When you think of a runner, what image pops in your head?

Most of us come back to the same image informed by the stock photos we see and use papers, magazines, and the books we read. Looking for images that deviate from that one in our mind can be a little bit tricky. Like that time I was searching through stock photos for anything to use on our episode about running while black, it was hard to find a black runner, much less a black runner that didn't look like a bodybuilder. And see, that's the problem with representation, the further you are from that image, that stock photo in your mind, the more aspirational fitness becomes the less that you feel like you fit in that universe. The less inclined you are to try the thing you already didn't fit before you started.

This is why Lindley Ashline is so important to me in doing Google searches. I found the world's largest repository of really happy people who just happened to not be too thin to function, doing things that I like doing, the kind of stuff like me and my husband and my employees, and my friends. 

Lindley Ashline is a Seattle based photographer, author, cat, mom, fat art curator, musician, and fat acceptance activist. She is also the creator of Body Love Shop, a curated resource for body positive and fat positive artwork, crafts, books, goods, and accessories. Like us, Lindley is taking a stand by refusing to be defined by conventional beauty standards.

People who are free of self-loathing have grown in their sense of self so much. They don't just live in their bodies, they celebrate them. I think that means they count their wins. Just like we do here at the fitness protection program, through her work, people who don't see bodies like theirs represented anywhere else, get to reclaim their self-image, and join the party.

She's our kind of people and we are thrilled to host this conversation with her today.

Bio - Lindley Ashline (pronounced LIN-lee, she/her) creates photographs that celebrates the unique beauty of bodies that fall outside conventional "beauty" standards. She is also the creator of Body Liberation Stock and the Body Love Shop, a curated resource for body-friendly products and artwork. Find Lindley's work and get her free weekly Body Liberation Guide at http://bit.ly/bodyliberationguide.

To watch the live recording click here!