Naked yoga is part of yoga instructor and wellness entrepreneur, Jessamyn Stanley’s daily practice. She believes that it is a freedom of expression and a powerful way to accept the physical body

Jessamyn Stanley is an award-winning voice in wellness, known for her take on social and cultural issues including the modern Black experience, anti-fat bias, LGBTQIA+ representation, and equity in the health industry. So why naked yoga? She finds it much easier to engage with her body without worrying about the clothes she is wearing. Jessamyn believes that naked yoga benefits mental wellness by honouring the divinity that lives within yourself.

In an interview with Vogue she says, “For me, practicing naked and really, truly being forced to accept my body – like, being able to touch it in ways that I was told not to touch because I was taught to be very ashamed in my body, and I started […] feeling deep shame about it – has been transformational in how I show up in my day-to-day life.”

Jessamyn is passionate about disabling the false idea that yoga is just for one type of person and one type of body. Her naked yoga practice is a way of advocating body positivity; all body types should be seen and accepted, not just the polished, ‘instagrammable’ ones. Body positivity is about acknowledging that all body types are worthy of inclusion. She also advocates radically accepting the body, believing that yoga is a deep connection with yourself in the here and now.

Self-love writer and co-founder of The Rising Circle, Vex King, joins Happiful’s podcast to talk about the experiences that shaped him and the impact of practising self-love

Vex King is a Sunday Times bestseller and internationally renowned for his beautiful work on self-love and compassion, and as he shares on Happiful’s podcast, the drive to learn and share supportive words with others is the result of tough childhood experiences that shaped his desire to change his mindset and circumstances.

“I like to call myself the guy that tries to make the world a better place. Ultimately, I’m spreading a message of self-love,” he says introducing himself. “I’ve come from a place where I’ve endured a lot of suffering. To give a bit of background, my Dad died when I was six-months old and my family and I were homeless for roughly three years of my childhood. Then when we finally found a home, unfortunately we weren’t really welcome in that area and neighbourhood for at least two decades. I suffered a lot of poverty, I’d say severe poverty, racism and abuse. There were a lot of times where I suppose I nearly gave up on my life.”

Read the full interview with Vex King in issue 73 of Happiful Magazine

The transition from such trauma to the life Vex leads today might seem like a mighty mountain to have climbed, and he is clear that it was neither linear nor easy. As a younger man, Vex explains, he encountered periods of extreme anger and despair. He also had a strong vision of the life he wanted to lead and an internal drive to alleviate other people’s pain and suffering.

Vex found hope in books, foreshadowing the work he is now so passionate about. “I just wanted a way out. I turned to books and books really helped me. They really built in hope that there was something better out there for me, that I could change my mindset and that I didn’t have to be a victim of my circumstances.”

“I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what I did, especially as a child,” he reflects. “At the time it was traumatic and I didn’t realise it. It was painful, it was heartbreaking and it was uncomfortable. But at the same time, I look back on it now and say to myself ‘Would I be here if I hadn’t gone through those particular things, would I have a story to tell? Would I have gone out of my way to find these tools, these ideas, these perspectives that have altered my life and that I’m now sharing with the world so that people can change their own lives?’”

Vex is visibly passionate and clearly dedicated to supporting and championing others. He co-founded The Rising Circle with his beloved wife Kaushal, to share free meditations, manifestation tracks, gratitude sessions and yoga and to ensure that everyone can access this support. He also continues to write, and his most recent book Closer to Love<

Feel the need to over-explain your actions and justify why you’ve done something? You could be worthsplaining

Picture the scene. You’re at work and decide to go out to a restaurant for lunch. When you tell your coworkers your plan, you make sure they know this is a ‘treat’ and that you’ve saved money somewhere else this week, which is why you can afford it. Or perhaps you’ve been invited out for a drink but all you really want is a night in. You say no to the drink, but then send multiple texts justifying why you need a night in (work has been so full on! I can feel a headache coming on! The cat gets lonely!).

Both of these are examples of worthsplaining. This is when we go to great lengths to justify our actions, often because we fear being judged. It may be somewhat of a habit you’ve fallen into, but it could have a negative impact on your mental health.

The fear of judgement driving worthsplaining can be a sign of low self-esteem and self-worth. It can also be a sign that we’re seeking external validation for our actions, that it’s OK for us to make these choices for ourselves.

When we live in fear of what others think and seek external validation, we chip away at our authentic self, and this is what impacts how we see ourselves, our self-esteem and, ultimately, our happiness. When we set healthy boundaries, feel confident in our decisions and turn inwards for validation, we build ourselves up, feel good about who we are and make choices that fulfil us.

If you recognise this habit of worthsplaining, how can you put a stop to it?

Recognise that you’re doing it

Awareness is the first step to stopping most habits, and it’s no different with worthsplaining. Now that you know what it is, you’ll likely recognise it more easily. Try to tune in with yourself when you need to make a decision and notice how you react. Take some time to reflect on how you coped with the decision and see if you’ve worthsplained to anyone.

Self-awareness can take practice, and building up a habit of reflection can really help. Try journaling about your day, mood tracking or ever starting a meditation practice. This all encourages us to slow down and take stock, which builds our self-awareness.

Question your motives

Once you’re more aware of what you’re doing, you can dig a little deeper and ask why you’re doing it. For example, if you want a night in and find yourself justifying it, what’s driving this? Are you worried your friends will be upset with you for not going out? Do you struggle to make time for rest and need to justify to yourself why you deserve it? Do you want your friends to agree with you, saying you deserve to rest because you aren’t sure you do?

This kind of examination can be done in several ways. You might want to journal it out alone, or you may find it helpful to work with a professional, such as a counsellor or coach to unpick what’s going on.

Set some boundaries

Personal boundaries help you draw a line in the sand when it comes to what you will and won’t do. They help you protect your peace of mind and can act as a powerful form of self-care. Try to think about some situations where you tend to worthsplain and set yourself some bou

It’s the technicoloured trend of 2022, but is there more to colourful fashion than meets the eye?

On the third Thursday of every month, the Old Spitalfields Market in Shoreditch, London, is infused with colour, pattern, and joy. And we’re not just talking about the treasures that can be found on the flea market stalls. Cue the regular gathering of vibrant spirits and creative souls – people who love, and live in, full, bold, bright, wonderful colours.

The Colour Walk, as it is today, has been led for the past five years by upcycling fashion designer Florent Bidois, and was inspired by the life and work of artist Sue Kreitzman, who could, be reliably found in her technicoloured glory each Thursday at the flea market.

“Sue is the constant inspiration behind the Colour Walk. To me, she is the face and I am the arms,” Florent explains. “In December 2016, I organised my first Colour Walk as we know it: a monthly gathering of creative people who love to dress up and love colour. “I have committed to organising it every month ever since, apart from a 16-month hiatus due to Covid. It’s about supporting the market, expressing ourselves, and just having fun.”

Here you will find a feast for the eyes, a multicoloured spread of prints, patterns, frills, and flare. Thrifted, crafted, savoured, and celebrated – below the kaleidoscopic surface, the Colour Walk is a safe space to express yourself as you truly are, and Florent shares that he’s often told about deep feelings of ‘belonging’ experienced by attendees. Here ‘Colour Walkers’ find their tribe, a supportive group of people who gather together to experiment with style and with colour.

While the Colour Walk is a concentrated culmination of self-expression, these days, more and more of us are beginning to add a bit of buzz into our everyday wardrobes – and if you’ve walked into any highstreet clothing store recently, you might have noticed the prevalence of a certain trend. Dubbed ‘dopamine dressing’, bright, bold colours, statement prints, colour blocking, and neon are all the rage in 2022, and retailers are chomping at the bit to deliver on our desire to infuse some joy into our lives. After all, following the hard times we’ve been through recently, it only makes sense.

But the idea of boosting our mood with colour and with fashion isn’t anything new. In 2012, a study from the University of Hertfordshire found that when participants wore clothes of symbolic value to them, their confidence increased. And, all the way back down the timeline, the emperor Charlemagne – born around AD740, near Liège in modern-day Belgium – wore red shoes at his coronation, as a symbol of his authority.

Colour has a huge impact on how we respond to the world around us (think marketing campaigns, and what the colours used are trying to get us to feel about their product), but they also do the same with how we relate to ourselves, and on what we tell others about the people we are. Momtaz Begum-Hossain is a colour theorist, author of Hello Rainbow: Finding Happiness in Colour, and also an attendee of the Colour Walk – who was, in her own words,

Psychotherapist, author, podcast host, and mum-of-three Anna Mathur shares how negative comparison can so easily creep into our lives, but with some self-compassion and awareness, we can see the bigger picture

How many times have you found yourself scrolling through social media and sensing the crushing weight of comparison? You might be taking a five-minute break from work, while everyone else seems to be living their #bestlife, jetting off on holiday, or preparing homemade picnics for a blissful afternoon, while you’ve just spent the entire morning scrubbing porridge off the wall from a breakfast mishap.

It’s a universal truth that each and every one of us will fall foul of the comparison cloud at some point in our lives, as psychotherapist Anna Mathur explains on Happiful’s podcast, ‘I am. I have’. And she’s more than willing to share how it impacts her, too.

“Comparison turns up in so many different areas of my life,” she says. “It’s a constant dialogue I have to have with myself, and if I don’t it can just run riot!”

However, Anna is quick to explain that comparison is not a wholly negative behaviour.

“Comparison in and of itself is a self-protective force,” she notes. “Comparison can help us to judge if perhaps we could do something better; we might look at someone else’s situation and realise that there’s something we want to be doing, and it drives us forward and motivates us to go after that for ourselves, if it’s something positive.

“And if you look back to caveman days, comparison kept people safe then,” she continues. “You might have realised that you weren’t as strong as another person, so they would be the better bet for hunting and gathering. Comparison can be about assessing ability, so that everyone is using their strengths and resources in the best way.”

Thinking about comparison in this light could certainly help us to question why we are comparing, what we’re taking away from the act, and why it’s necessary for us in that moment. Curiosity around why a particular person’s situation makes us reflect upon our own life could lead to some insights as to how we’re coping, where we might feel stuck, want to grow, or indeed need help from others.

So, how do we determine when comparison is leading us to take stock of where we are and want to be, and when it’s simply become a stick to beat ourselves with?

“Comparison becomes problematic, and this is something I personally struggle with, when I use the difference between me and someone else to make a statement about myself,” Anna admits.

“Say I’ve had a really rough morning with the kids, and I’ve not responded in a way I feel particularly proud of, and then I go shopping and I see a mum being so incredibly patient with her toddler having a tantrum. What happens in my brain is very, very quick: ‘She’s a better mum than me. I’m a rubbish mum. I’m a failure.’

“In a split second, I’ve made two incredibly powerful statements about myself: being a rubbish mum, and a failure. Can you imagine going up to another woman and sayi