Rise Up
Ms. Hawkins is an author, Yoga instructor, clinical therapist, multi-media artist and owner / teacher at Hipnique, a brick and mortar dance studio and online classes in belly dancing. Her experiences as a woman coming to consciousness from decades of cultural denial and suppression are brilliantly and vulnerably documented in these two essays that began their life as Fb posts.
She shares these thoughts with the active intention that freedom from secrecy and shame will create positive change. Awareness and acceptance -even if it is only within the person themselves heals a sickening culture.
note the date
“Ok- it is not often that I weigh in on the destructive messages that are given to women and girls even though I think about it a lot. I just read an ad for a women's fitness app that has ignited me. The ad line read "surprise him with a new body"...How about I surprise the whole freaking world by loving the body I have???!!! And as I do that, low and behold I care for my body with kindness, health and wellness! And the other ludicrous thing is- if I waited to show myself to "him" until I looked like the girl in the picture, I would have to go into hiding & train for the next 2 years! By then I am pretty sure he would have found himself a new, more self-assured love who actually wanted to hang out with him. You all know that I love fitness and health, and I have found that when I try to make my body a certain way to please someone else, it always ends in disappointment. So here's my ad campaign today- Love your body now, care for it with fitness and wellness that suits you, and be the radiant and fabulous woman, girl, man or boy that you already are! “~Victoria
I used to say through clenched teeth 13 years ago “I Choose Joy”. I didn’t know what that was, but I was going to choose it. Now I say “I Am Joy!!!!” And I feel it and mean it, and my body size, shape, and appearance has nothing to do with that.
March 3, 2021
So this memory came up for me today ( on Fb)... I was feeling pretty darn feisty about this topic 7 years ago..... that has not changed.
Hardly a day goes by that I don’t get an ad for some kind of weight loss something or other. I think we have opened up the conversation over the past 7 years on this topic of telling people that their body shape and size defines who they are and what they are worth.
I hope that I am part of that shift. I have been very open over the last few years about my own challenge with my hatred for my own body for most of my life until more recently. Of course it was probably fueled by some life experiences and traumas. However knowing where it came from has not changed the effort I have put in to change how I think about myself and how much I think about my body.
A good bit of my shift of thinking has come with my practice of yoga asana, mantra and meditation, & choosing to apply Ahimsa (to do no harm) to my body and mind and soul- self compassion. This is a daily choice.
Other things that have helped my shift Is the support and growth I have felt in my work and trainings with Mary Maynard Holistic Health Family Practice , my choice to receive ART therapy for past traumas, and my expression through art, dance and writing (much of which very few people see). I am grateful everyday for the ways I see and feel myself transforming and healing.
Hipnique Studio, 39334 US Hwy 19 N., Tarpon Springs, FL (2021) (localgymsandfitness.com)
Feel free to comment to Victoria on this page or contact her directly at her studio. She is a brilliant teacher and mentor.
