A study by Carolien Martijn and Marlies Vanderlinden from Maastricht University investigated whether body satisfaction can increase when women learn to associate their appearance with social approval. “The positive effect we witnessed for women with a high level of body concern supports the idea that body satisfaction may be linked to the idea of social approval. Simply showing these women photographs of themselves followed by a smiling face – signalling social approval – increased their body satisfaction and self esteem significantly,” Carolien Martijn said.
It occurs to me that the first “society” we face every day is our own – me, myself, and I. When I smile at myself in the mirror, I signal to my body a social approval closer to me than any other society.
Here’s a quick and easy imagery you can do to improve your self-esteem and perhaps your physical health.
You may wish to have someone read the following imagery to you or you may simply read it to your self and imagine someone else was reading it to you. The most important things to do with the imagery are to relax and enjoy it.
Close your eyes and begin to get a sense of yourself as a body. <short pause> Imagine you could step out of your body and float outside your body – like a spirit. Look back at your body and smile – that’s all, just smile.
Now imagine you could shrink down to the size of a tiny speck. Imagine you could float above your body’s head and look down and into the body from the head down. Imagine you could peer into the top of your own head and see your brain – then smile at it – smile at your own brain.
Imagine you could float down into your head – looking left, right, up, down, all around – smile at your brain from within your brain. Smile at all the structures, all the connections, all the fluids, vessels, and electrical conduits. Smile with approval. <pause> Look down your entire spine and smile. <pause>
Look at your own face from within. Smile at your eyes, your ears, your nose, your mouth, your cheeks, your chin, and your throat.
Floating down, smile at your esophagus, your larynx, your upper back, your shoulders. Float down each arm and smile at your arms, elbows, wrists, hands, and fingers. Smile your approval at them all. <pause>
Floating back to the top of your chest, smile at your lungs, your heart, all your vital organs in the trunk of your body. Smile at your blood vessels, your fat, your muscles – everything. Smile your approval. <pause>
Floating down further, smile at your sexual organs, your hips, your lower back, your hips. <pause>
Float down each leg – smile at your thighs, knees, calves, ankles, feet, and toes. Smile your approval at them all. <pause>
Exiting your toe, imagine floating once again out in front of your own body. See it there relaxed and calm as you smile at it. Imagine and pretend that your body is the little baby it once was when you were very young – after all, the oldest cell in your body is only a few years old. What a beautiful baby! Imagine it so! And smile your approval. You can do it.
Imagine you could take all the sweetest feelings and approval for this young body you see before you and gather them all together into a ball of light. Imagine you could gently roll this ball of light through the air and watch it enter the body through the navel – the belly button. Watch as your entire body shivers with delight as it accepts this gift of approving light.
It’s time for you to regain possession of your body. Allow yourself to accept that your body is now filled with energetic approving light – ready for you to re-enter it with joy and excitement. Let the spiritual essence that is you float into your navel and once again take control of the body. Fill every space within it – and smile your approval to it all once again.
THIS is your society – you and your body. Let the job of approval be an inside job from now on, by touching some place on your body with your finger – make it a place that will help you remember this feeling of approval. Whenever you touch that spot on your body again, it will instantly cause your body and mind to recall this imagery – and fill your body and mind with self-approval.
<pause until the touch has been established>
Now it is time to come fully conscious of your surroundings, fully cognizant of who you are in the present moment. When you “awaken” from this imagery you will feel energized and refreshed, happy to be in your own body in present time. 1-2-3-4-5 <clap of hands> awaken here in the present moment.
Adapted from an imagery by Ranae Johnson.