THE HEATWAVE WITHIN
Summer is among us and we’re all feeling the effects of the heat wave. If there is anything we can collectively agree on, it’s that it is hotter than we all imagined it would be. Historically, summer has been my favorite season. For many women, especially Black women, summer doesn’t just bring rising temperatures. It also brings a heightened awareness of our bodies and how we feel within them. From the clothes we wear, to the pictures we take, to the quiet comparisons we make or the bodies we wished we lived in.
Body image is the quiet thing we don’t always speak about out loud. Culturally, Black women’s bodies have often been placed under scrutiny and critique, and over time those messages can become internalized in the way we see and judge ourselves. It’s the quiet whispers we experience about who we are based on the bodies we live in and see in the mirror. Especially among Black women, where issues such as body dysmorphia and eating disorders are heavily prevalent. Despite a longstanding misconception that eating disorders and body dysmorphia primarily affect white women, many Black women go undiagnosed, untreated, or don’t recognize their own experiences as worthy of support.
These whispers can become even louder when living with a chronic illness. Our bodies are ever-changing, often without our permission. The body we’ve known can become unfamiliar to us, almost like a memory we are trying to catch up with. The grief that follows can shift how we see ourselves in the mirror, and slowly, the heat wave begins to build within. Having a chronic illness is not the end of our story. We can reclaim our sense of confidence, even in the midst of things that are out of our control. We begin to learn how to meet ourselves where we are, instead of where we used to be or where we thought we should be.
As a yoga instructor, I often remind people that embodiment is not about forcing the body into something it is not. It is about meeting the body where it is. There is a kind of heat that lives in that acceptance. Not the heat of comparison or pressure, but the heat of presence. The warmth that comes when you stop abandoning yourself in the mirror. The warmth of being inside your body again, even if it feels different than it once did. This is the heat wave within.
Body image is often spoken about in terms of appearance, but it is also about relationship. The relationship we have with how we see ourselves, how we move through the world, and how we feel inside our own skin. When we begin to shift that relationship, the questions matter.
What does it feel like to be in your body today, without judgment? Where do you hold tension, and where do you feel ease? What parts of your body feel most like “you” right now? What parts of yourself have you been avoiding, and what would it look like to gently return to them? What makes you feel warm, alive, or grounded in yourself, even for a moment?
This is what I mean when I talk about the heat within. Not the heat of comparison or pressure, but the heat of presence. The moments where you are no longer at war with your reflection, but beginning to come back home to yourself.
