How to love your body unconditionally (with Taryn Brumfitt)

It’s no secret we’re the world's biggest fans of body image documentary Embrace here at our HQ (it’s such a game changer, if you haven't watched it you must!), so when we got the chance to fire 5 quick questions at the film’s creator, Taryn Brumfitt, we leapt at it! Annnddd if you found the flick as impactful as we did, you can now take things one step further and try Taryn's brand new, 4-week body love program Embrace You, online from anywhere Australia! Here's our brief chat with the body love guru herself...

Describe the moment you truly let go of your own body image issues?

I started my journey to embracing the moment I had arrived in my ‘perfect bikini body’. I realised that for my body type to have the stereotypical bikini body took too much time, sacrifice and obsession, I needed to learn to love and embrace the uniqueness of my own body and that’s exactly what I did.

How would you describe your relationship with your body now?

It couldn’t be better, I love my body so hard I should probably come with a warning! The love I feel for my body is unconditional and it’s this kind of bad ass self-love that gives me super human powers - I feel like I can do anything. It’s quite the contrast from how I felt a few years ago, when hating my body side-lined me in life. I didn’t want to be intimate with my husband, I felt frustrated in the change-room, I didn’t want to be seen in a swimsuit at the beach, and I was always wishing I had ‘her’ body and not mine. The sooner people realise that it’s not the sole purpose of their life to spend it at war with their bodies, the better their lives will be, the better the planet will be!

We know health is a priority for you, so what’s your approach to exercise and nutrition these days?

When it comes to my health it’s all mindful and intuitive eating and moving. I used to exercise my body to punish myself for things that I had done (e.g. ate ‘bad’ food) or because I wanted my body to look a particular way. These days I am so much more connected with how my body feels and have become a lot less obsessed with how it looks. It’s hard to explain in words, but a tight peachy ass will never bring me as much happiness as kicking the soccer ball with my kids, crossing a marathon finish line, or getting to the top of a mountain. For me, the freedom and joy comes from the ‘doing’, not about how I look. It doesn’t mean that I don’t care about how I look, it’s about striking the right balance.

My other approach to exercise is being really intuitive about what my body needs. Sometimes during crazy busy periods of life I like to lift heavy weights, because there’s nothing like grunting out your stress. On other days if I am feeling stretched and pulled from one place to another (often when I am travelling) my body needs to feel grounded, so yoga is best. There are no rules and that feels really freeing, listening to my body is key. Right now I am training for my second marathon so there is A LOT OF RUNNING!! (please send help or toot me if you see me!)

What have you learned from life so far? The most important things?

That it’s so incredibly short!! Honestly, I feel like it was only last night that I was on the dance floor at a nightclub and somehow I blinked and it’s 25 years later!! One of the most important things I’ve learned is to not take it all too seriously, we’ve got to find ways to inject as much laughter and fun into our lives as possible. Play a prank on someone, make eye contact with strangers on the street and smile at them, sing loud in your car, be the first on the dance floor, do a massive bomb in the pool, try not to give too many shits about it all, because honestly every breath we take is one breath closer to our last – make it count!

If there’s one message you’d like to pop up on every woman in the world’s mobile screen first thing tomorrow morning, what would it be?

Your body is not an ornament, it is the vehicle to your dreams!

Yep, it's no wonder we love her so much!

Want to polish your body image?

If your body image could do with a bit of a polish, we encourage you to join Taryn for "Embrace You". This is not your ‘run of the mill’ transformational program, there’s no weighing, measuring or blame and definitely no calorie counting, judgement or shame. Taryn will show you how to love your body and transform your life.

Thousands of women around the world have transformed their lives with the help of Embrace You. The program has a 98% satisfaction rate and 94% love their body more after completing the program. Full of practical solutions, 76 minutes of epic body loving video, 54 pages of information, inspiration and activities and 12 months of ongoing support.

Taryn will guide you through the practical steps that she followed to love her body. This round includes live coaching sessions every week so you can ask questions and stay on track. The next rounds starts 5 March. It’s time to find the joy you’ve been missing.

Click here to check it out!