It all started with a foot selfie. And a question.

I took my foot selfie like I always do, with mainly my feet in the frame. But on this day, for some reason I paused to notice what I was doing and asked why.

Why was I limiting the frame to not include my belly or my thighs? And what might happen if I stopped curating myself in this way? 

The answer was a powerful one. As I invited more of my body into the frame and stopped cropping in on only that which was ‘flattering’ or within normative body standards, the more accustomed I got to seeing myself in that way. It stopped being unfamiliar or unexpected to see myself in that way and became a new normal. A deeply healing, body encompassing, expansive new normal.

Yes, it started with one foot selfie, but it ended up being a doorway to compassion, leading to an exploration for the coming years around this premise:

When we let ourselves SEE more of our body, it helps us renormalize our relationship to our body and witness it as it is not as we curate it to be seen.  When we do this we become familiar with our body again and images become less triggering to us. 

We limit our potential for body compassion through the lens through the way we curate our body in it. And what we hide from the camera becomes beyond the boundaries of where we are willing to expand our compassion, where we are willing to let love ease us.

It was such a powerful realization that it became a big part of the work I teach in the Be Your Own Beloved programs (especially the year long Body Peace Program) but not something I’ve ever taught in it’s own class context. But it’s one of those powerful change-making tools for cultivating body acceptance through the lens and I can’t wait to dig into it for 2 powerful weeks with you!

We see it in the way we curate the world around us too. The more we see images diverse bodies including (but not limited to) one’s that reflect back the ways our body is different from the visual norm we are used to seeing. Seeing other people’s bodies with compassion becomes a doorway to seeing ourselves with compassion too.

We’re letting our love out of hiding.

In this class, we’re breaking out of our overly curated, protective relationship to the lens and playfully inviting more of ourselves into our images.

Now, if you’re reading this and picturing yourself just standing there in front of the lens, feeling vulnerable and visible, well then take a deep breath, my friend, because that isn’t what I have planned for you.

My approach to teaching self-portraits is playful and wildly creative and this class isn’t about standing there feeling exposed. In order to let our love out of hiding we’re going to notice what our own edges are and stretch into them. We’re going to use creative photo explorations to ease our body into the frame and become more visible.

As you’ll discover, taking self-portrait is a whole different experience to being in front of someone else’s lens. When we are both the photographer and the subject, we get to reclaim our power. We are in charge of the lens, the way we see ourselves and that empowered energy helps us shift how we see ourselves in photos.

But don’t worry, like any Be Your Own Beloved E-Course, we do so through playfulness, exploration, creativity, and inquisitiveness. You’ll not only take photos that help you see your body with compassion but you’ll have fun doing it! While we will all be exploring the same prompt each of the 10 days of class, it’s not about us all taking the same photos (quite the opposite). It’s about you listening in to yourself and exploring how much you’re up for stretching out of your comfort zone within the activity. It’s not about ‘goal photos’ or things we HAVE to achieve, it’s about gently but powerfully breaking out of your own box and welcoming in the compassion awaiting YOU!

Plus, you’ll gather with our compassionate community where we’ll all be journeying alongside you in breaking out of our own box of where we are limiting our compassion and curating our potential love out of the frame.

IN THIS CLASS WE EXPLORE:

• Breaking out of our selfie box in order to welcome in more compassion and body compassion
• Going beyond the visuals and images we are used to seeing of ourselves in order to see ourselves in a new way
• Letting creativity and curiosity be a doorway to more self-compassion
• The ways we can curate (and uncurate) our visual media around us to help us thrive on our self-compassion and body acceptance path.
  
  

WE DO SO THROUGH:

• A pre-class exploration that will wake you up to the ways that you may have been curating yourself out of the frame and will start sparking ideas for ways you can break out of your selfie box. This is delivered once you register to explore at own place before class begins!
• 10 Days of self-reflective self-portrait activities
• Exploring a diverse range of how we can emerge into our visual story, especially with this class as we’re breaking out of the selfie box. We go beyond arm’s length selfies yet at the same time all are accessible and can be done with a basic smartphone or camera.

YOU RECEIVE:

• 10 days of empowering selfie activities in your inbox each weekday while class is in session (with weekend break in between).
• An inspiring E-Book to explore beyond the end of class
• A private Flickr Group to share our photos in.

DATE:

July 17th-28th, 2017

 

REGISTER FOR UNCURATED BODY LOVE:

Join in for Uncurated Body Love

Once you register I’ll send over your pre-class activity to start the exploration even before class begins!

Cost: $59 CAD (approx $44 USD)

 

REGISTER FOR THE SERIES:

This class is also part of the Body Acceptance Selfie Series and can be taken individually via that button above or as part of the series as a whole!

The Body Acceptance Series consists of 4 classes:

• Take Your Selfie for Yourself
• Uncurated Body Love
• Photo Resilience
• Body Neutrality

Cost: $150 for 3 classes plus an E-Book of the prompts for the Take Your Selfie class that we’ve already done. Get more info about the series here or register here!

 

 

QUESTIONS:

I’ve never taken a class with you before but this sounds like something I need right now. Do I need to have taken a class with you before?

Anyone is welcome in this class be it your first time taking a selfie or your 1000th time. The activities are accessible and no fancy gear is needed. Where this class does differ from the Beloved Beginnings or Be Your Own Beloved is that they are a bigger jump into body acceptance as a pivotal part of the work. Those two classes are more of a gentle easing into using the camera as a body-compassion tool so if you’re feeling new to that idea, I would start there. But if this idea of taking selfies for yourself and reclaiming your power over how you experience taking and seeing your photo resonates, then you are most welcome.

If I’m in the year long Body Peace class is it overlap for me to join in for these classes?

If you’re in the Body Peace class, check in our group and keep watch for an email from me about this before registering as these classes are optional bonus content for you as you’re a part of the year long program. These classes are happening in our break times for Body Peace especially so you have the option to take part. The only class that overlaps is the Photo Resilience class (but this one is different…take it if you’re loving our photo resilience class and want to extend the month and keep exploring it).

If you’re an alumni of Body Peace, these classes will be a really powerful way to continue your Body Peace journey with me!

Is this class only for women only?

No, the class is welcome to all genders and all bodies. While the majority of participants are usually cisgender women, it is open to everyone. I use gender neutral pronouns in the class to welcome folks of all genders and to not assume the gender of anyone’s partner either. Safe space for all of us, including women, trans and gender queer folks, LGBT community and men dealing working through body acceptance is of the utmost importance to me.

It says the prices are in CAD. What would that be in my currency?

Indeed, I’m Canadian, so the prices in Canadian currency but when you put the class into your cart, paypal will let you know what it will be in your currency before purchasing the class. You can check here to get a sense of what it would be though it may be a slightly different rate via paypal.

If you have any further questions about this don’t hesitate to click the contact form and connect with me!

Do I get feedback on my photos?

We have a course Flickr group where we will be sharing our photos throughout the class. I will be spending lots of time in the Flickr group exploring photos and I love to comment on photos and cheer you on!  The feedback you will get throughout the course will be encouraging and as you’ll find, it becomes fun to cheer each other on in this adventure!  You will definitely receive supportive feedback from me (as well as your peers) on many, if not all of your photos during the class.