Body Neutral

A Revolutionary Guide to Overcoming Body Image Issues

By: Jessi Kneeland

Narrated by: Jessi Kneeland

“An incredible resource for those who are looking to find greater peace with their bodies in order to live a more empowered, joyful, and meaningful life.” —Matt McGorry

A life-changing guide to reclaiming your relationship with your body—and yourself

Have you ever thought that if only you could change the way you looked, your life would be better? It’s so easy to imagine that by changing the outside of our bodies, we’d feel better on the inside. But we all know that even if we could magically attain a so-called “perfect” body, our problems wouldn’t actually be solved. That’s because body image issues are never just about the body: they’re always about something deeper inside.

As a longtime personal trainer and coach, Jessi Kneeland has seen hundreds of clients achieve their fitness goals but still feel trapped in a web of body hatred, anxiety, obsession, and dysmorphia. Searching for a solution, Kneeland set out on a quest to discover what it truly takes to help people understand, process, and heal their body image issues for good. They share their discoveries in Body Neutral, where you’ll learn:

• The power of “body neutrality”—the ability to accept and respect your body, even if it isn’t the way you’d prefer it to be.

• Which of the four “body image avatars”—each of which represents a different root cause for body image issues—aligns with you and your relationship with your body: the self-objectifier, the high achiever, the outsider, or the runner.
• Actionable and unique methods to help you strip away the layers of false meaning, excess power, moral significance, and shame that have been preventing you from both connecting to and appreciating your body, and feeling truly worthy as a person.

There is a reason you’re unhappy with your body, and Body Neutral will help you discover what that reason is and how to defuse its power, freeing you to enjoy a life of true confidence, security, and satisfaction.


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF which contains the Avatars Self-Assessment and the Recommended Reading and Frequently Asked Questions appendices from the book.

Great read

Insightful and thoughtful provoking book that made me challenge long-held beliefs and internal dialogue that I came to realize probably began from external sources that I adopted over-time to be my own passive voice.

Kneeland gave words to my experience

This book shined (shone?) a light on my most hidden subconscious beliefs about myself. So many behaviors and thoughts I deemed normal are actually damaging and in conflict with all the work I’ve done in therapy. I am at choice about many more aspects of my experience of myself and my life now. I highly recommend this book.

Some Good Points

I definitely enjoyed this book more after the first 3-ish chapters. Once it actually got into the meat of the subject of body neutrality, I found it pretty interesting and insightful.

However, so much of this book was just the author stating that she wasn't a minority and how this book might not be helpful to those who arr marginalized. That's all fine and dandy. But she said it and reiterated it ooooover and ooooover. We get it, you're white and skinny and not everyone else is. Give it a rest.

Otherwise, a pretty good read.