The Lotus Group, a new discussion series affiliated with Mississippi State University’s Department of Health Promotion and Wellness and the Collegiate Recovery Community, is a group seminar designed to encourage self-acceptance across campus.
Meetings are on Thursdays from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Collegiate Recover Community office, located at 140 Magruder Street. Anyone is welcome without any prior sign-up.
The Lotus Group’s main goal is to teach participants to value their unique selves by using facilitated group discussion and activities. These activities are meant to guide students to practice body positivity through self-love, self-care and positive body imaging.
Taylor VanDyk, a dietitian at MSU’s Department of Health Promotion and Wellness and the group’s facilitator, believes attending the discussions can offer long-lasting benefits.
“We hope by supporting students on their journey to self-acceptance that they will grow mentally, socially and intellectually,” VanDyk said. “And in turn, will be able to make more positive changes in their own lives.”
The Lotus Group will explore a different topic each week, but every discussion will revolve around the central ideas of self-love and body positivity.
Some of the planned topics include ways to challenge the typical beauty standards, learning new ways to practice self-love and practicing nutrition behaviors to nourish the body rather than harming it.
Maggie Allen, a graduate student of VanDyk’s, has played a large role in organizing the Lotus Group and said she found it to be a fun and fulfilling journey.
“Body positivity has been something that I have been passionate about for years,” Allen said. “I think that self-acceptance is a great step toward personal growth. Many people look for happiness in others instead of trying to find it within themselves.”
The intended target population of the Lotus Group is collegiate women. Although many demographics struggle to conform to appearance ideals, it is most prevalent among women.
VanDyk wants the Lotus Group to ensure a comfortable environment for women to share their experiences with other women going through the same struggle. It is her hope the group will expand to other populations after its first year.
As a dietitian on campus, VanDyk said she often works with students who want to change their bodies to meet expectations set by social media or other sources.
What many people do not realize is the impact of body positivity on mental health VanDyk said, and she sought a way to spread the word.
“The way we feel about our body tends to shape the way we feel about ourselves as people,” VanDyk said. “I wanted a way to help college women understand that they are not alone on their journey to self-love and self-acceptance, and that a lot of other college women struggle with the same thoughts about themselves.”
Another goal of the Lotus Group is to stray from one accepted idea of appearance to celebrating all bodies, regardless of size, color, shape or beauty marks.
The group’s affiliated campus organizations are the Collegiate Recovery Community and the Department of Health Promotion and Wellness. Both departments are divisions of the student affairs office, and strive to form programs promoting the improvement of student health and wellbeing.
Blake Schneider, program coordinator for the CRC, is thrilled the organization is playing a part in such a prevalent and needed program.
“I think the beginning of this group is great,” Schneider said. “Given that it is so broad in scope and nature of topics covered, I believe it has a little something that any and every student could benefit from.”
For students searching for more ways to spread body positivity and self-love, the Department of Health Promotions and Wellness is holding its annual Body Positivity Week Feb. 25 through March 2, which will offer many events across campus.
Lotus Group meetings will also continue every Thursday at the scheduled time and place throughout the semester.