Body Kindness

If you can't find a community where you belong, make one. That's what my guest Dr Joy Cox is doing with her latest book Fat Girls in Black Bodies, podcast, and new app Jabbie. Everything Joy does centers inclusivity and fat Black excellence. Joy is a funny person and her work is dead serious backed up with facts and stats that will make you recoil. If you believe everyone deserves to belong, this episode is for you.

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Links and Resources Mentioned:

• Book launch party on Instagram - 9/29 at 7 pm ET with Ivy Felicia and Joy Cox
• Jabbie app
• Advisory Board for the Association of Size Diversity and Health

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Win a copy of Fat Women in Black Bodies! Subscribe to the Body Kindness podcast and leave a comment on the show notes blog post as your official entry. There are 5 copies up for grabs. US residents only. See the show notes for full details - https://www.bodykindnessbook.com/158

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About Dr Joy Cox Dr. Joy Cox is a body justice advocate using her skill set in research and leadership to foster social change through the promotion of fat acceptance and diversity and inclusion. With 37 years living as a fat, Black cisgender woman and 7+ years of professional experience under her belt, Dr. Cox draws on her own experiences and skillset to amplify the voices of those most marginalized in society, bringing attention to matters of intersectionality, addressing race, body size, accessibility, and "health."

Dr. Cox currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Association of Size Diversity and Heath (ASDAH), is the owner and operator of the Fresh Out the Cocoon brand, and a supportive force behind the scenes for organizations looking to incorporate diversity and inclusion into their practices. Her forthcoming book, Fat Girls in Black Bodies: Creating Communities of Our Own is an ode to both the podcast and fat Black excellence across the globe. She's also the co-founder of Jabbie, the identity-inclusive, body affirming community wellness app that seeks to decolonize fitness standards and provide users with a weight-neutral platform full of support.

Dr. Cox is the voice of an overcomer, looking to propel others into a place of freedom designed by their desires. Joy is a mover and shaker, undeterred by obstacles and fueled by hope. She has been featured on several podcasts and media productions such as Food Pysch with Christy Harrison, Nalgona Positivity Pride with Gloria Lucas, Fat Women of Color with Ivy Felicia, and Huffington Post's piece, "Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong."

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Book | Podcast | Venmo: @joycox Paypal: [email protected] CashApp: $JoysRich

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Get the Body Kindness book It's available wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Read reviews on Amazon and pick up your copy today! Order signed copies and bulk discounts here!

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Donate to support the show Thanks to our generous supporters! We're working toward our goal to fund the full season. Can you donate? Please visit our Go Fund Me page.

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Get started with Body Kindness Sign up to get started for free and stay up to date on the latest offerings

---

Become a client Check out BodyKindnessBook.com/breakthrough for the latest groups and individual support sessions

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Subscribe to the podcastWe're on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and iHeartRadio. Enjoy the show? Please rate it on iTunes! Have a show idea or guest recommendation? E-mail [email protected] to get in touch.

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Join the Facebook groupContinue the episode conversations with the hosts, guests, and fellow listeners on the Body Kindness Facebook group. See you there!

Nothing in this podcast is meant to provide medical diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Individuals should consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice and answers to personal health questions.

Let's talk trauma and racism. I found today's guest, Francesca Marguerite Maximé, from her podcast called Re-Rooted on the Ram Das Be Here Now network. She interviewed Dick Schwartz, the creator of Internal Family Systems (IFS) about his "racist parts" and I was all in on their discussion.

Side note to spell out the Body Kindness connections in case it's helpful before I go on:

Connection is one of the three core pillars for practicing Body Kindness. The book and dominant "anti-diet" / "body positivity" message mostly centers the idea of connection to one's own body -- noticing and sensing what is happening in the present moment, feeling your "feels" and then thinking about what you need to care for yourself. This theme plays out in mindfulness, meditation, intuitive eating, and pretty much anything you do to care for yourself.

Connection is also about others… being part of something greater than yourself, forging connections in your community, the power of belonging to a group (this is all of part 4 of the Body Kindness book).

Trauma, including historical and racialized trauma, significantly impacts both of the ways in which we engage in "connection" in practicing Body Kindness.

Francesca came on the podcast to talk further about trauma and take me through a guided somatic experiencing exercise, which I fell in LOVE with after reading Resmaa Menekem's My Grandmother's Hands, which is truly an excellent book. I recommend audiobook! He reads it and guides you in several meditations.

You could win a FREE 45-min session with Francesca! Don't miss the details in the show notes. Plus anyone can learn from her for FREE in an upcoming video series.

Here's a few items we cover:

• Conversations on historical and racialized trauma.
• Being an embodied anti-racist is not something you do, it's someone you become.
• How to take nervous regulation skills and use it to lean in and become active allies instead of performative allyship.
• Cultural trauma needs to be worked through for collective healing. That's why we talk about reparations.
• The four core wounds of this country: racism, oppression, white body supremacy, and capitalism.
• Why White people especially struggle to home themselves with warm positive self-regard. (We are products of the same oppressive system.) We are more comfortable naming "diet culture" and "beauty culture."

Francesca Links and Resources Mentioned:

• Showing Up for Racial Justice (I'm a member of the DC metro area group)
• Whiteness on the couch article by Natasha Stovall and her podcast interview
• Inside Out With Natasha and Francesca - weekly TV show
• 2018 Podcast interview about Adverse Childhood Events (ACE-scores) study on trauma and attachment, mindfulness, and more podcast interview with Dr. Vincent Felitti (CW: discusses "O-word" but acknowledges weight not the problem, but trauma. Some interesting dialogue about the history behind ACE scores development. I can see the White Supremacy in medicine power structure in this conversation.)
• Peggy McIntosh The Invisible Knapsack article, original article and updated article and resources included.

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Learn from Francesca:

• Available now! Cultivating a Courageous Heart. Three FREE 30-min embodied antiracism teaching videos. (90-min total on the themes of shame, empowerment, and mindful approach to anti-racism) and invitation to join Francesca for a FREE LIVE video teaching mid-October (after you get the videos.)
• 5-week embodied anti-racism online course, primarily for White (or light-skin privileged) trauma-informed helping pros in collaboration with The Academy of Therapy Wisdom This new embodied anti-racism course begins 10/14/2020.
• Stay connected with all of Francesa's work or learn how YOU can work with her.

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Enter to Win

You could win a free 45-minute embodied anti-racism consultation or personal session with Francesca Marguerite Maximé.

All are welcome… including White-bodied individuals and organizational leaders as well as BIPOC individuals seeking support for racialized trauma.

Leave a comment on the blog post show notes or the Instagram contest posts. I'll choose one winner from all the entries on October 15th and announce on Instagram and on the blog post.

Interested? I would love to read your comment sharing about the connections you're noticing between your body kindness practice, departure from diet culture, and social justice and why you would love the chance to talk with Francesca.

Contest rules: The winner will coordinate a time with Francesca's calendar and have the session in 2020.

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About Francesca Francesca Marguerite Maximé is a Haitian-Dominican Italian-American IMTA-accredited certified mindfulness meditation teacher mentored by Jack Kornfield, Somatic Experiencing Trauma Healing Practitioner, Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy practitioner, Relational Life Therapy couples coach, Focusing Oriented Therapy practitioner, and award-winning poet, author, and former television news anchor and reporter.

Francesca is based in Brooklyn, New York where she sees adults, couples and groups in person and online, and teaches therapists and other trauma specialists about mindfulness, the nervous system, attachment, embodiment and racialized trauma. Francesca also hosts the ReRooted Podcast where she explores the intersection of psychology, neuroscience, spirituality, social justice, and the creative arts.

Francesca was also the recipient of the 2019 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Student Advocacy and Service award for her contributions in the field of advocacy, clinical work and traumatic stress, as well as the 2019 first prize winner of the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards for her poem, "Pleather," recently featured on PBS television. Last year, she was also featured in the article, Spreading the Word about Racialized Trauma by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. More about Francesca can be found on her website www.maximeclarity.com

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Podcast

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Get the Body Kindness book It's available wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Read reviews on Amazon and pick up your copy today! Order signed copies and bulk discounts here!

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Donate to support the show Thanks to our generous supporters! We're working toward our goal to fund the full season. Can you donate? Please visit our Go Fund Me page.

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Get started with Body Kindness Sign up to get started for free and stay up to date on the latest offerings

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Become a client Check out BodyKindnessBook.com/breakthrough for the latest groups and individual support sessions

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Subscribe to the podcastWe're on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and iHeartRadio. Enjoy the show? Please rate it on iTunes! Have a show idea or guest recommendation? E-mail [email protected] to get in touch.

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Join the Facebook groupContinue the episode conversations with the hosts, guests, and fellow listeners on the Body Kindness Facebook group. See you there!

Nothing in this podcast is meant to provide medical diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Individuals should consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice and answers to personal health questions.

Most American kids are officially back to school in some way shape or form. As if we didn't have enough to worry about, now we have COVID and our kids well-being to contend with this year. I'm bringing back a personal and fan favorite all about stress and anxiety in girls.

Lisa D'Amour is a clinical psychologist, columnist and author and in this episode we discuss her New York Times bestselling book Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls.

We discuss what's normal and actually beneficial for teen girls when it comes to stress and anxiety, when you should worry, as well as the options available for talking with girls and young women to reduce their stress and anxiety on everything from embracing their bodies, dating to setting boundaries.

We also get into an important conversation on microaggressions and racism -- pressures from our culture girls can't control, but we as parents and helping professionals can help all girls get through.

This episode was first aired in February 2019.

About Lisa Lisa Damour writes the monthly Adolescence column for the New York Times, co-hosts the Ask Lisa podcast, serves as a regular contributor to CBS News, maintains a private practice, consults and speaks internationally, is a Senior Advisor to the Schubert Center for Child Studies at Case Western Reserve University, and serves as the Executive Director of Laurel School's Center for Research on Girls. drlisadamour.com | Book: Under Pressure | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

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Get the Body Kindness book It's available wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Read reviews on Amazon and pick up your copy today! Order signed copies and bulk discounts here!

---

Donate to support the show Thanks to our generous supporters! We're working toward our goal to fund the full season. Can you donate? Please visit our Go Fund Me page.

---

Get started with Body Kindness Sign up to get started for free and stay up to date on the latest offerings

---

Become a client Check out BodyKindnessBook.com/breakthrough for the latest groups and individual support sessions

---

Subscribe to the podcast We're on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and iHeartRadio. Enjoy the show? Please rate it on iTunes! Have a show idea or guest recommendation? E-mail [email protected] to get in touch.

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Join the Facebook group Continue the episode conversations with the hosts, guests, and fellow listeners on the Body Kindness Facebook group. See you there!

Nothing in this podcast is meant to provide medical diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Individuals should consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice and answers to personal health questions.

In today's episode I talk with Kelly Jensen about her new book for young adults called Body Talk, which covers the themes of ability and disability, body positivity, fat positivity, tattoos, language, and much more.

Tune in for essay readings and a nuanced conversation about intentions vs. impact of the body positivity movement today and where we may be doing more harm than good.

Here's a few items we cover:

• How yoga has helped her and her yoga students with mental health, self compassion, and non-judgment.
• Themes and helpful lessons on body politics from her latest book Body Talk, and how to use this book as a parent of a 12+ person.
• Patricia Elzie's essay on the problematic nature of policing people's feelings in the body positivity movement.
• Questions about where we may do more harm than good when it comes to helping people practice self-acceptance.
• Why we need to listen to people with lived experience at multiple intersections about what they're seeing from those of us who hold multiple privileges.

About Kelly Kelly Jensen is an editor of books for young adults including BODY TALK: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy (August 18), the award-winning (Don't) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start The Conversation About Mental Health, and Here We Are: Feminism For The Real World. She works full-time as an editor for Book Riot, and in her free time, she teaches yoga and volunteers for a senior pet rescue. She's a former librarian and life-long lover of books and reading.

Website | Instagram | Book | Venmo: kellybjensen

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Get the Body Kindness book It's available wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Read reviews on Amazon and pick up your copy today! Order signed copies and bulk discounts here!

---

Donate to support the show Thanks to our generous supporters! We're working toward our goal to fund the full season. Can you donate? Please visit our Go Fund Me page.

---

Get started with Body Kindness Sign up to get started for free and stay up to date on the latest offerings

---

Become a client Check out BodyKindnessBook.com/breakthrough for the latest groups and individual support sessions

---

Subscribe to the podcastWe're on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and iHeartRadio. Enjoy the show? Please rate it on iTunes! Have a show idea or guest recommendation? E-mail [email protected] to get in touch.

---

Join the Facebook groupContinue the episode conversations with the hosts, guests, and fellow listeners on the Body Kindness Facebook group. See you there!

Nothing in this podcast is meant to provide medical diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Individuals should consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice and answers to personal health questions.

A diagnosis of IBS can be a real pain in the a**! Seriously, IBS impacts 25-45 million people in the U.S. alone.

The treatments for IBS aren't really that great. The low FODMAP protocol may not even work in about half the people who try them. Worse, if you dare consult "Dr. Google" you'll find there is conflicting and extreme advice out there that can really throw you off mentally.

Today's guest, bestselling author and gut health dietitian Kate Scarlata, explains why you shouldn't rely on random food elimination for your IBS and she shares what to do instead.

Here's a few items we cover:

• The links between IBS and anxiety.
• The fundamentals of the low FODMAPs diet as a treatment approach for IBS, and the reality that it may not work in about half the people who try it.
• Why "FODMAP Gentle" is a more flexible approach that can be better for people with anxiety and concerns about possible food-related IBS symptoms.
• Disordered eating and IBS connections.
  • Did you know 23-24% of people with GI conditions meet criteria for disordered eating patterns?
  • 13-19% of people in GI clinics meet criteria for ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder)
• Gut directed hypnotherapy, mindfulness, meditation, and other approaches that can enhance anxiety relief and make IBS symptoms better.

About Kate Kate Scarlata, RDN, LDN is a Boston-based dietitian with 30 years of experience. Kate's expertise is in gastrointestinal disorders and food intolerance, with a particular focus on the application of the low FODMAP diet for functional gut disorders. She was awarded the Outstanding Massachusetts Dietitian Award and recognized as Boston's Best Dietitian by Boston Magazine.

Kate is the author of numerous books and articles on digestive health topics including the New York Times Best Seller, The 21 Day Tummy Diet and her latest book, The Low FODMAP Diet Step by Step. Kate completed her postgraduate training at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate. She is currently enrolled in a Master's of Public Health program at the University of Massachusetts. Kate has been an invited speaker to various scientific meetings nationally as well as internationally.

Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Resources and links For complimentary FODMAP resources for patients or clinicians, Kate has numerous free downloadable handouts under the FODMAP tab on her website. There are other clinician reproducible educational bundles in the Shop tab.

University of Michigan IBS research donation page

Podcast 153 - Help with Picky Eating, Is it ARFID? with Rebecca Thomas, RDN

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Get the Body Kindness book It's available wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Read reviews on Amazon and pick up your copy today! Order signed copies and bulk discounts here!

---

Donate to support the show Thanks to our generous supporters! We're working toward our goal to fund the full season. Can you donate? Please visit our Go Fund Me page.

---

Get started with Body Kindness Sign up to get started for free and stay up to date on the latest offerings

---

Become a client Check out BodyKindnessBook.com/breakthrough for the latest groups and individual support sessions

---

Subscribe to the podcastWe're on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and iHeartRadio. Enjoy the show? Please rate it on iTunes! Have a show idea or guest recommendation? E-mail [email protected] to get in touch.

---

Join the Facebook groupContinue the episode conversations with the hosts, guests, and fellow listeners on the Body Kindness Facebook group. See you there!

Nothing in this podcast is meant to provide medical diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Individuals should consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice and answers to personal health questions.

Intuitive Eating is out with a 4th edition and the co-authors Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch are on the show to discuss what you can expect in the newest edition and we answer listener questions about struggles with intuitive eating.

We discussed:

• The new alignment of Intuitive Eating with "anti-diet" approach.
• Changes to the specific principles (spoiler alert: they changed one principle to honor your feelings with KINDNESS), and I love this change. It's even more aligned with the Body Kindness philosophy now.
• Why co-opting Intuitive Eating for weight loss (looking at you, NOOM) is wrong.
• Why self-compassion is so difficult and essential for learning Intuitive Eating.
• The beautiful neurobiology of interoceptive awareness to self-connect and how food is part of our connection to others as well.
• Common emotional triggers for soothing with food, and what to do if this bothers you.
• Listener questions around shame, gentle nutrition, IBS and more.

Evelyn and Elyse's previous appearances

• Podcast 132: Intuitive Eating: The history, growth and impact with co-creators Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
• Podcast 42: Intuitive Eating For Families, With Elyse Resch, Co-Author Of Intuitive Eating
• Podcast 26: Be the Expert on Your Body: Intuitive Eating as an act of Body Kindness with Evelyn Tribole, co-author of Intuitive Eating book and workbook/

All Body Kindness shows featuring Intuitive Eating

• Podcast Theme: Intuitive Eating

Books

• Intuitive Eating - 4th Edition
• Intuitive Eating workbook
• The Intuitive Eating Workbook For Teens

About Elyse Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S, is a nutrition therapist in private practice in Beverly Hills, CA, with over thirty-eight years of experience specializing in eating disorders, Intuitive Eating, and Health at Every Size.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

About Evelyn Evelyn Tribole, M.S., R.D., is an award-winning registered dietitian with a nutrition counseling practice in Newport Beach, CA. She was the nutrition expert for Good Morning America and was a national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association for six years.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

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Get the Body Kindness book It's available wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Read reviews on Amazon and pick up your copy today! Order signed copies and bulk discounts here!

---

Donate to support the show Thanks to our generous supporters! We're working toward our goal to fund the full season. Can you donate? Please visit our Go Fund Me page.

---

Get started with Body Kindness Sign up to get started for free and stay up to date on the latest offerings

---

Become a client Check out BodyKindnessBook.com/breakthrough for the latest groups and individual support sessions

---

Subscribe to the podcastWe're on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and iHeartRadio. Enjoy the show? Please rate it on iTunes! Have a show idea or guest recommendation? E-mail [email protected] to get in touch.

---

Join the Facebook groupContinue the episode conversations with the hosts, guests, and fellow listeners on the Body Kindness Facebook group. See you there!

Nothing in this podcast is meant to provide medical diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Individuals should consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice and answers to personal health questions.

Most "picky eating" in kids and adults is just that -- pickiness. But others can deal with social emotional issues and malnourishment (at any size). Joining me to discuss "supertasters" and challenges with picky eating, Rebecca Thomas, RDN. She is a dietitian and Body Kindness helping pro mentee of mine. She's a pro at ARFID, disordered eating, and eating disorders. Tune in to get a HAES-informed perspective on support for food-related sensory issues.

Here's a few items we cover:

• The spectrum of picky eating, extreme picky eating and the eating disorder ARFID.
• The real fear parents feel when their child is facing malnourishment.
• The medical weight stigma surrounding picky eating and lack of concern when kids and adults are higher weight. People of all sizes have a risk of malnourishment when they struggle with eating patterns.
• How helping professionals can screen for ARFID and refer to specialists.
• What you can expect in seeking support, including food exposures, meditations, and help with anxiety, depression, and more.

Visit bodykindnessbook.com/153 for helpful links and references.

About Rebecca

Rebecca Thomas, RD, LDN is a Maryland based registered dietitian, nutritionist specializing in pediatric eating disorder recovery. She is the founder of the B.R.A.V.E program (Better Recovery for ARFID and Very picky Eating) , a 6 week virtual program providing coaching and education to parents of children with ARFID, as well as global educator to physicians, dietitians and therapist on better practices and treatment for eating disorders and ARFID. Rebecca's nutrition philosophy is anchored in building up confident eaters through bodykindess, mindful eating and non-diet approach.

Website | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook

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Get the Body Kindness book It's available wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Read reviews on Amazon and pick up your copy today! Order signed copies and bulk discounts here!

---

Donate to support the show Thanks to our generous supporters! We're working toward our goal to fund the full season. Can you donate? Please visit our Go Fund Me page.

---

Get started with Body Kindness Sign up to get started for free and stay up to date on the latest offerings

---

Become a client Check out BodyKindnessBook.com/breakthrough for the latest groups and individual support sessions

---

Subscribe to the podcastWe're on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and iHeartRadio. Enjoy the show? Please rate it on iTunes! Have a show idea or guest recommendation? E-mail [email protected] to get in touch.

---

Join the Facebook groupContinue the episode conversations with the hosts, guests, and fellow listeners on the Body Kindness Facebook group. See you there!

Nothing in this podcast is meant to provide medical diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Individuals should consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice and answers to personal health questions.

About Janessa

Thirteen years ago, Janessa Mondestin received a diagnosis for Lupus, an autoimmune condition that motivated her to recommit to wellness. Yogasana was a way for Janessa to balance her weekend-warrior athletic events and the stress from corporate banking. Over time, Yoga and Ayurveda became a central part of her life, both personally and professionally. She left corporate banking to teach yoga and wellness as an Adjunct Professor for Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken and Adjunct Faculty of Uncommon Charter School in Newark, NJ.

Today, Janessa is the Director of Culture for Yoga International, liaison for Yoga International Espagnol, Yoga Talent Advocate and Business Coach, Founder of Soulthentic Yoga Registered Yoga School. She is one of the top 20 Yoga Teachers of Color for 2020. She was awarded the title of Yoga Ambassador by India's Travel Ministry and Prime Minister in 2018.

She is a practicing Yoga Therapist who is developing a safe space for Womxn Wellness, The Soma Yoga Center. Janessa's experience as a first-generation American born daughter of immigrants, a sexual assault survivor who overcame racial, cultural and gender-based adversity, grief and loss informs her focus on serving the public with a sense of healing, resiliency, and authenticity.

Website | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook

Catch up on the previous episode in this series: Podcast 151: White Supremacy of Yoga with Sabrina Strings PhD, Author of Fearing the Black Body

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Get the Body Kindness book It's available wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Read reviews on Amazon and pick up your copy today! Order signed copies and bulk discounts here!

---

Donate to support the show Thanks to our generous supporters! We're working toward our goal to fund the full season. Can you donate? Please visit our Go Fund Me page.

---

Get started with Body Kindness Sign up to get started for free and stay up to date on the latest offerings

---

Become a client Check out BodyKindnessBook.com/breakthrough for the latest groups and individual support sessions

---

Subscribe to the podcastWe're on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and iHeartRadio. Enjoy the show? Please rate it on iTunes! Have a show idea or guest recommendation? E-mail [email protected] to get in touch.

---

Join the Facebook groupContinue the episode conversations with the hosts, guests, and fellow listeners on the Body Kindness Facebook group. See you there!

Nothing in this podcast is meant to provide medical diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Individuals should consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice and answers to personal health questions.

In Part 2 of White Supremacy in Yoga series, we discuss the harms and the fixes, including what you can do as a yoga teacher, teacher trainer, student, or person who cares about anti-racism work. This includes reading books, having conversations, and taking meaningful actions.

Here's just a taste of what we discuss:

• Cultural appropriation of ayurveda.
• Diet culture and racism in yoga.
• How bad teachers can mess up the yoga experience.
• Systemic and structural White Supremacy in yoga and why we need an overhaul, a power shift in diversity, equity, and inclusion from within wellness organizations.
• Call to action with 4 simple steps (listed below).

Body Kindness is a practice of personal and collective well-being. We can do this. Tune in to learn more and most important, take action.

Janessa is asking White people to read White Fragility, My Grandmother's Hands… and I'm sure other books would make her list, but she wants you to follow up with action.

Janessa Mondestin's "call in"

1. Get educated on what pervasive racism looks like.
2. Identify our role in racist America (we are global, so we should adjust this to "planet" -- your country, your community.)
3. ATONE. "Each one teach one." Make it a conversation that you educate your partners, children, family, and all the places you hold power and influence in.
4. Cultivate ANTIRACIST Coalitions with your newfound circle of Aware and Activated Friends. Seat them in decision-making positions on your PTA Board, Your Politicians, Your Police Department, Your District Attorneys office.

About Janessa

Thirteen years ago, Janessa Mondestin received a diagnosis for Lupus, an autoimmune condition that motivated her to recommit to wellness. Yogasana was a way for Janessa to balance her weekend-warrior athletic events and the stress from corporate banking. Over time, Yoga and Ayurveda became a central part of her life, both personally and professionally. She left corporate banking to teach yoga and wellness as an Adjunct Professor for Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken and Adjunct Faculty of Uncommon Charter School in Newark, NJ.

Today, Janessa is the Director of Culture for Yoga International, liaison for Yoga International Espagnol, Yoga Talent Advocate and Business Coach, Founder of Soulthentic Yoga Registered Yoga School. She is one of the top 20 Yoga Teachers of Color for 2020. She was awarded the title of Yoga Ambassador by India's Travel Ministry and Prime Minister in 2018.

She is a practicing Yoga Therapist who is developing a safe space for Womxn Wellness, The Soma Yoga Center. Janessa's experience as a first-generation American born daughter of immigrants, a sexual assault survivor who overcame racial, cultural and gender-based adversity, grief and loss informs her focus on serving the public with a sense of healing, resiliency, and authenticity.

Website | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook

Catch up on the previous episode in this series: Podcast 151: White Supremacy of Yoga with Sabrina Strings PhD, Author of Fearing the Black Body

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Get the Body Kindness book It's available wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Read reviews on Amazon and pick up your copy today! Order signed copies and bulk discounts here!

---

Donate to support the show Thanks to our generous supporters! We're working toward our goal to fund the full season. Can you donate? Please visit our Go Fund Me page.

---

Get started with Body Kindness Sign up to get started for free and stay up to date on the latest offerings

---

Become a client Check out BodyKindnessBook.com/breakthrough for the latest groups and individual support sessions

---

Subscribe to the podcastWe're on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and iHeartRadio. Enjoy the show? Please rate it on iTunes! Have a show idea or guest recommendation? E-mail [email protected] to get in touch.

---

Join the Facebook groupContinue the episode conversations with the hosts, guests, and fellow listeners on the Body Kindness Facebook group. See you there!

Nothing in this podcast is meant to provide medical diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Individuals should consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice and answers to personal health questions.

Join me in conversation with Dr. Sabrina Strings, author of Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. She also is a certified yoga teacher and advocate for inclusivity in yoga. We discuss our experiences with yoga and hope for systemic change.

• She shares a personal story on racism and body part fetishizing (Michelle Obama arms) she encountered in yoga classes when she was really seeking refuge for grad school stress. Strings was made to feel like she didn't belong.
• She explains why yoga is much more than the commercialized Asana and why her recent yoga experience made her stop going to studios at all, including fat phobia and ableism.
• She shares her research on the lightening of the yoga journal covers to become more White, contorted, and back branded women's bodies.

Dr. Strings' Research Mentioned Strings, Sabrina & Headen, Irene & Spencer, Breauna. (2019). Yoga as a technology of femininity: Disciplining white women, disappearing people of color in Yoga Journal. Fat Studies. 8. 1-15. 10.1080/21604851.2019.1583527.

Abstract: Yoga has seen an explosion of popularity in the United States. Though the practice can be traced to the Indus Valley civilization, its mass media representation is dominated by young, thin, white women.

Little is known about how the practice came to be portrayed in this manner. However, scholars suggest that when media outlets target (white) women, they often encourage them to adopt "technologies of femininity" that may include instructions on how to tame, diminish, or banish fat.

In this article, we examined if and how yoga has been presented in this fashion in the mainstream media. We performed a mixed-method analysis of cover images and articles featured in Yoga Journal from 1975 to 2015.

Findings revealed that since 1998, men and people of color have seen a steep decline in representation on the covers. Full-body shots of white women have increased precipitously. We also found that the articles promote yoga as a part of a beauty regime. This regime relies on a dubious mix of self-love and fat aversion for white women, while people of color are almost entirely excluded from consideration.

We conclude that, since 1998, coinciding with the latest yoga boom, Yoga Journal has encouraged white women to adopt yoga as a technology of femininity that tames fat. It has concomitantly disappeared people of color.

Follow Dr. Strings research

About Dr. Strings Sabrina Strings is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. She was a recipient of the UC Berkeley Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship with a joint appointment in the School of Public Health and Department of Sociology.

She has been featured in The Feminist Wire, Yoga International, and LA Yoga. Her writings can be found in Scientific American, New York Times, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society and Feminist Media Studies. Sabrina was the recipient of the 2017 Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Article Award for the Race, Gender and Class section of the American Sociological Association. Fearing the Black Body is her first book which is available everywhere and also on audiobook.

Book | Twitter

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Nothing in this podcast is meant to provide medical diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Individuals should consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice and answers to personal health questions.

This episode was first aired June 2019.

Sabrina Strings, PhD is the author of the book Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. In the first part of this interview, we discuss how she was able to connect racism with fat phobia, control of women's bodies historically and through today's diet culture, and how medicine's use of the BMI metric is problematic and harmful. Dr. Strings shares why weight loss should not be part of the health equation and instead we should be seeking access to safe, nutritious food for all people at every size.

In the second part, we discuss why only white women's bodies were subjects of control in historical fat phobia. Dr. Strings shares the history of the BMI development and its flaws. We share personal stories for how BMI and weight bias in medicine harms people today. Dr. Strings also shares how she was discouraged from even writing this book.

About Dr. StringsSabrina Strings is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. She was a recipient of the UC Berkeley Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship with a joint appointment in the School of Public Health and Department of Sociology.

She has been featured in The Feminist Wire, Yoga International, and LA Yoga. Her writings can be found in Scientific American, New York Times, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society and Feminist Media Studies. Sabrina was the recipient of the 2017 Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Article Award for the Race, Gender and Class section of the American Sociological Association. Fearing the Black Body is her first book which is available everywhere and also on audiobook.

Find more about Sabrina: Book | Twitter

---

Get the Body Kindness book It's available wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Read reviews on Amazon and pick up your copy today! Order signed copies and bulk discounts here!

---

Donate to support the show Thanks to our generous supporters! We're working toward our goal to fund the full season. Can you donate? Please visit our Go Fund Me page.

---

Get started with Body Kindness Sign up to get started for free and stay up to date on the latest offerings

---

Become a client Check out BodyKindnessBook.com/breakthrough for the latest groups and individual support sessions

---

Subscribe to the podcastWe're on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and iHeartRadio. Enjoy the show? Please rate it on iTunes! Have a show idea or guest recommendation? E-mail [email protected] to get in touch.

---

Join the Facebook groupContinue the episode conversations with the hosts, guests, and fellow listeners on the Body Kindness Facebook group. See you there!

Nothing in this podcast is meant to provide medical diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Individuals should consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice and answers to personal health questions.