Hello,
This is Ali at Heal Yourself Happy and today I'm going to take you through a meditation to help you understand and overcome cravings.
So I'd like you to take a comfortable position,
Whether that be lying or sitting,
And I'd like you to start by taking some deep breaths.
Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Breathe in through your nose and fill your belly and let it out through your mouth.
This third time as you breathe in through your nose,
Lift your shoulders to your ears and as you breathe out,
Let them drop back and down.
Start to loosen all the muscles around your eyes.
Allow your shoulders to drop.
Let your legs start to feel heavy and sink into your chair or bed.
Let your tummy soften and just focus on breathing.
I'd like you to give yourself complete permission to relax.
Nothing is needed of you at this time,
In this moment,
Or for the next few minutes.
And know that if your mind starts to wander,
Follows the thought pattern,
Or hears a noise,
Show yourself compassion and just remember that that's what minds do.
And just bring your attention slowly back to the sound of my voice or the feeling of your breath.
Today,
We're going to focus on food cravings,
How to understand them and therefore overcome them.
So let's just take a minute or so now and connect with yourself.
Do a body scan and check in with yourself.
Start at your head and work your way down through every limb and organ and body part until you get to your toes and just check in with how you're feeling and where you're feeling your emotions.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
We can feel that food is the source of all of our problems.
Our IBS,
Our funny tummies,
Any weight gain,
When really it's the thoughts about our food that is the real cause.
We suffer cravings,
Which if we don't connect with and understand we find ourselves self soothing with food and then hit with the guilt for falling off the dieting wagon or shame for overconsumption.
Mindfulness is a practice of being present,
Living in the moment and using all of our senses to appreciate our meals by eating mindfully through using our senses to experience the texture,
The colours,
The sounds,
Aromas and taste of the food.
We break up our brain and we trigger the digestive system,
The digestive enzymes and we begin to realise consciously that we're eating.
This awareness of ourselves will also allow us to stop eating when we're truly full.
There's a pertinent quote that we can apply to cravings.
Mindfulness gives you time.
Time gives you choices.
Choices applied skilfully lead to freedom.
So free yourself from your cravings by eating mindfully.
Another of the key principles of mindfulness is also showing compassion and non-judgment to ourselves as well as others.
When eating mindfully,
We apply this thought process and we let go of any guilt,
Shame or negative feeling towards the food we're eating and appreciate it and how it will enhance our quality of life.
Using this principle,
We can also begin to understand any cravings or any unhealthy eating habits that don't serve us in the long term and we can make a conscious choice to change.
So now you understand the connection between yourself,
Food and cravings,
Ask yourself if you're craving anything.
Can you sit with the feeling for a few minutes to understand the root cause of the feeling?
And when you do,
Is there anything else you can do other than use food as a solution?
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With your knowledge and understanding of cravings,
Take this information with you throughout the day.
If you begin to feel a craving,
Take a moment,
Check in with yourself,
Slow down.
When you eat,
Eat mindfully,
Savour each bite,
Let go of any judgement,
Guilt or negative feeling towards yourself or the food and then just enjoy and savour every single bite of what you're eating.
.
And so now it's time to come back to the present.
Wiggle your fingers and your toes,
Take a deep breath in and then open your eyes.
I hope you enjoyed this meditation.
Thank you for listening.
