The Art of Body Acceptance: Strengthen Your Relationship with Yourself Through Therapeutic Creative Exercises

Make Bad Art. Make Messy Art. Make Art that Heals You, Grounds You and Inspires You to Have More Compassion for Your Body and Yourself.

You are inherently creative. Yes, you. Even if you’ve never picked up a paintbrush before, registered art therapist Ashlee Bennett will teach you how to reclaim your creativity and make amends with your body using art.

In our image-obsessed society, it’s easy to be bogged down by the negative messaging that you’re not enough, that your creativity and self-expression aren’t “right” and that your body isn’t worthy of love and respect. But Ashlee sees the falsehood in those messages and is here to guide you to a place of greater compassion, acceptance and connection with your body and your inner self.

Therapeutic art exercises give you unconditional permission to express yourself. Creating a sensations map helps you connect your body and mind, forming sculptures allows you to represent your inner qualities using clay and making a collage gives you the opportunity to express the way you wish media reflected bodies and appearance. The goal isn’t to create art worthy of a museum or even your refrigerator door―the goal is to use art as a way to reconnect with your body, reject harmful beauty standards enforced by our society and learn that you are worthy of taking up space, just the way you are.

“Ashlee has a gentle way of guiding you toward learning to love and appreciate your body. The activities in this book will help you dig deep and grow in your understanding of your body and self-love.”
―NEDRA GLOVER TAWWAB, LCSW, author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace

“This book, quite simply, is a must-read. Not only does Bennett explain complex concepts like internalized fat phobia in an easy-to-read way, but she also creates meaningful artistic exercises to help you tend to the home inside of yourself.”
―JENN HARDY, PHD, PSYCHOLOGIST, creator of @drjennhardy

Licensed art therapist and creator of the popular Instagram account The Body Image Therapist Ashlee Bennett uses mindful art therapy to help you improve your body image and promote better mental health. Her knack for simplifying complex issues and promoting overall healing through art is transformative?and the best part is that your art doesn?t have to be ?good? to change your life. Through a variety of art prompts?like expressive self-portraits, sculptures and visual timelines?therapeutic techniques and approachable psychoeducation, Ashlee aids you in reclaiming your creativity and harnessing that creative energy to examine how you feel about your body, investigate the ways in which social constructs affect your sense of self and explore the layers of your identity. Even if you don?t consider yourself an ?artist,? Ashlee?s prompts and endless knowledge help you untangle your emotions, personal history and social conditioning and guide you every step of the way in your journey to better body image and self-acceptance. With warmth and understanding, Ashlee gives you all the artistic and therapeutic tools you need to manage your perception of self from the outside in.

ASHLEE BENNETT, AThR, is a registered art therapist who specializes in helping clients develop a positive relationship with their bodies. She presents workshops that relate to topics such as body image, embodiment and mental health. Ashlee lives in Melbourne, Australia.