With a long history of disordered eating patterns, food became a source of soothing for a
profound sense of lack and emptiness that lived in the guts and stomach of my body.
Although the most I could expect was the momentary gratification that came from the
sweet, salty, creamy, crunchy, flavour-filled sensations that soothed the grippy creature
and quietened the mind, the pattern continued because I didn’t know how to meet the
feeling of empty belly, without a sense of panic and fear.
Since working with the felt sense, the capacity to digest, and be with the inner discomfort
is growing. It is like chunks and layers are being digested and, in the process, I am
experiencing a rising yang energy that is giving structure to my relationship to food, the
creature, nourishment and my body.
Here is what is happening now. An organic emerging kind of guidance recently came
through as I found myself in the grips of the hungry little gluttonous creature. To me,
‘gluttony’ is just the pendulation from experiences of starvation – and I sense that those of
us that have been starved of food, of love, of something essential, can develop a kind of
desperation around food that feels almost like a survival need. But, like a pendulum, given
time it will arrive in the centre and that seems to be what is happening for me now. I am
now beginning to experience what it is to have a right relationship to food, not from a
place of control, a particular diet, or being motivated by how fat or thin my body appears
to be.
The right relationship to food seems more linked to the inclusion of the needy,
greedy, gluttony creature and the growing roots of Yang-ness that are beginning to carry,
hold, and lend a sense of structure to the system that wasn’t there before. In the following
process, speaking out loud as if to the creature, is the Yang assertiveness – like a loving
parent establishing a boundary with clarity, and an acceptance and love of the creature,
just as it is.
Commitment
1. The act of eating is a SOLO act – no computer, no TV, no phone
2. Sit down in a quiet place to eat – no distractions
3. Decide how many hours feels reasonable between meals
4. Decide when the last meal of the day is going to be
5. No eating between meals
Process (make up your own dialogue)
I speak the words out loud as if to the creature – simple, clear, and as if I am talking to a 6-
year-old. It may sound silly, it is! But somehow the silliness seems to work and helps to
transcend the potential seriousness of it all!!
Steps
• Declare out loud:
‘Today we will eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, and we will sit down to eat and take our
time’
Pause and drop in to felt sense.
• With your food – find a place to sit. Close your eyes and take a deep breath into your
belly. Say out loud:
‘ahhhhh empty belly’
let yourself feel the emptiness. Repeat 2-3 times.
• Take another deep breath and say:
‘ahhhh belly is empty, and there is food’
Repeat again, feeling into the felt sense in the body.
• Opening your eyes, see your plate of food and say out loud:
‘ahhhh empty belly, and food is right here!’
notice the excited creature, salivation, smells, colours, textures, the eagerness to dig
in, welcome whatever arises.
• Look at your food and say:
‘This food is going to be in my stomach soon and become my body!!’
You may want to reflect out loud about how the food got to you...the sun, water, earth,
humans, seeds, trees, animals, drivers, give thanks, feel the Holy blessing of the
nourishment
• Take a mouthful, savour the YUMMINESS – nowhere to go, no need to hurry, just here
feeding the creature and nourishing the body...all the time in the world.
• When done, lay the bowl / plate aside and declare:
‘No more food now, until ___! That’s it, belly is full!’
• Take a few moments and breathe deeply into the belly and say:
‘ahhhh full belly’
Visualise the food that was on your plate just minutes before – is now in your belly, feel
it and breath into your belly a few times.
Notice the feel of your body with full belly, how does it feel different to before?
When ready complete and move on.
Please share with others, leave your comments if you find this helpful.
#soothing with food
#breaking habits with awareness
#right relationship to food
#creature needs
#presence and love
#slow eating
#healing our relationship to food