“It was an innocent intention, but that seed that he planted sprouted into a nasty eating disorder,” said Jennifer Kreatsoulas, recalling how simple words from her rowing coach at a Pennsylvania college changed the way she looked at herself and her body into something destructive.

This year’s program, which took place Feb. 25-28, included the “Hope Grows Here” resource fair at the Plaza del Sol, “Yoga on the Lawn” on the Bayramian Lawn, and “Mirrorless Monday.” The campus-wide “mirrorless” project, where mirrors across campus were covered with paper bearing positive messages — such as “You are unique” or “Appreciate yourself” — served as a healthy reminder for students, faculty and staff alike to focus on inner beauty. The program also featured talks and panels led by a variety of guest speakers covering topics such as self-worth, having an optimistic mindset, substance addiction, mindful eating, eating disorders across ethnicities, and eating disorders within the LGBTQ community.

Only 25 percent of respondents in a survey of 12,000 men and women in the United States were satisfied with their own appearance, according to psychologist Margo Maine in a report to the National Eating Disorder Information Centre’s Body Image and Self-Esteem Conference in 2017.

“We’re in a body image crisis,” said Kreatsoulas, founder of Yoga for Eating Disorders and author of the book “Body Mindful Yoga,” in her keynote presentation on Feb. 26 at CSUN’s University Student Union.

In the presentation titled “Embodying Hope: A Keynote and Discussion on Body Image, Narrative and Personal Empowerment,” Kreatsoulas focused on how social messages (stories, ideas and beliefs perpetuated by society and the media) and self-talk (how we speak to ourselves in our minds) shape how we perceive our own body image, and how this language can be used for empowerment instead of self-criticism.

The potency of words in creating a negative self-perception was something she discovered during her sophomore year in college in Pennsylvania, when she was an athlete and rowed crew.

“I never really thought about my body. I was just doing what I loved,” she said. “Then, one time, my coach said, ‘I can tell how hard you’re working by how your body looks.’ I translated that as, ‘I need to get smaller.’ Now, I had to prove myself through my body. Now, the stakes were higher.”

Deciding that her appearance was equivalent to her success, Kreatsoulas began to skip meals and work out more intensely to lose weight. A year later, she was hospitalized for anorexia.

Though equally culpable, these words from society are not the only force behind negative self-perception, Kreatsoulas said.

Perhaps we have to plant healthier seeds in our minds, then, using words that give us hope. While in treatment for anorexia, a body image group therapy session offered Kreatsoulas holistic and encouraging messages to dwell on.

“Body image is not a fact,” Kreatsoulas said, echoing her therapist’s words. “If it’s not a fact, and it’s something else, then there’s hope. And if there’s a possibility of hope, let’s go after it.”

The key is body-mindful language, Kreatsoulas said. Changing deprecatory self-talk into body positivity can lead to a new, healthier self-perception.

Kreatsoulas said it can be as simple as taking those popular media slogans, which have the potential to trigger negative self-perceptions, and rewriting them in our minds to bring out more encouraging thoughts. The session culminated in discussions about these slogans and their possible rewrite, and one audience member offered turning “new year, new me” into “new year, more compassionate me,” shifting the focus from external beauty to internal beauty.

Using the psychological concept of neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to create new neural pathways — Kreatsoulas encouraged repeating constructive self-talk every day until the idea fully settles in our minds.

“Changing the way we feel about ourselves — it’s a commitment,” Kreatsoulas said.