The Program
Our 10-session educational program provides a comprehensive framework to help you
understand and change your relationships with food and eating. We teach important psychological concepts and practice exercises during group meetings to develop tools for sustainably changing how you eat. The program includes the following five modules that build on one another: mindfulness, embodiment, sustainable joy, social relationships, and attachment patterns.
Mindfulness:
Mindfulness helps to develop the muscle of attention. It involves paying attention to internal experiences, on purpose, and without judgment. Less distraction and self-criticism support making better choices and that makes change possible.
Embodiment:
Embodiment is being mindful of your body. It involves learning to pay attention to how your body feels, and specifically in this group, how your body feels around eating. Your body’s signals will be the guide, as opposed to eating based on social cues, emotions or distraction.
Sustainable Joy:
We propose a shift away from good/bad or vice/virtue thinking and talking about food. Rather, we believe eating habits will improve as we learn to let our body be the map. Mindfulness and embodiment are skills that help us to be more aware of our minds and in our bodies; they allow us to notice what feels good in the context of food and eating. Sustainability addresses how much of this food you can eat and enjoy while feeling pleasure in your body.
Social Relationships:
Life begins being nourished in intimate relationships with caregivers and relationships continue to be important throughout our lives. Sharing meals and making offerings of food often increase our feelings of closeness and strengthen our connections. Meal sharing is a way to spend enjoyable time with others, have intimate conversations, and experience togetherness and belonging.
Attachment Patterns:
Unexpressed emotions, stories, and memories, particularly those from early in our lives, impact our relationship with our bodies and with food. Bringing these emotions and memories into awareness and expressing them creates space for changing how we eat and how we experience food.