Van-i-ty is such a lonely word.

Beautiful Readers,

 You’ll have to forgive me if I’m a little confused about the whole vanity thing. On the one hand it seems to me that it’s natural to feel uneasy spending time, energy, and God forbid, money on how you look, instead of, let’s say, helping the old lady down the hall figure out how to use Microsoft Office, teaching your kids Urdu, or writing checks to charities. Vanity is a sin, right?

 But then if you leave your house, ignoring that dollop of shaving cream on your face you’ll feel embarrassed. Or if you go out wearing your pajamas, with coffee on your shirt, or with yogurt or toothpaste visible anywhere on your body– someone is likely to notice you, and not in a good way.

The way you look gives a certain impression to people who see you, and whether we like it or not (mostly, not, frankly) it affects, in no small way, how we are handled by strangers and acquaintances (though hopefully not so much by friends). It is not a secret that overweight people are often treated poorly, taller men get better jobs, people  act dismissively with people who look ‘old’ to them, and cute girls get a lot of perks overall.

And then, just to keep things interesting, there are totally different levels of social expectation for appearance depending on where you are and who you are percieved  to be-that’s right, powerful stereotypes, whatever you may think of that.

Who wants to be the only schlumpy gay man in midtown ? And yes, I see all five un-coiffed gay men raising your hands to tell me I’m wrong–well you can just tuck that Barneys tag back into your distressed sweatpants and admit that you’d be waiting a long time on 57th street before you saw one gay male who shops at Target.

And isn’t it great to be a mom in Park Slope, Brooklyn (my delightfully un-glamerous, family oriented, neighborhood)  and to still be wearing your favorite Lands End jeans 10 years later,  knowing that there are women just on the other side of the bridge who have been pondering how back pocket embellishments visibly affect tush shape? And while the Park Slope mom’s beauty ritual may involve wrestling her hair into a ponytail in the morning–not three miles away, some must have a perpetual blow-out, as if their hair naturally grew an inch away from their scalp before submitting to gravity.

The trouble with appearances is that you can’t hide ‘em, and our deep (and totally natural) need to create order in a very complicated world means your appearance can make decisions for you. Why are yoga instructors, on the whole, a fair bit better looking than your average citizen in ways that have very little to do with yoga? 

I’m guessing it’s because ‘Yoga Teacher’ has become a social signifier in our heads, like ‘Gay man in midtown’  and suggests a look we all expect. I strongly suspect that less attractive people with an interest in yoga are not getting certified because they don’t feel they look enough like the ‘yoga instructor’ in their mind. Which is a pity. But I’m pretty sure it’s true.

 As you can imagine, the complexity of emotions surrounding the looking-good/feeling-good continuum within the fitness and health world is enormous. To say the least. And it’s no wonder, because at the core of the ‘it’s all about how you feel, take care of your health’ wellness industry is this one very dirty little secret: Living an optimally ‘well’ life makes you look great. 

In fact all the things we think of as ‘beautiful or handsome’ are just signs of superior health and metabolic youthfulness. Shiny hair? Nutritive rich diet plus relaxed lifestyle;  Smaller waist? Enough sleep, less fat on your organs. Glowing skin? Nutritive rich diet, adequate exercise, less stress. You see where this is going. There is not one thing that people try to do to themselves cosmetically that does not have it roots in superior health. And who doesn’t want people to percieve them as healthy? No one doesn’t, whatever they may tell you.

Of course, in absolute terms of goodlookingness, there’s genetics too–things like height, hair type, and body part proportions, are pretty much unaffected by lifestyle, and aging does bring certain inevitable realities that take a toll on most superficial kinds of beauty. But all the rest is just health.

So who can resist  boosting their appearance of health some in order to reap the benefits unfairly distributed to those fortunate enough to live, since birth, in an atmosphere  that  is stress free, nutritiously catered, with plenty of time for regular exercise, water drinking, and sleep! So maybe a certain essential vanity is OK (you decide how much that is based on your lifestyle or social group) as long as it doesn’t preoccupy you when you are getting on with things, and doesn’t take time away from things that affect the quality of your life more.

Having said all this about vanity– I’ve done very little about mine lately, and spring is a time of year when I naturally tend to think more about how I look. Look out for honest reviews of services and products you may, or may not, want to try!

Lucky Readers!: Beautiful Fitness will be offering Fitness Tours for visitors to New York City starting in May!

 Look out for upcoming details of our, benefit-packed, BFNYC Fitness Tours and get to know the city like a wellness insider. Enjoy some great exercise (we’re thinking 6 miles of walking) through some of the most famous parts of the city with knowledgeable Beautiful Fitness staff, get some terrific free loot,  tuck into a great healthy lunch with us, and learn about New York as you enjoy a chance to visit some of the best studios and wellness spas the city has to offer! Bring your sneakers! Bring your camera! Bring your desire to get (or stay) fit in NYC!

Thanks for reading!,

Alix Florio;  President, Beautiful Fitness

www.beautifulfitness.com