Food as a Daily Practice?
I am finding my way back to center. I am seeking it with determined intention and action. It isn't just falling back into my lap. I think we always need to remember that. Intention truly is so much of the battle. Last night, in an act of intention, I put my workout clothes beside my bed and set my alarm for 7am.
Yes, I love not having to wake to an alarm (especially one set for 6am), but I still need some structure to my day. Finding the right balance between structure that feels reliable, secure and nurturing vs. structure that feels too rigid or unyielding is key. Ironically, I didn't even need the alarm. I woke around 6:45am and enjoyed resting with my eyes closed until it was time to reach for those nearby workout clothes. Just setting the intention was enough to get me back into a healthy routine.
God, do I love to sweat! Who would've thought that? I mean, not all day, mind you. But when I am working out and the sweat comes and I feel myself really exerting energy, my heart beating fast and pumping blood through my body, I feel such a sense of accomplishment. When I do the ab session on the mat, after the workout and I can feel the fiery burn spread throughout my abdomen, I feel satisfied.
Keeping my mind in my body throughout my workout can be challenging. I have a very busy "catch up" day ahead of me, for work and for my household. I get distracted very easily when other people are home, which is my greatest challenge of summer break with the kids. My brain was jumping ahead of my workout and breakfast and even writing this blog post and I had to gently bring my awareness back to the present moment. I had to be insistent when I made my breakfast and sat at the table to eat and appreciate my food. And I am so glad that I did. I do feel calmer and much more centered. It is so easy to overlook the rewards of why we choose to do the things we do and make the changes that we make.
Yesterday, I watched an episode of Super Soul Sunday that I had recorded awhile ago. Oprah was interviewing Geneen Roth, a writer that I had never heard of before. For anyone interested in the interview, it was Season 8, Episode 3. And if you are interested in learning more about Geneen, please go to geneenroth.com.
She and Oprah were talking specifically about her latest book, which I believe came out in 2009, Women, Food & God. Oprah made the statement that years ago, Geneen was one of the first people to make the connection that "our relationship with food is an exact microcosm to our relationship with life itself". That is fascinating to me. They asserted that (our relationship with) food is a spiritual issue. If so, I/they assert that we can choose to make (our relationship with food) a spiritual practice.
Geneen is likeable, relate-able and practical in her advice. She has been doing this work for years and recently developed a new set of tools to help people overcome the urge to binge. I will outline them quickly for you.
1) Land in your body.
2) Name, love and question the Ghost Children (I will explain this below).
3) Set your intention to heal.
4) Notice what's good.
5) Identify foods that work for you.
She identifies the "ghost children" as the parts of ourselves that are crying for attention when we binge or overeat, when we eat to fill the hole, numb the pain or detach from our feelings. She asserts that these are not really "us" but these unwanted ghosts. Here is where she and I part ways on how we would express this psychologically. I feel that perhaps in her work, she has learned it is easier for us to name these triggers and detach from them in an effort to overcome their control over us. For instance, she says, if we take notice in the moment right before we were to binge, we might notice that it was "left out Lucy" who wanted attention. That this unwanted "ghost" was rearing her ugly head, but that it wasn't us. Again, I don't buy into that fully, because I am all for integrating the whole - but I completely get her rationale and her point. And I am sure she is much more successful and knowledgeable on this subject.
I would also point out that I've never been one to "binge" in the way I've seen it depicted on tv or in the movies, but more just overeating or eating out of boredom. Which in the end, is really all still the same thing, on some level though!
To conclude with her theory, she expresses that we have these ghost children like, "Left out Lucy", "Needy Nancy", etc., which were created in moments of time where we didn't get what we needed. Then, when something happens to trigger us into feeling these shameful, unworthy feelings we overeat to soothe. But that in that moment, if we take the time to ask ourselves what we really need, if we identify the ghost child, then we have the opportunity to heal.
She says that the way to end the battle and struggle with food, is to name and welcome the unwanted parts of ourselves and then be Unspeakably Kind. That sentiment I can agree with wholeheartedly. I believe that any issue we have with food is emotional and/or psychological in nature, in whole or in large part.
I think that choosing to elevate eating to a disciplined practice can really do wonders. I also think that we must be unspeakably kind as we make new choices. I have a personal theory that when we overeat to suppress an emotion, that emotion gets trapped in the fat when it's created. Stay with me, I know it sounds weird, but think about it. Matter nor energy can be created nor destroyed, only rearranged. That is scientific fact. So if that energy (emotion) is being suppressed and trapped with that food that our bodies store as fat, why then wouldn't that emotion possibly be released when we burn that fat and it becomes dislodged from our body?
I suspect that is part of why so many people lose weight and then regain, they can't handle the emotions being released and so they go to their old standby strategies of overeating to suppress the emotion. That is why this has to be a marathon and not a sprint. You have to commit to the process. It isn't easy, but it's rewarding. And the alternative is staying stuck, not just at a certain weight but in a limited capacity in so many areas of life. We must be Unspeakably Kind to ourselves.
I will leave you with this beautiful quote from her:
"Your body is the piece of the Universe, You've been given" - Geneen Roth.
Until next time... Be well!
~Tracy
Comments
Post a Comment