Food,
Eating,
And being with mindfulness of my body.
My name is Catherine Couton.
This meditation,
Food,
Eating,
And being with mindfulness of my body,
Will help you consider the ways in which your feelings,
Eating behaviors,
And relationship with your body interact and affect your food choices and cravings.
This meditation is here to help you remember your worth,
To reconnect with your body and all of its strengths,
Resources,
And messages,
And take the first steps toward managing your feelings without food.
Before I start,
Be sure you are seated in a comfortable position and feel well grounded.
Take a few deep breaths and allow your mind to settle.
And open up to listening.
Open up to the inquiry,
The I wonder of the meditation.
I wonder.
Breathing in.
I know I am breathing in.
And breathing out.
I know I am breathing out.
It can be easy to want to begin right with the food,
Your cravings,
And your feelings of maybe being out of control,
Too big,
Not strong enough,
And less than.
Let's allow for that.
Breathe in and allow for all of the need to banish the hard stuff and be immediately successful and in control of your eating.
Breathe that in.
And now breathe out a wish for relief for yourself and all those who struggle in this way.
Breathe in to the need to be done with it all.
And breathe out a wish for relief for all who struggle in this way.
Breathe in the need to be done with it all and breathe out a wish for relief for everyone who struggles in this way.
And one more time.
Breathing in to the need to be done with it all and breathing out a wish for relief for everyone who struggles in this way.
The journey to a better relationship with food and your body begins not with food,
Not with weight or a weight loss plan,
And not with food restriction.
No.
It begins with your own body and being present with it.
It's a being with practice.
In it and for it and of it,
Your beautiful body.
This journey begins with your toes.
You can wiggle them,
Stretch them,
Feel them.
Breathe here.
Then bring awareness to your feet,
Bending your ankles,
Stretching through both feet,
Maybe pointing your toes,
Pressing through your heels,
Pointing your toes.
And breathe while you just feel your feet.
Be with your feet.
Next,
Bring your awareness to your legs.
Maybe press them toward each other,
Contract your muscles as you inhale and soften as you exhale.
And then simply be with your legs from your toes all the way up to your hips,
Your whole right leg,
Your whole left leg,
These wonderful legs.
Next,
Find your sitting bones and your pelvis.
Bring your awareness here.
Then contract through your pelvic floor and engage your gluteus muscles and inhale here.
And then exhale and release.
And breathe here,
Being with all of these muscles and tissues and bones.
Next,
Bring your awareness to your belly and simply be curious.
I wonder,
I wonder about my belly,
The magic that happens here,
How the food I eat is transformed into energy for me to move,
The nutrition that I need to support and maintain my wonderful body,
The organs that cleanse my food and the liquid that I intake and keep me safe as they rid me of toxins every day,
All day.
My beautiful belly full of magic and amazing things like my gut feelings,
All that keeps me safe.
Breathing and being with your belly.
Next,
Find your heart.
It might feel nice to place your hands on your heart.
Here notice your hands.
Perhaps one hand is on top of the other,
A hand on your heart and a hand over your hand.
And then back to noticing your heart.
Maybe in your chest you can feel your heart beating.
Maybe you can feel your heart beating under your hand.
Breathe here and be with your heart.
Heart beating,
Body breathing,
Just being with.
Expand your awareness now to include your neck and your head.
Breathe into the very top of your head,
Not into your thoughts,
But the very top of your head,
Near your scalp,
Your beautiful brain.
You can let your brain know that it can rest and that you think it's beautiful and wonderful and it doesn't have to handle everything.
It can rest right now.
And breathe here.
Now expand to your whole self,
Your whole body,
Toes,
Fingers,
Legs,
Arms,
Head,
Belly and heart.
Breathe into your whole body,
Breathing in,
Breathing in and breathe out a sense of love and hope that everyone could see the worth of their bodies.
Breathing into your whole body and breathe out a sense of hope and love that everyone could see the worth of their bodies.
Whole body breaths.
And now just breathe here.
Remember,
The journey to a better relationship with food begins not with food,
Not with weight or a weight loss plan and not with food restriction.
No.
It begins with your own body and being present with it,
In it,
For it,
Of it.
Breathing in,
I know I am breathing in.
And breathing out,
I know I am breathing out.
Take a few breaths here.
Allow the meditation to settle.
You might want to take a few moments,
Just breathing and consider what the meditation means to you,
For you.
You may even want to take some time and write in your journal.
Thank yourself for taking a few moments to listen,
To wonder,
To learn and to be with.
And I thank you so much for listening.
