#314 - EMBRACE YOUR BODY with Taryn Brumfitt

Have you ever stopped to think about how much energy we waste worrying about our appearance? What if we could channel that energy into chasing our dreams instead?

In this episode, I’m thrilled to welcome back the incredible Taryn Brumfitt, 2023 Australian of the Year, award-winning filmmaker, and body image warrior.

Taryn has reached over 200 million people with her message of self-love and acceptance, and she’s here to share her wisdom with you.

In our chat, we cover so much, including:

1. The true cost of body hatred and how it limits us from living fully.
2. The power of reframing your mindset and finding gratitude for your body.
3. Why body acceptance isn’t just about looks—it’s about unlocking a magical sense of adventure and joy.

Whether you’re someone who’s struggled with body image or just looking for inspiration to live a fuller, more joyous life, this episode will leave you feeling empowered and motivated.

Join us as we explore how embracing your body can be the gateway to living your dream life. I can’t wait for you to hear it!

As always, I’d LOVE to hear what resonates with you from this episode and what you plan to implement after listening in. So please share and let’s keep the conversation going in the Dream Life Podcast Facebook Group here.    

Have a wonderful weekend… and remember, it all starts with a dream 💛

Enjoy! 

💛

Dream Life & kikki.K Founder  

SHOW NOTES:

• Join my Platinum Coaching Program - where in December the focus is What to Stop, Start & Continue in 2025. It'll be a clarity-focused month - helping you shape your 2025 vision with actionable steps, featuring insights from the inspiring Australian of the Year, Taryn Brumfitt, as your Super Star Speaker. Learn more here.
• Embrace You Program: Join Taryn’s supportive community of women learning to embrace their bodies at www.embraceyouonline.com.
• Body Image Movement Website: Explore inspiring stories and resources at www.bodyimagemovement.com.
• Embrace and Embrace Kids Documentaries: Watch Taryn’s groundbreaking films. Learn more at www.bodyimagemovement.com/films.
• Join my virtual book club GROW for December where we meet weekly on Zoom to discuss and squeeze the learnings from Gay's brilliant book,The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level.
• Join my Platinum Coaching Program - where in December the focus is What to Stop, Start & Continue in 2025. It'll be a clarity-focused month - helping you shape your 2025 vision with actionable steps, featuring insights from the inspiring Australian of the Year, Taryn Brumfitt, as your Super Star Speaker. Learn more here.
• Dream Life Community Facebook Group: Connect with like-minded dreamers.

RESOURCES:

• Sign up to our email list here to hear about upcoming workshops.
• Take your first step to getting clarity on what you want from life with this free bonus dreaming exercise here 101 Dreams Audio Guide 
• Buy Kristina's book, Your Dream Life Starts Here

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi there and welcome back to another episode. This year, I have done a lot of public speaking and I have absolutely loved it. One of the highlights when speaking is all the incredible people that I meet. I recently spoke at the Evolved Extra treat in Barron Bay and I bumped into the amazing Tarren Bramford, who actually haven't seen for a while. She has been one busy lady, being the Australian of the Year in twenty twenty three. She has been on my podcast once already. If you have a listen to that you have too. But after reconnecting with her, we did a breakfastment together recently in Adelaide. She's also our Superstar Speaker of the Month in my coaching program and today she's back on my podcast. Tarren Brumfitt is an award winning filmmaker, best selling author and an internationally sought after keynote speaker.

She's an incredible speaker.

If you ever get the chance to see her speak.

She's amazing.

She's also the co executive director of the Embrace Collective, founder of the Bonnie Image Movement, and director of the inspiring documentaries Embrace and embrace Kids. She's also named Australian of the Year in twenty twenty three, and she is a fiercely passionate advocate for social change and her message has reached more than two hundred million people around the world. Very impressive. She is simply amazing and so inspiring. So let's dive right into this inspiring episode. Well, hello and welcome back, Taran. I am so excited to have you here.

I'm excited to be here with you.

I don't know how long ago we met to do the first podcast, but that was the first time we met in person, and it was actually in person because before Covid, I did all my podcasts in person. But it's so great to connect with you. We have connected a couple of times recently and it's been so good.

So thank you, thank you for having me on.

I always talk about the exchange of time and how we will never get this time back, and time is the most precious thing that we've all got. So I am delighted to be here with you, and I'm really delighted to be here with all of the people that listen to you. Hopefully, by the end of today's episode, we can get everyone embracing their body.

Absolutely.

So I'm not going to assume that we have listeners from all the world. So could you maybe start We're just reintroduce yourself for some of our new listeners, and a bit of a refreshment because a lot of things have happened since we caught up the first time anyway, So maybe just give it a bit of a background.

Yeah. Sure.

So I teach people all over the world how to embrace their body.

I've been doing this work for over a decade.

I know how much it sucks to hate your body.

I've done it.

I did it for decades, and then I learned how to embrace my body, and I wanted to share that message with as many people as I could around the world. Some of you might remember a non traditional before and after photograph that went viral about a decade ago. And the before photograph was me on stage in what I can describe if you can see me doing these ones.

Like a perfect bikini body.

And then my after is as my body is now selly light and rolls and folds and all the things we are sold amiss, and we are sold a lie that having the perfect body will make us happy, and we constantly see these before and a half to photos where there's a woman or a man before in a larger body, they lose weight, and after they're miraculously happy in this smaller body. And it caused just such a I think the only way I can describe it is it broke people's.

Brains around the world that a woman.

Could learn to love her body when it wasn't that stereotypical perfect bikini body. And from that moment on, I guess I've just been well, I think it's in my DNA to see a problem and want to fix it. So when I received over seven thousand emails and messages from people all over the world who had seen that photograph and said, oh my gosh, I feel like this about my body and I hate my body, I just wanted to be part of the solution. So wrote a book and made a film, and then I read a few more books, and then made another film, and then went to Harvard. Last year, I went to the White House, like it's been a decade of running finding solutions to this really big problem. But what I would say is very big, unnecessary problem of people hating their.

Bodies because we were born into.

The world hating our bodies something the world has taught us, and we're here to show an alternative, more joyous, more adventurous way and relationship.

That we can have with our bodies.

You mentioned a couple of really big names there, the White House and the Harvard, et cetera. Do you feel like there is support out there for you or because I mean, we can probably speak for days on this subject. Because I feel like the way we eat and the way big companies get away with putting so much not so great things into our food, I wouldn't even actually call it food. It's not just individuals hating our bodies. There's a big movement of, you know, moving away from all the good things that are made for us because it's I sometimes just think, how can we put all these bad things into our bodies?

It's just not a good thing. No.

And here's the thing about embracing our bodies, And this was a big myth. I think there was a lot of fear around what it means to embrace your body. Does it mean eating twenty donuts on the cout? No, it doesn't unless you've just been through a breakup, and then of course you can. But when people embrace their bodies, they are more likely to eat fruit vegetables, they are more likely to move their bodies, they are less likely to drink, smoke, take illicit drugs vape. So we now have all the data and all the research that shows us that making people feel bad about their bodies does not motivate long term positive health behaviors. So I think this is a really new narrative that people are still trying to get their heads around, and there's a lot of fear wrapped up in what it means to embrace your body. Thank goodness, we've come such a long way from what it was. It was very much oh body image. It's about women, and wait, now we know it's about so much more than that. It's about how, regardless of gender, how we feel about our bodies. It might have to do with your you know, how you feel about your skin, or your hair, or your lack of hair, or your muscles, or.

Your height, the color of your skin.

There are so many reasons why people struggle with how they feel about their bodies, but mostly I can put it down to the lack of diversity we see in media and advertising, in social media, Because when we walk down the Street, and I just did this in Pitt Street a couple of days ago in Sydney, and I was just like, and I always reflect on this because it's a part of what I do. Like, I just I love looking at humans and all the different shapes and colors and sizes and abilities.

That we come in.

It's just not reflected back to us in mainstream media. Is it better, Sure, it's better, but we've still got a long way to go. And I think that so many of us, for such a long time have tried to be something that we're not, or fit into a body shape that's not ours, and it's made us miserable. And I think if we can find peace with our bodies, I mean I know firsthand it is like having a superpower in life. There is nothing greater.

Than feeling at peace and at one with this one incredible and only body that we get.

Yeah, I mean, it's as we all know, when we're not healthy, it doesn't matter how amazing your life is, because if we don't have our health and our bodies to do all the things that we need to do, then it doesn't really matter. And I so agree with when you feel good, you just want to look after your body, and I think sometimes we do need a really good reminder to fuel our body is the best possible way so we have all the energy to make all our dreams come true, which is relevant on this.

Podcast because that's what we all like.

Like what you did there, excellent intersection of our world.

What's been your kind of connection in terms of of having a positive body image? When I say positive, meaning that you're loving yourself, it's not just about being positive all the time. But how do you think that that is connected? We touched on it a little bit, but in your experience, how do you see that you know, all of us we know that well, as far as we know, we only live ones and I you know, I saw you on Instagram just before we jumped on here with your twenty eight thousands, which it might be you might be still be wearing twenty.

Eight thousand days.

And that's something that I do on my speaking as well. I often talk about that I want to live to one hundred and twenty and I want to make the most of my life here. So how do you see the connection of body image and looking after ourselves and by that beable to create our dream life?

I mean you've touched on it already about nourishing our bodies. For me, it's about, yes, nourishing. Moving my body is one of the most important things that I do every day. And I think my observation through many conversations about how people exercise or move their bodies is it actually feels that there is a real dysfunctional relationship that we have with movement, because I hear over and over again people talking about, Oh, I have to go to the gym or I have to go for a run, and I'm constantly saying to people, if those things aren't working for you, there's a thousand ways to move our bodies.

Go for a swim in the ocean, go for a high kin.

Nature and I just I think that's really sad that people can't see the beauty in moving our bodies. And so for me, that's one pillar. Nourishing is really important as well. We can't expect to do all the things that we want to do in this one precious life if we can't be energized to do it. Respect is another. The fourth pillar that I want to touch on is enjoyment. When you talk about dream life, and I've just talked about nourishing and moving our bodies and respecting our bodies. We also want to enjoy our bodies and in joy our time. So I see that there's a very direct correlation between what you talk about with dream life and what I talk about embracing our bodies, because I actually think it's the gateway, you know, when you feel good about your body, it is the gateway to opening up and going, well, how big do I want to dream? And what is it that I want to do? Because when we're out of our heads about how we feel about our bodies, we are in our lives and that, to me is probably the most magical thing of all. And it is that word likely magical. You know, I'm not using it in a Pollyanna magical way, like it is magic. You come at life with this sense of adventure, and when you see water and you're jumping in it, you're.

Not going, oh, how does my body look?

Or you hear music and there's no one on the dance floor and you're like, I'm going to go dance and then everyone else joins in eventually.

Right, this is we broke ourselves from jaw.

And dreaming beak, And I think it's fundamentally because of how we feel about our bodies and the things that we say to ourselves in our minds.

Yeah. Absolutely, and I think so many of us.

I mean, it's such a shame that we don't embrace our bodies because life is too short in my opinion, to spend all that energy on something that is so amazing. Just to be alive is amazing. And I love walking, so that's my thing. I love running as well. What I don't love running as much, but I love the feeling after. But my favorite thing to move is walking. Like I can walk for hours, and I often walk. Where we live currently, we have a park and there's a guy there who cannot walk, and his careror helps him out and helps him try to walk. I don't feel like I need that reminder because I'm always so grateful for my body, but seeing him makes me even more grateful, because you know, if we have legs to walk or a body that we can move with. If we don't have that, it's really hard. But then if we have that, why not then make the most of it. And I can understand that some people don't, So I'd love to actually talk about that from your perspective. Having been there yourself for someone who's listening, and I know you started a new program, so we'll get to that in a minute. But for those people who kind of just don't love your love their body right now, what are some of the things that they can start doing, especially if they are influenced by the traditional ways of doing it, because I think you do it very differently and in a very nice and kind way.

Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing we can do is know that it's possible. That's what I want everyone to know.

Like, the amazing thing about our brains is that they're plastic and we can change and we can where we can learn. So I think there's this narrative of like I can't. Well I'm here to really challenge everyone and say, well you can. And it looks different embracing your body to different people. I remember years ago because I'm a bit black and white, all or nothing kind of person. I'm desperately trying not to be. That's my whole life's work.

Like it's really good sometimes and that is really not so good other times. But you don't have to love your body.

That's the other thing you could like your body or body neutrality, is as powerful. So I just want you to know that embracing looks different to everybody, but the first thing is to know that it's possible, and then it's about diving into the world of body image and storytelling and being inspired by others. I think the number one and the most simplest thing that everyone could do today beyond this podcast is think about the reframe. I talk about it all the time because everyone gets it. For me, it was the most powerful thing I did was finding parts of my body that I don't like or I didn't like and finding.

A reason to either like or love or find the gratitude.

So you know, for me, I make a joke of it in keynotes because it's quite funny that you know, I've got the world's friendliest arms because I'll wave to somebody, but you know, the part under here just.

You know, continues to wave. Well after I've stopped waving.

But many years ago, it was around my tummy, just naturally, where I've always been bigger. And then I had my children and it stretched and deflated and did that three times. And so the reframe of you know what a disgusting tummy is, it's where I grew my my children, and my legs that you know, full of the SELLI light and stretch marks. My goodness, they've run two marathons, these legs, and they dance and they hike, and I just think if we could find the parts of our body that we struggle with and find a reason to be grateful and appreciate, I think that's a really easy first step for everyone to do. So that's easy to do, but also just to rember, just to remind people that you could spend all of your time and every day thinking about this body part and being meaning, being cruel and wishing for something different. But as far as I know, there's no genies, there's no wishes to be had. That real acceptance needs to come in at some stage. And I think that's what I've observed in thousands of people is like, how long are you willing to invest in the narrative about the body part that you hate? Can you opt out of that thinking, draw the line in the sand and only find.

Peace and gratitude for it.

People have found this one to be such a game changer because it saves so much time and energy, because we waste too much of it complaining about the parts of our body that we don't like.

Yeah, absolutely there, And I think we only have so much energy every day and we have only so much time to create the life we want to create. So and this is not just body im it just could be any kind of challenge that we're facing, and reframing is good for any of that. So for anyone who's listening and not struggling with that, I think reframing whatever you are challenged by. And also one of the things that I have learned, and this is something that we definitely see in you, is that all the challenges has now become, you know, your amazing gift to people. So I love for you to talk a little bit about your personal struggles in the beginning and then how did you Then you know, you turned it and now you're making a movement and making a massive impact around the world, Like it's just incredible. So sometimes it's amazing when you're in the middle of it, it's really difficult, But once you turn the corner, often people's challenges become their silver lining and something that they can help others with, which I think is such a gift because there's just nothing like learning from someone who's gone through it. So maybe share a little bit about your struggles and how you turned it.

Yeah, I think it was just opening up the door to the possible of learning a new way.

I think that's all it is for anything that we want to change, is that to know that there is an alternative. So once I could see that, like cracking the door, I kept opening it up until it was really wide. There was a number of things I did in that toolkit to open up the possibility. One of those things was talking to other people. That is how we learn and grow.

Find people that have gone through and experience and come out the other side, and pick their brains and unpack their story and take the gold from them.

But do that on mass, do that with lots of different people. I think storytelling will never go out of fashion because we've been doing it forever as human beings.

It's what we do and it's how we learn and grow best.

I think there is some really practical things that we can do. We underestimate the impact that our phones and or our social media and the p that we're following.

Can have on our lives.

And I think this is one thing I want everyone to know is that if you're following people and it's all about their bodies and their appearance.

No matter how positive you are in your body image.

We are wired to compare. Our brains as humans are wired to compare, and we quickly do comparison itis, and before we know it, we're looking at someone else's body. We're comparing it to our body. We're wishing we had a different body to the one we've got. We want to change it, or we want to die, or we want.

To get surgery or whatever it is.

Stop looking at bodies or just reduce the amount of bodies in your life. That's actually something we can do. And I also just want to touch on how important it is to make a pact with our friends. I think it's one of the easiest things that we can do once we're committed to change, right, I am going to learn how to embrace my body. Having people around you who understand the journey that you're on, who can support you, it's so important. So if you can make a pact with your friends too, I am never going to say anything negative about my body or anyone else's body again. If you and your friends just did that, it will just eliminate so many useless, boring conversations about weights, diets.

All the things, and open up space for things like a dream life.

Yeah yeah, I absolutely loved it.

I mean that's nothing more important in my opinion than having the support. Like, if you're starting a small business, you want to be around others people who are starting their own small business because they will have their own challenges. You will learn from them, you'll be inspired from them. So with your new program, can you just talk a little bit about that, because for anyone who's listening, you who might not have the support. And I hear this all the time in all the sorts of areas, and that's why I've started my coaching program because it's so important to be around like minded people. So can you just tell everyone who's listening a little bit about your program and how that work, so if people want to join it they can.

Yeah.

Sure, So embrace you.

We call an annual past because we wanted to be like a theme park, like it's fun something to do, but it's like it's a global community of women who are learning to embrace their bodies. And once a month I come in, well I come a lot more into the group than once a month, but I deliver a piece of content once a month and take people on the journey. But within that community, they are all sharing their stories and learning from one another, so it's a really safe space to say, hey, this is how I'm feeling, and then someone might pop up and say I felt like that and this is what I did, and it's just.

Working so beautifully. It's new back into the market.

I used to run Embrace New years ago, but then I got sidetracked by really big projects, you know, Australian of the Year, in making a couple of films.

It just took me out of it. But I wanted some thing that I could.

Be really hands on with and you would know this, Christina, when you have teens of people, and sometimes the magic gets lost the more people's hands that are involved. So this is me writing, and I'll say to the when I I write my columns in the group, I'm like, this is not going through a copywriter. This is me and my grammar and all the things. There's something really special about what's happening in this group. So thank you for sharing or allowing me to share. We're getting results already from women who.

Have not flick the switch.

You'll never go oh I've heard something and I'm just going to embrace my body.

But many have started.

To flick the switch with the commitment to learn to embrace their bodies. And it's ridiculously priced at forty seven dollars a whole year.

This was the other thing. What I want is to.

Have zero barriers for people to want to do this, because I know that on massive I can get all the people.

Here learning to embrace, then they're going.

To come over to you and all the other women I know who are doing amazing things and you know, set up their dream life or what I don't know, go back to UNI and study or change their career. And for me, it's a foundation is embracing your body to all the things in life.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And that's just as I said, just nothing like being around a group of like minded people wanting to do the same things. Because sometimes when we have big dreams and you want to change, and you share that with your friends who might not be ready to change yet, it's really hard because then you often become the people you hang around.

So if you hang around people.

Who are interested in changing their body image, you'd be more likely to do it versus someone who isn't because then you're fighting that and yourself. So what an incredible deal to get into spend time with you and learn from you for someone who's done it.

We met a couple.

Of weeks ago in Adelaide, which is so amazing. We talked about gratitude. How do you feel gratitude is connecting with looking after our body image and looking after us. For me, body image might be different from yours. Mine is just to be so grateful for my body. And I'm just so grateful every single day just to be alive, because I know that's not the case for everyone. So how does gratitude play for you personally but also for anyone who might be struggling with their body image right now?

Yeah, I mean gratitude plays a huge part for me personally and many others that I've met as well. And it's part of that reframing finding reasons to be grateful for your body. I often when I'm talking to young people in schools about the Embraced Kids program, etc. I get so lost in my excitement for our bodies because I think that we've actually forgotten all the amazing things that they do. And I think it's really important that's why journaling is really important, and gratitude practices are really important because we so often take things for granted. And it's a classic right Anyone who's listening will know that we've all heard the stories when someone's become sick and ill and that they've only realized then you know what they had before.

And it's like, this is the opportunity that we all have.

And I see you, Christina living that life of gratitude and joy every day.

That's who you are at your core.

But you would have had to have worked on that, and there might have been a beginning where you're like, oh this just this is not working, or this feels silly, or it doesn't feel natural unfortunately to slip right into gratitude mode.

But it's practice, and.

It always is practice when we want to learn new things. Doing it on repeat, it's doing it all the time. For me, I start my day with a coffee, I go outside. I've grown some plants recently and they've not died, which is some kind of miracle. I went to Bunnings and I got the potting mix and I got the plants, and I did it all myself, and I was like, I'm so proud of.

These little plants.

So every day I thank them and I put my hand on them, and it's just how I've started my day over the last six months of keeping these plants alive. It's a funny, cute, little practice, but it connects me instantly to the ground, to the simplicity of just bringing something in my garden. I think gratitude. It's everything, and I think that the more that we can be in a lot of our bodies, you know, we get its hot heels. Right now, my body is digesting my lunch. I'm not telling it too, it's just doing it. I can see you, I can hear you, I can move.

Like it's Yeah.

It's so sad that so many people hate their bodies and have this other narrative when there's this really beautiful one that we can all access with a little bit of help and a little bit of work.

I often think about that.

You know, my heart is beating without me worrying about it, even like you know, when we met recently in Byron, we did breath work with the Tory. We take things like that for granted, and it's such a great reminder to really appreciate that and making sure that we actually do whatever we can to look after ourselves in the best possible way, not just physically, but mentally as well.

And it was fun.

I did something maybe a year ago, and I was saying too because I'm always been very much about making sure that we eat as much good things as possible to have that energy. So not about how we look, but how we actually help our body to do all the things that it needs to be done. And I see this playing out so well, and this will be a fun little thing to remind us when I see so many people look after their dogs so well. You know how we want the best thing for our dogs. We want the best food. And like even when we got a dog, I was like, oh, this is like a whole Like it's almost like having a child in a different way. And it was funny because I said to the kids one day, I said, I think Coco is our dog, a little caboodle. I said to them, I think she would love to have some coke like coke, col like coke. Yeah, I don't know how to say it in English, And they like, what are you on, mom?

What is what are you doing?

And I said no, but it's like it's like Friday, I reckon, she'll love some coke, and they like, you're so stupid, mom, And then no, no, I think she's worth it. I think she's done such a good week, and she's had a good week and she's done so well and all those kind of things that because that's often how we do ourselves, right, we reward ourselves for things that we know that's probably not so good, and when we really think about our bodies as like a machine that needs to work together. And then I said, well, if you don't think that the dog should have it, why should you have it? Then we started this discussion. It wasn't really about the coke. It was more about just realizing that sometimes we look after everything else but ourselves and forgetting that our body needs all these beautiful things to function properly.

Yeah, it is so true how it's always about often everyone else but our own needs. And you know that's been a narrative in itself that it's sort of selfish, but self care is what enables you to have deeper connections and do more. So Yeah, I think it's I think it's really important. And I love that you've suggested to your kids and that they think something's wrong with mum because you've suggested coke for the dog.

It was such a fun thing, and they think I'm silly because I often talk about how if you want to perform in sport and if you want to perform in school, it really makes a difference what you put into your body to look after it to be able to produce all the amazing things that we want to do. So let's talk about your incredible achievement as the Australian of the Year and maybe just talk through it because I can only imagine and I can't really imagine, but I can their way I can. It would be such an incredible achievement because that's probably not something you could ever have imagined.

No, definitely not. It's one of those things that you're nominated, you don't know who buy. There's the first awards, which is the South Austraiman of the Year Awards, and then so just to be nominated is amazing and you're there and then they read your name.

Out and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm South Australian the Year.

And then off you go to Canberra and then you meet all the other Australians of the year for their state, and you just don't expect and I certainly didn't expect for my name.

To be read out.

And I was just so grateful for the opportunity to have a platform.

To share the work that I do.

And anyone who knows me well knows me that I'm not into the whohara and the razaw and dazzle, And you know, I've been afforded a lot of sort of opportunities over the years, and my laser focus is how is this going to serve and help people? So it kind of feels like I'm in this line of work, you know, probably a good person for the job because I will not be distracted from the outcomes and that is helping people embrace their bodies.

But you know it came with the cost as well. It wasn't easy at times in the media.

And thank goodness, I have lived by a quote for the last decade by Steve Martin that is be so good, they can't ignore you.

And I painted it into my wall in my office wall.

I painted it and then I painted over the top of it, so it was like embedded into my wall because so many times and I'm sure lots of your listeners will know this. Whether it's in business or whatever your life pursuits and goals are. There are so many knockbacks and rejections and you get underestimated and there's a lot stacked against you often when you're trying to do things. And another one of my mottos is polite persistance wears down resistance.

Like I think we need to navigate our way through those challenges and get to the other side. It was awesome.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I do it all again, and I'm really proud of me and my team that we made a commitment to ring out every hour every.

Day and we did everything.

So I think I'm still somewhat in recovery from a year of you know how we talk about say no.

Boundaries. I had none.

But the outcome was rereached one million children and we did that in twenty twenty three.

We've just done it again in twenty twenty four.

So it's all worth it for the possibility of our young people embracing their bodies.

Yeah, thank you for sharing that, because I want listeners to hear this because when we watch, you know, if it's Australian of the year or whatever country everyone is from. You often think that you're made for that, or you are born that, or you are one kind of special individual And I think we're all the special individuals and we could all achieve that. And that's why I wanted to share it, because I think when we dream big, you never really focus on becoming that, but then when you do, it just shows that having a dream. And then where I know that was not your dream, but it was a dream for you to reach a global audience with that title, I'm assuming will come lots of opportunities.

Like the White House.

So talk about a little bit about the White House, because it made me laugh when you share that when I saw your last and Harvard as well, because no doubt there will be some other people out there who would then be able to support you with your big admission.

The White House is funny because I received an invitation from the President of the United States to come to a state dinner at the White House, and I rang my mum immediately and she said to me, she said, oh, Tar, and she said it's a scam.

Which is pretty funny of my mum.

So then I made sure that when I was meeting the President, and I could hear it because I'm a photographer and i'm very you know, I'm a documentarian, so I'm always on observing, always.

That I could hear the click of the cameras and I was like, yes, I can show this to my mum as I was shaped as wide and teen.

Yeah, I mean, I mean even that, it's funny in itself just going to the White House. You never expect these things.

But as everyone else was rocking up to.

The White House and their beautiful evening gowns and their little clutch persons, I had the Embrace your Body books.

And like, you know, like the mission never ends.

The other really nice thing about that trip was my darling husband said, because you know, I had a plus one and Tim was going to come with me, but we just found it hard to manage kids and flights.

And all the things.

So he stayed home with the kids, which I think, you know, is a testament to the kind of man that I've married.

He's very beautiful and supportive. But doctor Zalie Jaeger came with me.

So she's the co executive director of the Embrace Collective that's our charity to be run and she came to the White House as my plus one, and on that same trip we went to Harvard and it kind of felt like I was her plus one.

At Harvard.

We screened my film, The Embrace Kids Film at Harvard, and it was just this really cool moment of we always reflect better together, always collaboration over competition. Zarly is a researcher and an academic and I'm a creative and the intersection of our.

Worlds is so much better together.

And I think because I dropped out of high school, so the fact that I was in Harvard talking to professors about my film, like it was a real full circummoment for me. And I was doing such a great job of blending in until I said, can someone tell me where the.

Gift shop is? Then they knew that I wasn't one of them.

But anyway, it was pretty funny.

Love that.

And do you feel because of that it's given you more opportunity to share your big mission?

Definitely?

I mean, I think, you know, I mean, that's a couple of heavy hitters, you know, White House and Harvard to have Harvard invite us to come and present our findings and our research that shows that the work that we're doing in the world of embrace is getting published in research papers, in academic papers, so we're very proud of that. And I think, yeah, people who might have not taken body image so seriously before are now going, oh, maybe I will listen. And I guess that's that very much. That polite persistence wears down resistance. I cannot tell you how many times I cried and I was desperately frustrated in the beginning when nobody took me seriously, and it almost felt like I was sort of often in media being rolled out as the you know, the happy, bubbly blonde to talk about bodies, and I just the substance and depth was always there for me, but it wasn't always seen by others. And to stay on the path of backing myself and staying focused and laser focused on the outcomes and the goals at times wasn't easy.

But I put it down to embracing my body.

You know, have been at peace with who I am, and this body has given me more gifts than you know, more than just I'm having I'm living a joyous, adventurous life. It's given me a superpower and an edge professionally as well, which I'll never take for granted.

Yeah.

Absolutely, And I think this is this is really great to share because I think it's so easy to look from the outside thinking you've got it all together, and you are. You know, you had it all on a path that was easy. It's never easy, but it's also great not to always have it easy, because it just makes our creativity work in the best possible way. And I often say, like starting a startup, having that that a couple of times now, it's the hardest of time, but it's also one of the most rewardings rewarded times because you know, I looking back from my own journey, it was never about the one hundred and twentieth store that we opened that was the excitement. It was like the first few stores and once that we did really wrong and we fixed it and we were, you know, forty eight hours in a road to kind of open, and you know, in hindsight, it's that probably wasn't necessary, but it was such a drive. And I think when we have big dreams, whatever that is for each person listening, it's never an easier road, but it's what makes the story because if everything was so easy, we wouldn't have this, it wouldn't be an interesting conversation. I'd be like, Oh, Turent has it all. It's the challenges that makes it worthwhile and a bit of a carrot to get through it.

Yeah, you learn so much.

And I think you hit the nail on the head when you said about being creative.

I think challenges push.

You to new creative spaces that didn't exist before. So I mean the more decades that you spend on Earth, the more comfortable you get with the fact that the breakdowns are really closely butted up next to the breakthroughs. And it's almost like when you are having a moment of the challenge or the adversity, you're kind of like ah likes through gritted teeth, like I'm here again. But I'm going to look for the growth, or I'm going to look further at the learning, or I'm going to look for the creative solution to my problem.

But you know that you'll find the way out and life can't.

Be handed to you a silver platter. You need to go through it all the ebbs and flows.

Yeah, And I think also out of that comfort, that's where the growth is. That's where we learn from and also when you look back and looking at all the craziness, because I still have a little team that I started the first business with, and sometimes we laugh about all the things that we did, and you know, if it was kind of smooth sailing, we just wouldn't have those kind of memories. But sometimes all the saying that will be good if it was a bit.

Smoother, that's true.

So what is your big dream with their body image movement?

Yeah, I mean if you look at the statistics, they're pretty alarming. Ninety one percent of women want to change something about their bodies. Seventy percent of young people are in body image to stress. So I want to eliminate, eradicate, flip all of those statistics where human beings, as we arrive in the world at peace with our body, can live and stay on that path from the start to the end and not get taken off course by trillion dollar industries like beauty, diet, and cosmetic.

Not all, but some make us feel bad.

I think that's my big dream is to get as many people as possible on the road to embrace. So we've reached two hundred million people globally to date, and that that's pretty enormous.

The first fielm was played in one hundred and ninety countries around.

The world, so that was a pretty good first step to amplification of this message. But now it's ensuring that we get it right for the next generation and that their kids are kind of confused when we say people didn't like their bodies.

For me, that's the ultimate.

If people are confused and perplexed that there was a generation before them that struggled with how they felt about their amazing bodies, that would.

Be my dream.

Yeah, yeah, what an incredible dream. We're going to be all behind you and support you on that because I think it's just what a waste of energy. Let's just all love our bodies so we can get on with all the amazing things. Because if you love your body and you love your life and you have big dreams, then you can do all the things. And maybe, just like Taran end up at Harvard and the White Hoes, perhaps woerhaps for anyone listening. Hopefully, for anyone who really need some support, they will join your program.

But for anyone who just want.

To get started straight away, what will be one thing that they should start with.

I think people going to the website Bodyimage Movement dot com and going to look at the stories we've just launched or relaunched that I say, this website and the stories that are getting uploaded as we speak from people around the world and how they felt about their bodies and how they learned to embrace their bodies. That would be a very easy thing for people to do, like do a little less scrolling and immerse yourself in some very inspiring stories. Thank you for mentioning Embrace You Embrace You Online dot com. Absolutely go there. But maybe I could leave people with a question to get them thinking, and the question would be what has hated your body cost you? And so, having asked thousands of people this question, I've heard every answer from not being intimate, you know, problems with my relationship. I didn't go for my dream job because I didn't think I looked the part, I didn't go for swims with my children, and I so many things.

What does it cost you?

And if you're feeling motivated after you've answered that question truthfully, then I implore you to do something about it, because I know it's possible and I've lived both sides of life hating my body and embracing my body and it truly it's why I'm as energized eleven years on doing this work. I'm so passionate about it because it's just such a gift in life. And as my t shirt says, twenty eight thousand days, it's.

Not a lot of time.

So the time is now, the commitment now and get on the path to embrace.

Yeah.

I love that.

And it's such a great question to ask yourself because if you haven't started living your dream life, whatever that is for each individual, and if that's what that is costing, you definitely want to do something about that so you can create the life of your dreams. Because the twenty eight thousand days will be and we're most of us listening here. I already consumed some of that, So yeah, absolutely, I love that.

Thank you so much.

Just a couple of quick questions. Now, have you got a morning ritual?

Well, at the moment, it's to say hello to my plants that I'm growing.

That's been the last of six months.

But I always head outside so and I always look up, so I always look for the moon, or I look for the star that might still be there in the sky, or I look to see whether the sun is rising. I just have a moment of peace before the day begins, and I'm often not wearing shoes and I'm on my grass in the backyard.

So that as much of a ritual.

It is the rest of my things that I do, like move my body and journal and meditate, that comes.

When it can in a day.

So I like to be really insured if with how I feeling and what do I need, and I just call on my toolkit in the time. That works for me. But it's always a part of my ritual. And saunering as well. You probably enjoy that given where you're from on the other side of the world, because you guys are big on saunas. Yes, there's something about sweating that feels really good and cathartic.

So I love loves on us like it's good for us and we feel good. You know, there's a lot of endorphins coming and it's just all our body is working really well when we're in a sauna. But it's also, in my opinion, a really great opportunity just to be because there's not a lot of time in between all the amazing things that we do, and I think that phones are taking away a lot of those kind of peaceful moments that we had sometimes to wait for someone.

Or stand in a queue.

I don't know about you, but I often don't be like, oh, I'll just answer a couple of emails, so I'll scroll quickly on Instagram or whatever that is. But in the sauna, so I know that you can take your phone into it if you have an intro freend zona. But the sauna that we have is a traditional one, and that means that you can't take it in there. I mean you can, it goes blank.

Quickly because it's all hot of a really hot but it's amazing.

It's a really great ritual, and I love that that have started to become a very much a normal thing now. So if you don't have one, you can actually go and get it somewhere for a little bit of money and actually take the time.

I think it's a beautiful ritual to do.

The other question that I have is is there a book that I had a big impact on you or a book that changed your life.

I am obsessed with doctor Christy Goodwin's book Doing Digital We Need to Talk, So I read it a couple of months ago. But it's one of those books that I just want to keep near me and I keep picking up and just getting little bits from because most people really struggle with that relationship with their phone and their laptop and the pings and the dings and how it's making us feel and less connected to our bodies and our lives. So I think Dr Christie, you can find her at Insta.

I think you've met her or you've chatted to her as well. Christina.

She actually hasn't been on my podcast yet, but I bought the book have just started reading it, but I haven't finished it. But I am going to invite her because I think everyone needs to hear what she wrote in that book. So I'm definitely going to invite her.

Yeah, that makes me so happy.

Tell her that I'm obsessed with her, Like I bought twenty five of her books and I've been giving him out to teen members and random Also, I love it when you find something that really hits home. But I think it's also the way she's written it is great without the judgment's been very helpful and also just how practical it is. So it's just had a really great impact on my everyday in life.

So yeah, Doctor Christy and we're not even friends.

She's not even getting paid for this right now.

I have met her a few times, but she's a beautiful human and I love supporting anyone who's doing great things in the world. So I'm definitely going to get her on the podcast. So thank you for that recommendation and a great book. So anyone who is struggling, and I think especially this time of year where it's so easy we have most of us have a little bit of time off PHAs between Christmas and New Year or those extra days that we get, and I think it's so easy to kind of not feeling rested because we're constantly getting that dopamine hit and we're constantly looking for the you know, something that will inspire us, will give us that hit. So I think if we can learn and put it away for a few hours or a few days, even better. So yeah, definitely get her.

So thank you.

The last question I have for you, Taran, is knowing what you know now, what kind of a advice would give to your younger self, see you know your teens or early twenties.

I would give my younger self advice It is not your life's purpose to be at war with your body.

It's not what you to do.

I wish that someone had challenged me on that thinking earlier on, because I think I could have said, you know, quite a bit of time and quite a few struggles, quite a few tears, quite a few moments of trauma. And I think that's why I love the work that we do with young people, is the possibility of people living their lives just as they're meant to without having to course correct, which is what we're doing with lots of adults now.

But I guess for anyone who is listening at.

Any age, I want you to know that it's possible at every stage, at any age, and it's one hundred percent worth it, so it's never too late.

No, I love that.

Thank you so much. At first, thank you so much for taking your time. I know you'll have a very full schedule, especially some of Yeah, but also thank you for joining me at the breakfast in Adelaide not that long ago.

That was such a beautiful morning.

I was so inspired for so long and I can't wait to be back. And also thank you for coming into my program. So for anyone who's in my program, we'll enjoy you in a couple of weeks, but also for anyone who is joining in the in the latest stage can can watch it later on.

So thank you so much.

I am so grateful for everything that you do to my community but also for the world. So thank you for your hard work and your big dream and yeah, you are just a powerhouse that I have at the most beautiful heart.

So thank you, thank you, and thanks everyone for listening.

It's been such a pleasure to hang out with you today.

So thank you, thank you.

Wow, she is just amazing. I could have spoken to her for hours. I hope you are inspired to really think about what you want to do with your passions and maybe create your own movement and of course make sure you embrace your body. If you are in my coaching program, you will get to have a exclusive Q and A with her. If you want to join us, I will link to it or just sad over to dream Love Starts here dot com. We've got an amazing generally coming up in the coaching program as well, which is all around planning the I have also linked to her program.

I would love to know where you've.

Got out of this episode, if you could let me know in the Facebook group your dream Live podcast. It's a free Facebook group with lots of inspiring members, so let me know there. As always, I will be back on Monday with a new Monday Morning Motivation episode.

I'll see you then