Welcome.
Take a moment to sit comfortably in your seat.
Let your breath soften.
Let's take one long inhale through our nose together and out through our mouth.
Today we're going to meet your inner critic,
Or what I like to refer to as the food police.
Often we're not aware that they are there,
Patrolling the darker corners of our psyche,
Observing every meal,
Waiting behind the scenes to scrutinise every calorie,
Every bite.
But today we'll bring them into the light to understand how they might have benefited you in the past.
Science shows that self-criticism activates the threat system in the brain,
Which means our cortisol rises and the amygdala fires.
In other words,
Stressful thoughts in your head can create stress chemistry in the body.
But naming this voice,
This inner critic,
Reduces its power.
By externalising it,
You get to create distance and choice.
Today we're meeting your inner food critic not to fight it,
But to name it,
To understand the role it has played so far.
When we can understand how it might have been trying to help you in some way,
We grow the awareness needed to choose something different.
Let's imagine that scenario.
Close your eyes and think about eating something you'd consider naughty or off-limits.
Imagine that the voice tells you if you should or you shouldn't eat it.
Hear its tone.
Notice its words.
Who might this voice remind you of?
Now,
Picture this voice as a character.
What does it look like?
How does it behave?
Let's give it a name.
Maybe it's the food police.
Maybe it's the judge.
Maybe it's Miss Shoulds.
I invite you to say it silently,
To name your own character.
And say,
Silently or out loud,
I see you,
And you are not me.
Feel the separation of these words.
You are the observer here,
Not the critic.
Today,
Whenever this voice speaks,
Name it.
Notice it.
And remember,
These thoughts,
These inner monologues you might be hearing,
Maybe regularly,
They're not facts.
Tomorrow,
We're going to start to unravel a big weapon that your inner critic,
Or the food police,
Use to keep you stuck.
It's called the restrict binge cycle.
And it's kept alive by one major emotion.
Guilt.
Don't worry.
We're going to work with this guilt,
Dissolving it with my secret coaching weapon of choice,
Self-compassion.
When we bring self-compassion into the picture and understand what's behind this negative critical voice,
We are doing the work to rewire an old subconscious pattern in real time for something more loving and more liberated.
We don't need to stay shackled to the thoughts in our mind.
And the fact that you are here means you are already well on your way to greater mind-body freedom.
Thank yourself for being on this journey.
I'll see you tomorrow.
