The Naturale Yogi

What exactly is body shaming? The definition of these two words was exactly what I had experienced throughout my prepubescent and teenage years. I was and occasionally am still a victim of body shaming. I did not know at the time that whenever someone, whether it was mean kids in school or the judgmental relative or the nosy friend of the family, said something, usually negative, about my physical appearance that was meant to make me feel bad that I was being body shamed. This happened a lot of times and with different things about myself. I have been criticized by being bigger compared to my other cousins or that my calves are more muscular than normal, which made me not like wearing shorts for years. I was by no means an obese child but I just loved to cook and eat and sometimes that meant eating not so healthy food and that made me chubbier than normal but at the same time I loved to dance and I carried on this activity into my early twenties and even added martial arts and gymnastics to the mix. For some reason even if I was slightly affected by what those people said to me I still followed what I wanted to do and continued doing the things I loved.

I want to tell everyone who had said something about my body that you did not break me and that you should be more careful when saying things especially to young girls. It’s only recently that illnesses like anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders has become mainstream and that people are openly talking about it and how it can devastate the person suffering from it as well as those people around them.

To the old lady who asked me why I am fat, even if I am in the healthy range by medical standards, you should know better than to provide criticism without a solution. Maybe my dress wasn’t flattering on me and I had to choose a different style you could have kept that to yourself instead of making me feel bad.

To the guys who called me chubby in high school. Thank you for calling me out on it and learning that I can’t please everyone but I can choose the people around me who are worth pleasing.

To the relatives who told me my legs are too muscular for me. These legs are the power houses that allow me to tumble on the ground when I want to, ran several road races including half-marathons and a 32 kilometer race, perform all my dances flawlessly, and they continue to serve me in every single activity I have done or will want to do.

No one should be made to feel bad about what they have naturally. It’s a whole other story if a person is severely obese but once again it’s not your place to say it and make a person feel bad without providing solutions. This extends to skin color, hair textures, and body shapes. We all have our own unique sets of features and no one should be shamed for having them. Nothing is a one size fits all, we make them fit to what we are because everyone is different and that’s what makes us beautiful.