Hello beautiful one.
I'm Kelly Dennis.
Welcome to this mindfulness meditation to improve your relationship with food.
Our relationship with food can be a very difficult one.
We either can sometimes believe that we've eaten too much,
We haven't eaten enough,
We've eaten the wrong things,
We need to eat more of the right things.
There's lots of judgment that goes along with that.
So this meditation is designed to help you get more in tune with your body and to be able to nourish and satisfy yourself and your relationship with food.
So begin by getting into a comfortable position,
Sitting up with your head,
Neck,
And spine straight.
Or in whatever position works best for you to be relaxed yet alert at the same time.
And then if it feels good to do so,
Go ahead and just allow your eyes to gently close.
Or you can also soft focus some place across the room or down past your nose.
And then begin by taking a nice deep breath in and letting it out.
And taking another deep breath in.
And on the exhale just allow your body to let go,
To settle in.
And then breathing in whatever way feels good to you.
Finding your breath in your body.
The rise and the fall of your diaphragm.
Or the way the air feels as it enters and exits your nose.
And if your mind wanders any time while you're doing this,
That's okay,
That's what minds do.
Just notice where it wandered off to and then gently bring it back to your breathing.
Really focusing in on your breath.
And acknowledging how your breath nourishes you.
Just allowing your breath to breathe you.
The in and the out.
The ebb and flow.
Realizing yourself to become more and more settled with every breath you take.
And now gently shifting your attention to your body.
Noticing your bottom as it rests in the chair.
Finding your feet on the ground or underneath you.
Bringing attention to your hands as they rest in your lap or on your legs.
Noticing the gentle pressure on your back against the chair.
And coming up to the top of your head.
Just noticing any physical sensations in the top of your head.
Coming down into your face,
Around your eyes and your nose and your mouth.
Noticing your jaw and the muscles around your ears.
Perhaps swallowing gently and allowing your tongue to rest comfortably on the floor of your mouth.
Noticing any sensations in your mouth.
Any tastes or flavors that are left over from a meal or a snack or beverage.
Moving down into your neck and your throat and your shoulders.
Down into your arms all the way down to your hands.
Noticing the physical sensations in your hands.
Coming back up to your torso now,
Your upper back,
Your chest,
Your rib cage,
Your diaphragm,
Your stomach,
Your lower belly,
Your lower back.
Just noticing what's happening in this part of your body,
This middle part,
This torso.
Do you notice any clenching or gripping?
Many times we hold this area of our body.
We contract our stomachs and we breathe shallowly.
Right now just see if you can breathe in to this part of your body,
Expanding your chest,
Softening your belly on the exhale and noticing the physical sensations.
Do you notice any hunger or perhaps you've just eaten and you feel satisfied?
What do those sensations feel like in this part of your body?
Perhaps there's some digestive noises going on.
Just allowing yourself to feel comfortable here in this part of your body.
Getting to know it,
Getting to know what it needs.
Shifting down now into your hips and your pelvic floor.
Down into your thighs and your knees and your calves,
All the way down to your feet.
And just noticing the sensations in your legs and your hips and your pelvic floor.
This can also be an area of clenching or gripping.
So softening,
Opening up,
Creating space.
Uncurling your toes,
Allowing your body to be soft and receptive to telling you what it needs.
And really developing that in your mind as best as you can.
Where were you?
Were there other people with you?
Were you preparing food or buying food or eating food?
Were you struggling with the choices?
And now as you bring that situation to mind,
Identify what sorts of emotions or feelings come up for you.
Either ones that you remember or ones that are coming up for you now.
And then check in.
Check in to see where you feel those feelings or those emotions in your body.
Most of the time,
We feel those emotions in our torsos,
In our chest,
In our belly,
In our gut.
Sometimes we feel them in our shoulders and our throat and our face.
But more often than not,
They're in that center part of our body.
Where are you feeling those right now?
And what's that like for you?
Isn't it interesting that this is also the area where we digest food?
All the organs involved in the processing of our food.
So many times we're eating or not eating or making our choices in an effort to manipulate emotions in some way.
To either ignore them,
Push them away.
But what happens right now if you just allow those emotions to come up and explore them,
What they're trying to tell you.
Emotions give us information about our internal world,
Much the way our senses give us information about our external world.
And if you can't figure it out right now,
That's okay.
Maybe when we're done here today,
You can make some notes about what you noticed and then continue your exploration.
For right now,
Come back to that situation that didn't turn out quite the way you wanted it to involving food.
And now visualize yourself making nourishing,
Satisfying choices,
Being mindful in preparing your food and really savoring the food as you're eating it,
Involving your senses,
Imagining that you can look at it and describe it.
And you can smell it and then you can taste it and hold it in your mouth so that you're really enjoying all of the flavors.
And knowing that you have what you need to be able to listen to your body,
Understand what it needs and nourish it and satisfy it without judgment or criticism.
Really gaining some freedom in your relationship with food.
And now letting go of the visualization and returning your attention to your breathing,
Noticing your breath in your body and then taking a nice deep breath in and letting it out,
Wiggling your fingers and your toes,
Maybe even giving a little stretch and noticing how good it feels to move a little bit after being still for so long.
And then whenever you're ready and with soft eyes,
You may return to the room.
Feel free to return to this meditation as many times as you need to,
To get more familiar with your body,
Releasing the clenching and the gripping and to explore and investigate those emotions.
And finally visualizing a relationship with food that is nourishing and satisfying and freeing.
I'm Kelly Dennis.
Thank you so much for spending this time with me today.
Be well.
Namaste.
