A Clayton Heights yoga studio is challenging people to break—or break up with—their scales.
Smiling Hearts Yoga & Fitness Studio held a “break the scale” day Feb. 8 and organizers say about 20 people showed up to part with their scales.
Participants could choose to reduce their scales to broken glass, twisted metal, and pulverized plastic, or to write break-up notes to their scales and leave both the notes and scales behind at the studio.
About seven to eight people wrote notes and about 12-13 people opted to break up with their scales via sledgehammer.
After a few scales were broken, Hutchinson said an 81-year-old woman broke up with her scale by reading a two-page goodbye letter on Facebook Live.
“For every scale that someone breaks—or breaks up with—we’re donating $1 to mental health,” said co-owner Donna Hutchinson.
Hutchinson said the challenge will run for one year and their goal is to have 1,000 people “break” from the cycle of negative self imagery that she says can arise from being obsessed with one’s weight.
Hutchinson, who co-owns the studio with life-partner Shelley Bohnke, said the whole process, from initial idea to opening day has “started an interesting conversation about people who are willing to make that journey, but also about people who are resistant.”
Bohnke said she felt a lot of that resistance herself, but ultimately she broke her own scale too.
“I’m healthy. I’m fit. I have a few extra pounds, but I’m good with that.”
She said the message they’re trying to send is that if people feel they have an unhealthy relationship with their scale, then it’s time to part ways.
“For a lot of people, they step on the scale and they get negative thoughts and feelings when they don’t’ make the weight they want to be at.”
She said the scale can be thought of as a bully and people need to break free from that.
“You don’t have to let a scale control you,” Bohnke added.
Every time someone brings a scale to Smiling Hearts over the next year, Bohnke said they will have the option to break it on-site, or to write a goodbye break-up note.
“If they let us know ahead of time, they can break it right here.”
Hutchinson said both her and Bohnke are encouraging people to make the challenge go viral.
“We’ve been asking people to film it, post it to Facebook, nominate someone else, and use the hashtag #breakthescalechallenge,” she said. “That way it doesn’t have to be so local, it can be global.”
Hutchinson said the duo opened Smiling Hearts in February 2019 to bring kindness, compassion, and diversity to Clayton Heights and the challenge is just an extension of their business’s focus.
“It’s who we are as people. It’s how we feel and how we want to make people feel.”
For more info on the break the scale challenge, visit smilingheartsyoga.com or call 604-372-1573. Smiling Hearts is located at #103-18810 72nd Ave., in Clayton Heights.
editor@cloverdalereporter.com
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