Body Peace Program

Head on over here for information about the 2017 Session of Body Peace

Are you ready to make peace with your body?

To see yourself and your body with more compassion in photos and in life?

To speak to yourself with more kindness?

To release body judgement and settle into a more peaceful relationship with your self-image?

We are so often told to change those parts of ourselves we struggle with, but what if we could find a way to see it with compassion, even love, as we are now?

Taking self-portraits can be an invitation to take charge of the way we see ourselves. For so many of us, being in front of the camera can be incredibly vulnerable.  Yet when we are the photographer as well as the subject, there is the potential for something incredible to happen.  We find ourselves being the narrator of our own story.

In the original Be Your Own Beloved class we explore how self-portraiture is so much more than an expression of our physicality and invite in personal storytelling and expression.  We explore looking through the lens with kindness and compassion and even within the 30 days of Be Your Own Beloved, truly incredible transformations occur.

What if we took it beyond 1 month and gave ourselves a whole year to spark a new relationship to self-compassion and making peace with our bodies?

What if we offered ourselves a whole year to let ourselves learn tools for loving our body, without having to change it in order to love it. What if we gifted ourselves with the community and connection to help us rise up with resilience when we’re having a tough body-love day as well as celebrate our successes.

 

The Be Your Own Beloved classes are known for having a really unique and powerful community to them, described by a recent participant as a ‘culture of kindness’. People show up and support one another with the same kindness they’d like to receive and are learning to offer themselves. Participants come back to the original Be Your Own Beloved class and take the class again for that accountability, that support that helps lift them up and offer themselves more bravery in choosing compassion over critique than they could do alone.

This is one of the primary reasons I wanted to make a year long program, so we can have that continued support and a safe space to share the ebb and flow of learning to see and treat ourselves with compassion through the camera and in our lives in general. The community in Body Peace, even without the classes, is worth every penny of this program. If you look at it as a year round exploration, its about a $1 per day to join in for the program at it’s Early Bird Price!

Here are some of the participants experiences of our community: 

You can choose the full year program OR you can choose to take classes individually. There are extra benefits to joining in for the year long program.

• 6 powerful programs throughout the year (plus 2 bonus class)
• 4-6 weeks of continued support after each program, weekly invitations for continued exploration & daily interaction around the prompts in the Facebook Group
• A Private Facebook Community
• 2 extra classes (only available to Body Peace participants)
• A virtual retreat to bring the circle of our explorations to a close at the end of the year
• Extra Be Your Own Beloved Offerings & Surprises

 

YOUR INVESTMENT:

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$499 CAD (Approximately $ 400 USD) 

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OR pay in 2 payments of $249.50 CAD (Approx $200 USD) with the second payment due May 15th, 2016.[/ezcol_1half_end]

If you choose the 2 payment option you are committing to pay in full for the program.
YOU RECEIVE:

• A Powerful Class exploring an element of self-love through self-portraiture based activities
• An invitation to join us in sharing our photos on social media using the class hashtag
• A Class PDF
• Access to Vivienne for Questions and Support

Cost:

• $99 CAD/$75 USD for Selfie Compassion 
• $79 CAD/$59 USD or all other Individual Programs

 

Ready to find out more about each class? Here are the details!

Selfie Compassion

Selfie Compassion is our Foundation Class for the year in which we root ourselves into the process of self-compassion through our cameras. As we begin the year in which we’re choosing compassion over critique this brand new Be Your Own Beloved class invites you to learn new tools and activities for making peace with your body through selfies.

Cost $99 CAD (Approx $75 USD)

Class ran January 1st-30th 

Our Body Stories

In this program we’re listening to our bodies stories and honouring them. We’ll deepen our well of self-compassion including the places we don’t yet see ourselves with kindness.  As well, we’re going to begin to deconstruct the ‘story’ element of the way we see our bodies and will start to choose the story we want to define our body love by.

Cost: $79 CAD (Approx $59 USD)

Class Runs March 1-15th

Claiming Space

A big part of learning to love our body is to let it be seen, by ourselves! Yet we’re programmed to try take up less space, to make ourselves smaller, to not be TOO MUCH. We’re claiming space and asking ourselves why we think it’s selfish to take selfies and claim time and space in our lives for this powerful self-care tool.

Cost: $79 CAD (Approx $59 USD)

Class runs May 1-15th

Empowered Visibility

A way that selfies help us heal is by letting ourselves be seen, through our own voice and lens. In this program we’re exploring the ways we can come out of hiding. We’ll also explore our relationship to invisibility and visibility and claim space to be visible in our own lives and photos. We’re going to get brave and bare our arms, tell our truths and explore the ways we feel seen by ourselves and others as well as our comfort zones and the ways we yearn to be seen.

Cost: $79 CAD (Approx $59 USD)

Class runs July 1-15th

Photo Resilience

Self-compassion isn’t some place we get to and everything is perfect. It’s an ongoing process of celebrating the love that we do find and honouring the ebb and flow of this kind of learning. To build resilience for supporting ourselves on the tough days and getting back up when we fall. We’ll dig into creating our own tools for self-compassion and body-compassion resilience. Indeed, these activities might push us outside of our comfort zone, but they’ll also help us get back up!

Cost: $79 CAD (Approx $59 USD)

Class runs September 1-15th

Embody

In this program we’re going to invite our whole selves into the frame. For many people this can be the most vulnerable type of selfie we take so we’re giving it the focus. We’ll be tying in claiming space in our photos, movement and letting ourselves step proudly, boldly and fully into the frame. It will be a powerful way for us to claim space and to let our stories be heard.

Cost: $79 CAD (Approx $59 USD)

Class runs November 1-15th

Wait…that’s not all! There are 2 extra classes for participants of the Body Peace Program!

For the Beloved Body Peace Full Year Participants Only

Befriending our Reflection

Mirrors and Photos can both be places where we feel old stories of how we see ourselves rise up and it is because of that, that they can be places of body image healing. So in this fun class we’re befriending our reflection both in the mirror and other surfaces.

Runs in June

Not available outside of the program. 

Dressing our Beloved Body 

Prepare for fun in this bonus class. It’s not about having the right clothes to wear, in fact it’s far more about letting ourselves feel Beloved and celebrating that externally. We’ll be adorning ourselves with reminders of our worthiness and letting ourselves experiment with how what we choose to put on in the morning can actually be a doorway to more body-love, more compassion.

Runs in August after we’ve dug into letting ourselves be seen!

Not available outside of the program. 

 
And as I shared earlier, our community is a powerful and enriching part of this experience and there are 2 ways we’ll be gathering together during the year!

For the Beloved Body Peace Full Year Participants Only

Beloved Community Facebook Group 

Year round Facebook group for support, encouragement. This is really where the magic is going to be happening. Throughout the year there will be weekly questions/prompts that are low pressure but will help you keep this journey flowing between and beyond the classes themselves.

We’re starting to gather in the Facebook Group leading up to class so soon after you register I’ll be sending you an invite to come join us!

 

The Circle of Love 

In early December 2016 we gather for a full day virtual retreat full of activities, photo tasks, community and connection.

We close the year with a celebratory program bringing our journey to a whole, closing the circle of the year.

 

 

We are all inherently worthy of returning to a compassionate relationship with how we see and feel in our bodies.

Yet so many of us find photos to be a place where we are critical of ourselves, where we feel shame or embarrassment if someone posts a photo of us. It is BECAUSE we feel this vulnerability that photos can be a place of reclamation, of healing.

This program invites you to let that healing emerge as you create a practice of seeing yourself with kindness through the camera.

Let’s reclaim our power back from all the other voices that tell us how we should be, what we should look like. Especially from that voice that tells us that everything will be different if we are different, if we are better.

Our bodies are not inherently wrong because of the shape they form into. Our bodies don’t need to change in order to be loved by us. Our perception of them does.

THIS PROGRAM WAS CREATED FOR FOLKS WHO:

• Are tired of seeing photos of themselves and reacting with shame or self-hate and are ready to transform that relationship.
• Want to learn to drop those ‘I’ll love myself when I…” stories and learn to cultivate more self-compassion through the lens right now and throughout the coming year.
• Have sparked their self-love journey through the Be Your Own Beloved class or their own relationship to selfie self-love. Or you’ve been wanting to take the class and spark this journey but would like to take it slower than 1 month and give yourself the space to slowly shift towards love.
• Seek continued support in helping them show up in front of the camera as an act of self-care and reclaiming of the way they see themselves.
• Have a basic camera they are comfortable using which can absolutely include a phone. This isn’t about having fancy gear and we can choose to see ourselves with kindness through any lens.

I’m Vivienne McMaster and for the last decade, I’ve been asking myself those questions and creating a body of work that will help you find your own answers. I’ve been teaching self-compassion based self-portraiture classes for the past 5 years and am thrilled to be bringing you more Be Your Own Beloved programs.

Self-portraits have been a pivotal part of finding a peaceful relationship with my own body and I’m excited to  provide a space for compassionate community and help you show up in creating your own peaceful relationship with yourself through the camera.

 

In the Be Your Own Beloved class, we create a habit for 30 days of taking a selfie as a tool for self-care and self-compassion. In Body Peace program we’re opening up our arms to more love, more self-compassion, more acceptance of ourselves in this moment. Are you ready to say YES to a year of compassionate community, powerful activities and support in showing up with compassion in your selfies and your life?

Come join us! While the program doesn’t start until January 1st, we’ll begin gathering in the Body Peace Facebook Group and begin connecting and creating the powerful community that will be life changing part of the coming year.

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Do I have to have taken Be Your Own Beloved?

You don’t have to be a Be Your Own Beloved alumni to join in, nor do you need to be a selfie expert or even comfortable with selfies yet. We’ve got time to let that unfold during the year. It’s a good plan to have taken a class of some sort from me or to have explored an E-Book in depth so you’re familiar with my approach (which is playful and fun but also gently encourages you outside your comfort zone) especially since this is a longer program. Feel free to connect with me via the contact form if you’re wondering if its the right fit for you.

Can I join in for 1 class? 

Absolutely, you can join in for 1 class. Within the month before each individual program registration will open and you can sign up for that one. You won’t get the benefit of the extended exploration after the class that we’ll do in the Year long program or the community support element but these classes are designed to be powerful doses of empowering activities unto themselves. You’ll also receive a PDF for your class to continue exploring.

How does this Program differ from Be Your Own Beloved or the Lens of Love Program. 

I’m glad you asked! This program has a similar energy and focus to Be Your Own Beloved and was created with folks who have been through the class in mind. I started to find that folks were taking the class multiple times a year and that there was a need to created an extended program to support us in this journey beyond those 30 days as it can be harder to do on our own. So think of this program as Be Your Own Beloved but with different prompts and more time to explore it and be supported throughout the year. It does focus more on learning to see our bodies with kindness throughout all these programs.

The Lens of Love is based on the work I’ve been writing into a manuscript these past 2 years. In it we are changing the paradigm and the lens we see ourselves through. We’re acknowledging where these stories came from and working through a process of making compassion our new normal rather than critique. It is shorter, but more intensive.

I hope that helps clarify and if you’re not sure of which program is the right one for you, click the contact form and connect with me!

What if I’m in the Year Long Program and can’t join in for one of the 15 day programs?

The benefit of having a year long program is that there is time! Say you plan a trip for one of those 15 day stretches, no worries. The classes are spaced out to have time in between to keep digging into it. Folks in the year long program with be doing them during those 15 days as well as at their own pace during the 6 weeks before the next program begins.

Will you offer this next year?

I do plan to offer Body Peace in 2017 (with some fabulous changes of course) and if you’re interested in getting on the waiting list for this session, add your info here. You might also want to try out one of the individual programs offered this year and get a sense of the program as a whole and find out if it is a fit for you! Or if you haven’t taken Be Your Own Beloved yet, I recommend starting there as this program is based on that core content and is created for Alumni of this class (plus you’ll get a sense of the magic of Beloved Community and what you’ll get to experience for a whole year)!

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