There are No Rules Em Hehir

I am *finally* getting around to posting this informative and wide-ranging conversation with Kelsey Weight, originally recorded as part of the Heartfelt ‘anti-challenge’ back at the start of 2022. Kelsey is an ‘anti-diet’ dietitian whose presence on social media is such a welcome contrast to so much wellness culture BS. I have so much respect for her working within this profession with all its associations with normative ideas of wellbeing, working to shift the narrative and approach away from weight management and external measures of health. Kelsey (and many other anti-diet, ‘Health at Every Size’ practitioners) use many tools, one being ‘Intuitive Eating’, which she takes us through step by step in this pod. Intuitive Eating is an approach to understanding food, nutrition, satiety, pleasure, hunger and so much more, without getting drawn into unnecessary emotion, guilt, fear or judgement about food and our bodies. What I love about Intuitive Eating is that it provides a basic structure and framework to support and facilitate improved self-trust, but it is not prescriptive; it takes the focus off the external and puts it back on the internal allowing us full permission to decide what and how we eat, being true only to ourselves.
We also talk about exactly what ‘diet culture’ is. As the ‘water we swim in’, we may not even realise how much it influences us. Cue getting fired up about feminism, capitalism, consumerism and individualism!
If you are interested in learning more, my favourite resource for Intuitive Eating is a book by Dr Laura Thomas called 'Just Eat It', but the original formulation is also available in the book 'Intuitive Eating' by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch.
In terms of books and resources that have been extremely helpful for me regarding anxiety and body image, I would recommend:
- Embrace Yourself (2018), Tarryn Brumfitt
- The Body is not an Apology (2018), Sonya Renee Taylor
- Perfect me: Beauty as an Ethical Idea (2018), Heather Widdows
- First, we make the beast beautiful (2017) , Sarah Wilson
- Don't Salt My Game (a pod by Dr Laura Thomas)
...and many of the blog posts by @thereallife_rd


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There are so many demands on us in day to day life, and so much of the flavour of our patriarchal capitalist “cultural soup” is about striving, that to accept oneself exactly as we are is profoundly counter cultural. It's these ideas and more, about the practicalities of self-kindness, the realities of life without it (particularly with young humans to care for) that I so enjoyed discussing with Erica Webb of SelfKind in today's bonus Q&A interview.
I was inspired to call my podcast 'There Are No Rules' because of the creeping realisation I was never going to 'Get It Right' by looking outside of myself. It's a topic I've been interested in since the 2010 TEDxWomen event I created, themed 'Self-Determination', and my conversation with Erica continues to explore ideas.
How do we balance the reality of external data and information being relevant, with the need to give more credit to what we know, or intuit, is right for us? What if we have NFI what is 'right' for us?
You can find more about Erica:
https://www.ericawebbyoga.com.au/
https://www.instagram.com/ericawebbyoga/


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heartfeltmoves.substack.com

In this episode of the pod I’m sharing the audio of a video Q&A I recorded with Dr Emily Amos as part of the Take Up Space anti-challenge I offered Heartfelt members a few weeks back. Emily is a GP, board certified lactation consultant, meditation and yoga teacher and mum. She shares insights she has gained from her own unique experience burning out despite doing all the things we are ‘told to do’ such as meditating and practicing yoga. She now helps support mums, doctors and anyone who wants to learn to meditate or practice more mindfulness in their day-to-day life. In this episode I ask Emily questions like:
-What’s the difference between meditation and mindfulness?
-Why is is so hard to do when we know it’s good for us?
-How do we stop self-sabotage?
-How do we keep the stakes low?
-How can mindfulness integrate into the daily chaos and demands of early motherhood?
-What do you wish you could go back and say to your ‘burning out’ self?
-What keeps you ‘on track’ and caring for yourself these days?
It was such a privilege to speak with Emily and learn from all her experience and expertise. You can connect with her and learn more about her offerings at:
* Her website
* On Instagram @dremilyamos
* Emily also has her own podcast @mind.life.me
* and for her IBCLC offerings: @more.than.milk


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heartfeltmoves.substack.com

In this pod episode I share a little 10 minute reflection or journalling practice you might like to do to support yourself to direct your energy and attention and effort towards what you truly value, and making conscious choices, and then owning those choices, rather than being pulled in a million external directions and then feeling icky, resentful and exhausted.
As ever you are so welcome to come and try the first 7 days of membership to Heartfelt Moves to support you with these sorts of practices amongst a community of other mums who want to move and feel good and accept themselves exactly as they are.



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heartfeltmoves.substack.com

In today’s episode I expand on the idea that we are already completely ‘enough’ exactly as we are, and if we can practice coming to believe that, it means from that starting point we are free to choose the meaning we want to make in our life; what we want to value, pursue, move towards. The choices we want to make rather than that we might feel are coming at us as an external pressure.
I talk about how we can use awareness of our external body in space (proprioception) and our internal experience and sensations in our body (interoception) to become more attuned to exactly what is going on for us: physically, emotionally, mentally - and from there, we are more able to meet our own needs.
The episode includes fun stuff like:
* Is “acceptance” passive? Or is that a fairly immature notion?
* How you can reframe common idea that there is something ‘wrong’ with your parenting/partner/child/body
* How the stories we tell ourselves can get us stuck in over-revved nervous system responses
* How to use the breath to calm the f*ck down
If you want to come and try the first 7 days of access to the Heartfelt Membership, you can do that here. I would so love to have you.
If you want to sign up to the newsletter so you get fortnightly updates to your inbox, you can do that here.
If you like this episode and shared it with a friend I would be very grateful! If you have thoughts, comments or questions you can send me an email at emily@heartfeltmoves.com or find me on Instagram @heartfeltmoves


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heartfeltmoves.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heartfeltmoves.substack.com