some alcohol, which possibly wiped me out for the next few days. My nutrition training from my current job role has helped me understand that when you are ill you need to rest and be kind to your body; that I understand. I also understand that recent findings exploring the affects of carbohydrate on the immune system say that eating carbs is also fine to help during illness as your body needs the glucose; that I am also ok with.

However this evening, I realised that apart from walking for nearly 2 hours over the day, I have not exercised (I would normally do a yoga class or go for a run). As I realised this I focused on my body in a mirror and saw my stomach was quite bloated and instantly stated in my head 'I have put on weight and I need to do extra exercise tomorrow'. Despite the fact in my head I also have these reasonable explanations for eating more and resting more whilst ill, and whilst I go to yoga and run to help my mental well being as well, am I really doing it all for that? Or is there some extrinsic motivation inside me which knows the more I do the better I will look in the mirror?

I wonder if this has stemmed from a combination of how we associate beauty in our world today (thinness, fitness, social media influencers, etc.) and my dance training (where I looked in a mirror a lot of my day for over 3 years, was told I was overweight and wouldn't work unless I lost weight, and compared myself to my fellow students' bodies).

I also wondered whether it was the dance training which emphasised this almost secret voice inside my head which I am careful not to talk about day to day. However I know from my friends at work who work in the health industry, they have also experienced or are experiencing body image dissatisfaction.

When I think about it logically, we are all trying to align ourselves with a standard of beauty which came to light hundreds of years ago, decided by someone, not us. And whilst its what we think of as beauty, in other areas of the world beauty means something completely different.

For example, in some Asian countries, there are products to whiten skin, whereas in the UK we are constantly striving to become more tanned!

So perhaps this line of work is important to explore - and more exploration might be needed first in looking at dancers aesthetics. How important is it to explain and show choreography? Where does weight and aesthetics stop being important for the dance and start being important because that is what we associate beautiful dancers with? (I would be interested in your views on this please!)

After this I would like to explore more on how self-compassion or gratitude or kindness to ourselves can shift a dancers view on body image. It would be interesting to see if there could be a holistic way to improve the well being in dancers through a meditation or mindfulness intervention.

Would love to hear your views on this! Thanks x