Last week when I wrote on my reaction to this picture I didn’t suspect that it would elicit such a reaction.
I truly just happened upon it and had quite a reaction to what I saw. I didn’t really see the silhouette of the hip bones or the relative size of the waist to hips. I just saw hands on a stomach, lightly resting against the flesh. My first flash in that instant was to the Prenatal Yoga class that I teach. At the beginning of each class I have the students place a hand on both their heart and belly. I instruct them to imagine a loving, healing light emanating from their hands and creating a path of warmth and connection. I do this along with my students, but have a difficult time really placing my hand on my belly, instead letting it hover, afraid to touch the flesh or feel the softness.
This picture raised the question, what if I was ok with feeling my belly, with feeling my softness, and my vulnerability?
Over the past week, the discovery of the xoJane Real Girl Belly Project, and one follow up post later I have received quite a few belly pictures in my inbox. Amazing bellies and amazing stories. All real, raw, and unretouched, even more beautiful in their truth. I’ve felt a shift in myself a bit as well as I step more into accepting that I really am “ok” as I am or how I ever will be. I am more than my body and I don’t need to be pregnant to be ok with feeling my humanity. These brave women and men who have sent me their photos are so much more as well. My heart has been touched as they open up to me, a complete stranger. Inspiring.
As a result I have also connected with others who are working to expose the truth of our human nature. No Photoshop allowed. Plans are beginning to brew for a project showing real bellies with hands resting in a heart mudra and a domain has been purchased. The media and industry isn’t going to change. The way to be heard is to become louder than them. Average, skinny, plus sized, man or woman, please join me in this endeavor.
If you are interested in being part of this please send me your belly and your story at hannah.siegle(at)gmail.com.
Photo Credits: Pinterest, madisonplus.com
It’s funny thinking about the way I felt after taking the picture, looking at it & sending it. I immediately went critical….hmmm…some stretch marks….too soft…shouldn’t have had that cookie last night after dinner…maybe I shouldn’t have sent it…maybe I should try again…maybe I should have taken the pic *after* yoga instead of before. And it stunned me – this is what we do to our “guts.” We second guess, we criticize, we reconsider speaking our truths. Thanks Hannah! It was a great idea!
Amazing project – amazing vision. You’re really on to something here, Hannah. Thanks for being a conduit for the voices of so many!
Ahhh! Thank you, Hannah, for launching the Real Belly Project.
Making peace with our bellies puts us on the path to expressing ourselves all the more as the gutsy women we already are. Huzzah!
In your first photo, the woman’s fingers resting on her body below her belly button mark what in Chinese is called the tan tien.
This point in the body’s interior, just in front of the spine, is also named “The Gate of the Mysterious Female.”
This point, this belly center, gives us access to the enormous pro-creative power—the power to promote creation—concentrated within our bellies.
(More on this in The Woman’s Belly Book: Finding Your True Center for More Energy, Confidence, and Pleasure!)
Will the Real Belly Project help us accept how our bellies look on the outside? Will it also help us go inside to discover, own, develop, and direct this amazing force for vitality, intuition, and confidence dwelling in our body’s center?
You can bet I’m on board with that!
Lisa, thank YOU for being here as well! As to the questions you pose:
Will the Real Belly Project help us accept how our bellies look on the outside? Will it also help us go inside to discover, own, develop, and direct this amazing force for vitality, intuition, and confidence dwelling in our body’s center?
Thank you for asking those! Yes to all and I need to take pause and figure out how to truly manifest that. As of now the project is just in a seed stage, building in my mind and growing in support. As I mentioned I did buy a domain where the real message and work will manifest. I’d love you help in this growth!
A different spark led to this one, and her use of language is different, but I the kindling is the same:
http://blog.amandapalmer.net/post/62721071/the-rebellyon-the-deal-with-roadrunner-records
Unfortunately the rebellyon site is apparently defunct, but a number of the pictures can still be found on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32807897@N03/
I think it’s a testament to how big the issue is and how deep it goes (mindfully including issues related to race and ideal body type, as well as trans people whose bellies may or may not have wombs) that people at different times and places have had it strike a very resonant chord.
I check out the site and while the message is a bit different and semi-crude perhaps I am glad to see people stepping up to the plate! Thanks for finding this and sharing!
I love this Hannah! What a great project! To this day, one of my posts that gets the most comments is the one where I posted a pic of my tummy with all it’s hard-earned war wounds!