Self-compassion meditation for Lipedema / Lipoedema
by Kathleen Lisson, CLT
I am really excited to share information about an encouraging study:
This study enlisted "women with body image concerns."
Mission: listen to self-compassion meditation audio recordings to see if this exposure would increase
self-compassion and improve body image concerns.
228 adult women participated in the study and participants were recruited through an advertisement inviting women with body image concerns to participate in a study involving meditation.
Participants listened to three weeks of self-compassion meditation training podcasts or were assigned to
the waitlist.
Researchers measured: self-compassion, body dissatisfaction, body shame, body appreciation,
and contingent self-worth based on appearance. All measures were different versus pretest, only body appreciation was significantly related to the number of days a week that participants meditated.
Mindfulness practices used included:
- "Compassionate Body Scan,"
- "Affectionate Breathing,"
- Loving kindness meditation that includes the phrases "May I be safe. May I be peaceful. May I be kind to myself. May I accept myself as I am."
Results:
Those who were randomly assigned to listen to the meditation podcasts evidenced significantly greater
increases in self-compassion (19 %) than those randomly assigned to a waitlist control group (5 %),
with a large effect size indicated. In addition, the intervention led to significant improvements on all six aspects of self compassion (self-kindness, self-judgment, common humanity, isolation, mindfulness, and over-identification), suggesting that the meditations fostered self-compassion in a holistic manner.
The most exciting part?
If you are a Naturopath, Certified Lymphedema Therapist, Nutritionist, Health Coach or Personal Trainer and want to give your client with lipedema a research-backed method for improving self-compassion and reducing body shame, let them know about this link!
