Body Image

'Mirror, mirror on the wall whose the fairest of them all', the dysmorphic epidemic. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 0:54 Technology rises, as does a psychological epidemic
• 2:19 The lost art of relationships and the dissociative effects
• 3:18 Dysmorphia and the haunting mirrors of social media
• 4:26 Return to embodiment and the power of living from vitality

Transcript

00:00:54  Charlotte: It's greatly saddening to me that what continues to grow as an epidemic is people's focus, obsession, in fact, on body image and the degree of body dysmorphia that is apparent in this day and age. And it saddens me, not only because of its destructive effects, but more so, because it is a very direct representation of just how far away from nature we've come. This day and age is so fast-paced in technology, being on the up and up, everything has become so much more transactional.

00:01.45.  Charlotte: The art of relationships is slowly disappearing, the art of conversation, the art of interaction. And you can now pretty much sit at home and work and shop and communicate, and so the body isn't engaging its senses for survival anymore, the body is a victim to far more dissociation.

00:02.19.  Charlotte: Back in the day, the body was a machine, the body was a temple. I say a machine in that it was measured by its strength, its agility, its capacity, it was used to harvest, to build, it was an active participant in life. Things like being hot or being cold or being tired, being stretched to the limit, feeling the strength of muscles and your heartbeat going, and not just because you're in the gym and you're looking to get a six-pack, but because you are on lands communing and you are utilising the gift that God gave us in our body to feel alive.

 00:03:18.  Charlotte:  And so, the emphasis was not on how one looks, now, that's not to say that over the years, aesthetics became of great importance, what I'm saying is, is that here we are in present day, and how much do we really use or move our body in a utilitarian fashion? And so sadly, there is this surrealism going on, people are feeling like, "Whoa! Am I even real?" And therefore needing that much more confirmation that, "Yes, you're real. Yes, you're getting likes on social media. Yes, you're being followed. Yes, you're beautiful." It's this... To me, it's like hungry ghosts that are walking around saying, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" And that's why it's so sad.

00:04.26.   Charlotte:  And so when working with people whom have become really far removed from themself in that way, again, it's not focusing on the presentation of the symptoms, it's looking at the cause and helping them get back to center and get more connected with their body as a means of movement fuel. To have two arms, two legs, just to be alive is remarkable and to reinstall a relationship that is aligned with vitality is what I have seen to be most transformative when working with people that are trapped in a mirror, mirror mentality.