"My mission is to empower people of all ages, races, and body sizes to embrace the body they have been given and learn to love themselves so they can live their dreams."
-Sarah Maria
"Working with Sarah Maria has helped me to see that I am inherently loveable, beautiful, and valuable, no matter what. She has given me tools and techniques to break free from self-hatred and put love in its place. I am incredibly grateful for her and her incredible program. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to love her body and lover her life."
-Gabrielle Forleo, age twenty-six
Program Consultant,
Chopra Center for Wellbeing
"Sarah Maria's teachings are an amazing gift. It's an outstanding program that has changed my life! I highly recommend Sarah Maria's program to anyone who wants to experience living their most successful, beautiful life."
-Mary Schmidt, age forty-five
"Sarah Maria has shared many tools with me. But much more important to me, and what has been most meaningful, has been her quality of compassion. It is a gift and is like a gentle, deep awakening. Sarah Maria is a remarkable individual who works with the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual person. I cannot thank her in a way that seems adequate"
-Leigh Ann Jones, age fifty-four
Love Your Body, Love Your Life
Break Free from Negative Body Obsession and Unleash the Power of Your Potential
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Articles: Body Image:
The Media Has it All Wrong
Body Image: The Media Has it All Wrong
The media has it all wrong, which means, by extension, that we as a society have it all wrong as well. This might seem obvious, but since I have largely ignored the media for most of my life, it is in some way news for me. I have never owned a TV and have avoided women's magazines like the plague. So I was a bit naive about the specifics of media messaging.
When I began my business working as a body-image expert and appearing in the media, however, I realized that I needed to pay attention to what was going on. I had to learn what the media was saying about beauty so that I could better understand societal influences on people's sense of self-worth.
Needless to say, I have been horrified. The more I read the more convinced I become that society has created an illusion of beauty that denies the truth of our humanity. It seems we constantly need to change ourselves in order to fit this ever-allusive and unnatural standard.
My most recent experience is a case in point. I was waiting in the doctor's office and saw the current edition of Star magazine. The cover said "Stars without Make-up!" "Even celebs need help to look fabulous" and included pictures of popular movie stars with and without makeup.
The article explains, "Stars without Makeup: The results arena always pretty when starts dare to go bare! Here is proof that even A-listers need help putting their best faces forward." It then went on to show photos of top celebrities with and without make-up, including a commentary about the photos.
"Ashley Tisdale "That unfortunate new nose isn't the High School Musical star's only glaring sans-makeup problem! The 22-year-old's brown eyes practically disappear, her complexion is blotchy" and her cheeks, jaw and neck all look puffier without the help of clever contouring."
"Miley Cyrus " How much makeup does a 15-year-old need? Certainly not a lot " but a little can be a major improvement! The Hanna Montana phenom is so blandly unrecognizable when her eyes are bare, she could probably do the unthinkable: walk through a fan-infested shopping mall unbothered!"
"Demi Moore " Finally photographic proof that the usually flawless 45-year-old has not found the fountain of youth! While there's no denying that the mom of three looks great on the red carpet, sans makeup her years are strikingly evident in her sagging jowls and the deep lines around her eyes."
"Jennifer Love Hewitt " Jennifer's status as a Hollywood hottie seemed in jeopardy after controversial bikini shots surfaced last year. So you'd think the actress, 29, would try a little harder when she steps out of the house these days."
The article continues to review 24 actresses and singers who dared to appear somewhere without makeup. In every case the article claims unequivocally that they look better with makeup and should not venture out in public without at least some blush, mascara, gloss, and under-eye concealer.
I suppose this was supposed to make us non-celebrity, average, ho-hum women feel better about ourselves, that we are not the only ones that have to put on make-up and get done up in order to feel good about ourselves. Great we are not the only ones who have to starve, bleach and Botox our way to beauty. We have to do it, and celebs do to. Fabulous.
What about the idea that movie starts, and everyone else, is beautiful simply because they exist that they are beautiful just as they are, a beautiful creative manifestation of the cosmos? What about the idea that we are beautiful just the way we are, without having to change anything? What about the idea that beauty comes from the inside, that love, compassion, wisdom, tolerance, and strength are beautiful traits? What about the idea that beauty can be enhanced by loving ourselves and those around us, instead of by plastering makeup on our faces?
What about the idea that we are beautiful even with make-up, not because of it?
What about being beautiful all the time, instead of beautiful only when we are made-up?
As long as beauty is some external ideal that exists for the young, the tone, and perfectly made-up, we will never feel beautiful. We will constantly attempt to achieve this false vision of beauty, only to end up sad, disappointed, and frustrated as it eludes our grasp. We will never feel quite good enough because of our freckles, our uneven eyebrows, our graying hair, our increasingly wrinkles, and our oh-so-irritating cellulite.
It is only when we learn to see the beauty in who we are, right now, as we are, that we can begin to find peace. It is only as we learn to find beauty in everyone and everything, simply because they exist, that we can discover true beauty. It is only then that we will discover true beauty never grows old and never dies; our beauty has been with us and will be with us forever.