I wrote of Eve Ensler’s body acceptance campaign last week, and echoed the notion that everyone should love their rounded mid-sections (men, don’t stop reading here–your belly is not exempt). While it’s true that belly acceptance is a good first step, you shouldn’t allow your stomach to splay over the great Southwest. Some attention to the body’s core–the seat of your emotional responses, reproductive history, and deepest convictions–is necessary. The country’s warm and recent embrace of Pilates, a yoga-influenced exercise method, perhaps speaks to how badly we needed tummy toning instead of that insipid, impermanent, sometimes dangerous procedure known as the “tummy tuck” (whoops, there I go with my aversions again).

CM reader Laurie Sue Brockway suggests addressing the emotional and physical needs of the belly through a new book (guys, this is where I will lose you), “The Woman’s Belly Book” written by a former Kripalu yoga instructor named Lisa Sarasohn, a.k.a. “The Belly Queen.”

“Sarasohn sees the belly as the site of women’s soul power and connection to ‘Source Energy,'” wrote a Publisher’s Weekly reviewer. Apparently, Sarasohn “presents seven belly-energizing exercises that make up “The Gutsy Women’s Workout,” designed to increase the seven soul qualities: vitality, pleasure, confidence, compassion, creativity, intuition and purpose.”

I’ve just ordered a copy because I’m realizing that I can’t go to exercise classes anymore lamenting the fact that I’ve “just had a baby.” (The guys are nine and twelve.) Want to unite with me in a Tummy Pride (and care) campaign?