Beyond Body Positivity: An Introduction to Body Liberation

Learning Session Description

This session introduces participants to the concept of body liberation and its roots in social movements that challenged mainstream ideals about health, food, and worth. We’ll examine how body liberation builds on, but goes beyond, movements like fat acceptance and body positivity by addressing the systemic and cultural forces that shape how different bodies are treated.

Participants will walk away with a better understanding of how body liberation connects personal empowerment with broader social change, and how they can begin applying these ideas in their daily lives and communities.

By the end of the session, participants will be able to...

1. Describe the historical development of body liberation, including key movements and milestones from the 1960s to the present.
2. Differentiate between body liberation, body positivity, and fat acceptance, recognizing their origins and how each has evolved.
3. Identify meaningful ways to apply body liberation principles in both personal practices and community-based efforts, focusing on addressing systemic and individual barriers.

About the "Body Lib Basics" Learning Series

“Body Lib Basics” is a five-part learning series designed to introduce participants to the core principles of Body Liberation. This approach encourages individuals to move beyond surface-level body acceptance and instead engage in practices that challenge harmful systems and support freedom, dignity, and well-being for all bodies. Whether applied in personal life, professional spaces, or community work, Body Liberation offers a powerful framework for change.

Format and Activities

Each session blends teaching, guided discussion, and hands-on activities such as self-reflection, mind mapping, group brainstorming, and somatic awareness exercises. These varied approaches support different learning styles and help participants connect with the material in meaningful and embodied ways.

What You’ll Learn

Participants will:

• Trace the history of body-based activism and its ongoing relevance.
• Learn how to build resilience and create sustainable, community-centered action plans.
• Develop self-care practices that support activism and reconnect with ancestral wisdom.
• Reclaim nourishment practices rooted in diverse cultural food traditions.
• Imagine and plan for a future where all bodies are respected and free from systemic harm.

What You’ll Walk Away With

By the end of the series, participants will gain practical tools, deeper insight, and clear next steps for applying Body Liberation in everyday life and collective work. They’ll leave feeling empowered to support personal healing and broader societal change, grounded in liberatory values and community imagination.

This series offers a mix of free and “pay-what-you-can” pricing to ensure accessibility for all. Join us on a transformative journey to reimagine health and well-being, justice, and inclusion for yourself and the communities you belong to.

By registering, you agree to the Embody Lib Terms of Service.

About Embody Lib

Despite decades of work to address health inequities, Black, Brown, and Indigenous people of color, collectively referred to as People of the Global Majority, continue to face widening disparities. These inequities are not the result of individual failures, but ongoing systemic neglect, disinvestment, and exclusion.

Mainstream conversations often frame health and well-being as individual responsibilities, overlooking the collective dimensions influenced by the built environment, policies, and other social drivers. Organizations and institutions play a key role in shifting this narrative and shaping the environments, systems, and structures that enable communities to thrive.

Embody Lib works with organizations, institutions, and providers to make optimal health and well-being more inclusive, equitable, and accessible for their staff, leadership, and the communities they serve.

Guided by the founder’s lived experiences, professional expertise, and academic background, Embody Lib offers a range of tools, frameworks, and strategies rooted in weight-inclusive, multidimensional, and interdisciplinary approaches, laying the groundwork for working towards just access to resources and fair opportunities for all.

Learn more at www.embodylib.com