Victoria
In what ways has your relationship with your body evolved over time?
I used to hold a lot of emotion towards how my body looked, feeling insecure as it changed and had its natural ebbs and flows. Learning in depth about how and why the female body changes caused me to look at my own body with gratitude, and now I’ve reached a place where I can look at myself with neutrality, no longer letting my emotions be dictated by external appearances/changes. In a world where appearance insecurity is fostered, neutrality is something I hope women of all beautiful shapes and sizes can come to.
What was going on before you booked a shoot with Oasis?
Through all of last year I was met with a lot of traumatic events. I became unbalanced and attracted a lot of people who were like this also. I let those who sought to bring down/use others for self validation/an ego boost do so to me in this traumatised state.
Because of misaligned action, I felt low vibrational, sought out external validation, and imparted a lot of chaos, harm and negativity onto world/others as this was how my internal state was.
Seeking out this shoot was to fulfil the desire to get back into my authentic, positive and secure self through creating. The shoot brought me back to centre, helped with my inner healing and now serves as a visual reminder of my inherent value when I feel like I’m going back into how I was last year.
What was the intention behind your shoot?
The theme of my shoot is ‘Pearl of the Ocean.’ The intention behind it was to showcase feminine energy, drawing posing inspiration from Ancient Greek/Roman statues which use draped fabrics and the curvature of women to bring the energy forth in its rawest form. Despite intending to have the shoot in sunny weather, Mother Nature went in the complete opposite direction, which I think actually helped carry the messaging of feminine energy being a force to be reckoned with.
What advice would you give other women who are at the beginning of their journey to ‘coming home’ and embracing their bodies and self?
Point 1: Engraining the mindset that our bodies aren’t to be “fixed” or are a “work in progress.” Our being is enough as is and our vessel doesn’t define who we are. “As within, as without” as the saying goes. If we believe our bodies are good as they are, “imperfections” and all, then the universe will reflect that back to you.
Point 2: Shadow work journaling! We often don’t articulate moments where we’ve gained beliefs about ourselves from, and I find that important to do to get to a point of self-embrace. Any negative belief you have of yourself comes from the outside, not from you, so try to find as many moments where someone made a negative comment about your body that you internalised and still carry. It’s deep, you may have a wave of big emotions in the process, but it’ll get you in a state of coming home that no fad-diet, superfood, or trending fitness plan will ever give you.
