Vaishnavi, founder of the Body Euphoria movement, shares her journey of self-confidence, the impact of societal conditioning on body image, and the power of embracing presence, creativity, and self-love as acts of resistance.
Film photography by Maya David
Tell us a bit about yourself
Hi <3 I’m Vaishnavi, I am the founder of the Body Euphoria movement. But first and foremost, I am a lover girl. I have an immense love for people and the planet. I believe that our purpose is to love and be love.
In any given moment you can find me searching to see the love in unsuspecting moments and places. In this life I’ve worn many hats - sailor, scuba diver, coral + dolphin researcher, yogi, tennis player, activist, nomad, writer, the list goes on.
Above all, I am always a student of Spirit and the one thing I have always believed is that bliss is our birthright. It is my dream to see humans freed from the shackles of shame and experience the pleasure of the present moment fully.
How do you define self-confidence in your own life?
Self confidence to me is knowing that my worth is not up for debate.
My confidence is rooted beyond my body, in Spirit.
Spirit is so pure and loving, it does not have any bias or judgment. I try to see myself in every moment through the lens of love, forgiveness, and softness that Spirit sees us with. That allows me to rest into the knowing that I am worthy and more than enough.
My journey to confidence has been a deeply humbling experience.
When I relied on ego to resource the sensation of confidence, it chased vanity in beauty standards, body types, and numbers in my bank account, which always felt empty and led me back to “not enoughness.”
Ultimately, my self-confidence comes from the unshakeable knowing that I am not my body, I am not my mind, I am divine. And that has radically upgraded the choices I make in partners, friends, how I speak to myself, my body language, and how I show up in the world.
What role do you believe society plays in shaping our body image?
To an extent, we are all aware of the conglomeration of messaging across the beauty industry, diet culture, the tabloids, and TV shows, the weight loss trends and products that have been spoon feeding us shame since we were children.
I call this the “Shame Industrial Complex” and it’s the reason we wake up feeling confused on how we’re meant to feel content with our bodies and lives. It plays a huge role in how we feel about ourselves because so many times that inner critic (I call it the Brain Bully) has a voice that is not even ours.
Shame is an intentional distraction from our divine design. It keeps us playing small and robs us of our joy, which is the greatest gift we can give each other and the world.
So, we may not be able to control that industry, but we can consciously choose to unplug from societal conditioning and into our purpose and power.
That’s why self love is an act of resistance. Love is the revolution.
When do you feel most free?
I feel most free when I am present. There is no freedom greater than feeling exactly where I am. My body, my breath, my bliss. This is where the magic, the juiciness of life is happening. It’s not happening in the attempt to predict the future or dissecting the past.
I feel most free when I can be in a moment and my mind is not wandering into the realms of comparison, or how I didn’t earn this moment of peace, or obsessing about how my body looks.
My freedom begins with my own internal narrative being relaxed and kind.
What is something you do regularly to boost your self-esteem?
There’s two parts to this answer. The definition of self esteem is, “Confidence in one’s worth or abilities.”
The first part is that our worth is unchanging. So instead of trying to convince myself that I feel confident, I am going to look at what part of myself is questioning my worth. This is where I think it is so important to hop off of the hamster wheel of healing and stop trying to outrun the feeling of 'not enoughness'. Instead - I turn around, sit with it, and give it a hug.
That looks like simply making space to feel that emotion fully. I will usually find myself at the ocean if it feels particularly heavy. I love to rub oil on my body and let her know that it’s safe for her to feel this sensation. I have realized that we can’t “self care” our way into self-esteem because it will only feel better on the surface level if we continue to bypass the deeper wound.
The second part is that actually, the only time I need to boost my esteem is if I am listening to my human “self.” I don’t rely on my self to boost my esteem because my self is flawed. If I am needing to boost my esteem, I need to look to Spirit and remember that I am whole.
Where do you feel most creative?
Creativity for me begins with listening and processing.
It’s like a dance. It is cyclical in a way that I have seasons of input and output.
And as far as an environment I need to tap into creativity - I always feel most inspired where I have the most space to listen. That can be anywhere that “Vaish” turns off, and me as the witness of life turns “on.”
I find that is often in nature and on long car rides. But also a lot of times in the shower and right as I am falling asleep as well. I keep a notepad next to my bed because sometimes I will even receive messages in the middle of the night that I contemplate later on.
Favourite word of wisdom or mantra?
Ahhh I have so many. I’ll share my prayer recently, which has been
God, make me willing.
Willing to be patient.
WIlling to shift my perspective.
Willing to not know the answers.
Willing to surrender.
Willing to soften my grip.
Willing to open my heart.
Willing to be truly useful.
Willing to be the love that I am looking for.
Vaishnavi's playlist to reconnect and relax
I. Atahara - Pao Pamaki
II. Naked - Anoushka Shankar
III. The Water Poem - Ram Dass, AWARE
IV. Naturaleza - Mose Edit - Mose, Danit
V. Dianfa - Rokia Traoré
VI. Mama Saturn - Tanerélle
VII. Honey - Raveena
VIII. On & On - Erykah Badu
IX. NBody - Sinéad Harnett
