Lens of Love

What is the lens that we see ourselves through…that we let define our worthiness in a photo or in the mirror? 

Are we seeing ourselves through someone else’s lens?

Or an old lens of critique that no longer serves us?

If you’re like I was, you’ve spent SO many years in a place of self-critique. So much so that you think your inner critic is right. You think your inner critics voice is YOUR voice.

But it’s not.

And though the Be Your Own Beloved class, I’ve helped folks from around the world reclaim that voice, even if at first it is only a whisper. We seek it though the lens, we choose resilience again and again until we start to see the person in the lens looking back at us, eye to eye as though we were seeing ourselves for the first time and recognizing a kindred there.

We spark this in the 30 day original Be Your Own Beloved class and over the past 4 years of teaching this program I’ve been pondering, researching and living the question: How do we make this happen not just occasionally through the camera, but in our lives as a whole? 

How do we choose a compassionate daily life for ourselves where we are rooted in our inner beloved, the one who…while we still get distracted from our critic (because we are human)…we have the tools to remind ourselves of our inherent worth. We have the inner knowing that we are more than our negative self-perceptions. More than the stories we tell ourselves when we see a ‘bad photo’.

We are claiming that part of ourselves again through Lens of Love.

This program is designed to help you traverse the beautiful vulnerable landscape of finding our way back to our own Inner Beloved, the part of ourselves who believes in and lives from our inherent worthiness.

We’re going to create a new normal for ourselves.

And choose to see our bodies through a lens of love.

Why through the camera and through selfies? Well, if you’ve experience a Be Your Own Beloved class or are familiar with my work (which is who this program is created for) you know that this is about so much more than our gear or even the final product of our photo. It is about the process of showing up for ourselves as we take our photo that is at the heart of this healing. The camera is our medium and we are our muse.

Yes, rooting ourselves in our own worthiness is going to be a beautiful and vulnerable process.  Many of us find photos to be a place where we are critical of ourselves, where we feel shame or embarrasment if someone posts a photo of us. It is BECAUSE we feel this vulnerability that photos can be a place of reclamation, of healing.

We are reclaiming our voice over our inner critics through this powerful program.

We are choosing to see ourselves and our lives through a lens of love.

• You’ve sparked a journey of self-compassion through your camera through the Be Your Own Beloved month long class and are ready to let it that compassion permeate beyond the relationship of you and your camera into your life as a whole.
• You are ready to let your own voice speak louder than your inner critics
• You want to stand in your power, to stand in the truth that your body (and all bodies) are worthy of compassion
• If you’re ready to love yourself now and are tired of putting it off until ‘someday’ or until you’re body has changed or you finally deem yourself worthy of it. You’re ready to let go of ‘someday’ and welcome in more non-judgement and body acceptance.
• You’re finding yourself in that in-between place where you’ve started doing the work of being your own beloved and treating yourself with the same kindness you offer others and are ready to make a shift towards making this not just an occasional moment but a new normal for you!
• This program is designed for Alumni of the Be Your Own Beloved classes (though if it feels like the right program for you and you haven’t taken Be Your Own Beloved but are familiar with my approach, you’re most welcome to join in too)

 

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WEEK 1: We explore and define the lenses that we’ve been seeing ourselves through that no longer serve us and disempower us.

WEEK 2: Reclaim a new perspective and a lens we choose to see ourselves through.  We’ll hone in the clear and kind lens we choose to see ourselves through and put it into practice.

WEEK 3: Cultivate ways to show up for ourselves and treating ourselves with the same reverence we would a beloved. We ground ourselves in self-care and clarify the ways we aren’t treating ourselves the way we would a friend.

WEEK 4: Build compassionate communication with our Inner Critic and explore to shift out of a place of critique with more resilience.

WEEK 5: In this week we explore tools we can use to build a relationship of self-trust. We listen deeply for our own voice evolving outside of our inner critics voice.

WEEK 6: Reclaim our personal power outside of that old lens we saw ourselves through and redefine our own self-worth.

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WEEK 7: After 6 weeks of powerful reclamation and redefining how we see ourselves, we make space for self-care and gentleness this week, allowing ourselves the space and rest and care that we need.

WEEK 8: We step into changing our stories and choosing their new direction. We rewrite old stories and heal our relationship to photos as ‘proof’ of those stories.

WEEK 9: Listen for our own voice of how we see ourselves, make space for that voice to be heard

WEEK 10: Create sacred space through the lens to let the new stories unfold and the new lens we are choosing to see ourselves be heard.

WEEK 11: Explore embodiment and movement. We’ll explore the vulnerability of putting our full bodies into photos and transform that vulnerability into an empowered space.

WEEK 12: Let all these tools help us find a new normal for ourselves, one that lets us live a compassionate, embodied and kind relationship with ourselves which includes the ebbs and flows that learning to love ourselves involves.[/ezcol_1half_end]



The Lens of Love program is a combination of group support and individual 1-on-1 support and connection with Vivienne. There are 2 individual sessions within the program.

3 Months of Powerful Curriculum including:

• Empowering Weekly Selfie Activities
• Powerful content right from Vivienne’s Manuscript to you!
• Weekly Worksheets and Reflective Questions
• Weekly Videos from Vivienne
• And more!

A Selfie Exploration Session:

The Selfie Exploration Session is a 30 minute session with Vivienne where we explore your selfies together as you take this step deeper into your selfie journey. This isn’t a portfolio review, quite the opposite in fact. Vivienne will have spent some time looking at your selfies (via Flickr or Instagram or loaded into a dropbox folder…wherever your selfies are stored) we will dig into where you shine in your selfies, what stories might be on the surface as well as under the surface. It will have you starting this 3 month program with a deeper awareness of your own selfie stories and the lens you’ve been seeing yourself through.

A Mentoring Session:

The Mentoring Session is a 45 minute mentoring session done in the midst of the program. Together, you and Vivienne will dig into what is coming up through the class content and provide support on your journey. This is your time to ask any questions that might be coming up, get support and encouragement in your body image and self-love journey and space to feel heard and seen. Vivienne will end your session with a specific selfie dare designed just for you to explore during the rest of the program.

Flickr & Facebook Community: 

The Be Your Own Beloved classes are known for their empowering community. We’ll gather in the Facebook Group to connect, discuss and share resources and get daily questions about the weekly theme from Vivienne.

We’ll also create a safe & sacred space for our photo sharing, sharing images that might be deeply vulnerable and wonderfully brave. Our Flickr Group will be a safe space for us to gather.

 

 

Monthly Group Calls:

We’ll be gathering once each month during Lens of Love as a community using a program called Zoom (super easy to use) to gather together face to face, connect and Vivienne will guide you in collective and individual activities during our calls as well as creating space for each of us to be heard and witnessed.

We’ll continue to gather collectively in our community spaces throughout the duration of 2016. Because this is going to be an intimate group of 20 incredible folks (like YOU) Vivienne has some tools ready for you to continue the community we’re sparking through Lens of Love to allow our Selfie-Support & cheering one another on to continue!

DATES:

April 4th – June 24th, 2016.

Registration for Lens of Love is now closed, but there are other options for you to join in and explore seeing yourself with compassion.

If you haven’t experienced the Be Your Own Beloved class, there is a session open for registration!

Or if you are a Be Your Own Beloved Alumni, come join the other Alumni program called Body Peace. The 2016 session is presently running and you can join in for the full program or join in for an individual program. The Claiming Space Class is running this May 1st-15th!

Or get on the wait list to be the first to know about the 2017 Session of Body Peace.

I’m Vivienne McMaster and for the last decade, I’ve been healing my relationship to my body image through self-portraiture and I’ve been teaching self-compassion based self-portraiture classes for the past 5 years. I am thrilled to be bringing you more Be Your Own Beloved programs including Lens of Love…the Masterclass of these 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.

Can I take Lens of Love if I haven’t taken the Be Your Own Beloved class yet? 

This class is designed specifically for alumni of the Be Your Own Beloved class who are ready to step further into a compassionate relationship with their self-image and body image. The content is grounded in the work we started in the Be Your Own Beloved class so if you haven’t taken the class yet, I’m so honoured and excited that you’re interested but I encourage you to start with that class first, though if you’ve been exploring selfies as a tool for self-love on your own and feel like this class is calling to you, connect with me about being a part of it!

What is your refund policy?

Once the class has begun (or you have had your pre-class Selfie Exploration Session) the program is non-refundable. As well, if you choose the 3 payment option you are committing to pay in full for the program. Because of this, I encourage you to have taken a Be Your Own Beloved class with me before so you’re familiar with my teaching style and approach (though this class is a whole new world of content than you’ve experienced before). Feel free to connect with me!

If life gives you a twist and you’re not able to participate during these 3 months I will extend the availability of your mentoring session and provide you with all the content but of course, I hope that isn’t the case. Do check in with yourself and make sure the time is right for you to say YES and join this powerful and life-changing program!

Will you be offering it again this year?

I will not be offering Lens of Love again this year, so this is the one and only cohort group of 2016.

What if I have taken Be Your Own Beloved but didn’t finish all the photo prompts? 

As I shared in the original class, it’s more about the process than the final product. If you took that class, let the ideas and the approach soak in and read the posts…no matter how many selfies you ended up taking, you are welcome to apply. That said, if you didn’t finish all the prompts I do encourage you to check in with yourself about why. Was it that life got busy? This class is a bigger investment so I encourage you to make sure that you’ll be able to offer it (and yourself) the time to participate. Was it that fear got in the way? If so, please do apply and I encourage you to dare yourself to do some of the prompts you missed between now and when the program begins if you are accepted. Fear and resilience are a part of the process of showing up for ourselves through the camera and they are going to be a part of this class too. Feel free to connect with me if you’re wondering if this program will be a fit for you.

How does Lens of Love differ from Be Your Own Beloved or the Body Peace Program!

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 more intensive and in-depth than Body Peace.

Body Peace has a similar energy and focus to Be Your Own Beloved and is like an extended and more body-acceptance focused version of Be your Own Beloved. Think of Body Peace 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.

Lens of Love also offers you continued community connection throughout the year with smaller group and more interaction both in community and 1-on-1 with Vivienne. This is the biggest difference between Body Peace and Lens of Love.

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!