Body Awareness = Conscious Eating

Over the past few months I’ve lost 24lbs and I’m still going strong. I didn’t use a special diet, weight-loss program or any other such thing that is easy available to us that guarantees our weight-loss success…or not, as many of us who have tried these methods can attest.

I used something that is often ignored. I used my mind/body connection to create this change. Wanna know how I did it? Well, I’ll tell you.

It Starts with Self Acceptance and Love

At the time that I began this experiment, I thought I looked really good. Yes, I was overweight but I was very happy with me. I saw someone I really liked looking back at me in the mirror. I wasn’t thinking, gosh your ass is getting pretty big…you better do something about that, as I had done when spurred toward weight-loss in the past.

Not even once did this kind of inner dialog occur. I only saw my strengths reflected back to me, honestly I wasn’t even really aware that I was overweight. At the time I was really focused on growing my intuitive abilities to a level I’d never reached before and a big part of that work involved being open to the messages that are communicated through the body. One day I received a communication that would change things for me.

Symptoms or Messages?

My feet started to hurt. My feet hurt frequently so I went into meditation, dropped down into my body and asked my feet what they wanted me to do. They said to take off some of the pounds. I exited the mediation and got on my scale. I was so surprised at the number that displayed before me. I had never in my life been this heavy outside of pregnancy.

I marched back into meditation again and said, o.k. feet, I see your point, so how do I accomplish this. Their reply, cleanse…

The Big Cleanse

So I flushed my system with lots of herbal teas, primarily lavender and chamomile and I fasted for 2 days before beginning my new style of eating. O.k., so now some of you are perhaps imagining that I live alone…so easy for me to fast, right?

Well in fact, it was easy…but not because I live alone. I do not. I have two small children and a husband that all expect me to feed them. So how did I accomplish this? With two things…a mindset and a plan.

The mindset was, because I love you (speaking to the body) I am going to allow you the opportunity to heal from all the toxic stuff I have been putting into you lately. The plan was to drop into my body, identify what it wanted to eat and prepare for my family the exact opposite.

O.k., now you are thinking that I fed them garbage. No, not exactly…they got normal dinners they were quite happy with, but because it wasn’t what my body wanted or needed at the time, it was actually repulsive to me and made it quite easy for me to stick with my fast…and besides, it was only for two days! Sometimes you have to get creative!!!

The purpose of the big cleanse is to detox the system…but hidden within that detox is a subtle shift of awareness. This awareness is the real prize and reason for the detox. After the cleanse you can actually hear what your body wants again.

You can tell the difference between when the body wants to eat something and when the mind wants to. You feel hungry and get reacquainted with what that is like…so this is wonderful because it creates that connection with the body and its sense of what it needs out of food. You begin to eat based on how what you eat makes you feel.

Life After the Cleanse

After the initial cleanse, I went on a lot of mini-day fasts…taking careful notes of all the wonderful impulses my body was sending me about foods and then I would put together the most thoughtful dinners I’d ever created around those foods. I joyed in eating because I had waited most of the day, I was surprised at how little food I actually needed verses the amount I previously consumed and every little bite was a joy chorus being sung from my cells to the very core of my being.

I also asked my body what kind of exercise to do and it led me to hiking and treadmill routines. This is where I cleaned out my energy and drew in the new. I started adding chakra meditations to the workouts and I would come out feeling so refreshed!

Everything that I did, I did because it made me feel good…and all of these good feelings resulted in the pounds flying off without me really having to think about it. I developed a new relationship with my body…one in which I view it as my best friend. It has instant information about things my mind can not sense…and I rely upon it heavily everyday.

So if you’re interested in experiencing food joy instead of guilt this holiday season, feel free to take the Thanksgiving Day Gratitude Challenge!

The Thanksgiving Day Gratitude Challenge

Sometime today start a fast in which you flush your system with a constant flow of water. This time of year hot water is great and with all the wonderful herbal teas out there you can keep yourself busy for awhile.

Drop into your body and ask it how to fast. For you this may mean water only intake, or perhaps clear fluid only, or maybe your body will say any fluid is o.k. Go with whatever it tells you and make sure you drink constantly as this will prevent any hunger discomfort.

Continue your fast until Thanksgiving Dinner and when you sit down at the table direct your consciousness into your stomach and feel, like a compass what it tells you to eat.

Fill your plate according to its communications, eat slowly, enjoying each bite and see how good it feels to truly be grateful for and connected to food! Enjoy yourself…the company and blessings on the table…

I’ll be doing the same and thinking of you

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Image Credit

Comments

By Albert | UrbanMonk.Net on November 30th, 2007 at 8:35 pm

Hey Paula – Just came across your blog, although I’ve heard everyone singing your praises before, and I can see why. I really like this post. Self Acceptance and Love is truly the first step to changing everything, even the lard on our bodies.

I can’t bring myself to fast and purge my internal system, though. Tried it, didn’t last very long, heh heh!

Cheers,
Albert | UrbanMonk.Net
Modern personal development, entwined with ancient spirituality.

By Paula Kawal on December 3rd, 2007 at 4:01 pm

Hey Albert!

Thanks for dropping by, I’ve been watching your UrbanMonk blog for some time.
I really like the points you made in this comment because it took me a long while to realize that the energy I directed toward resistance could be used to create the changes I wanted in life and even longer to apply those lessons to the body (a place where women tend to unconsciously project self-hatred).

So here’s to fully integrating self-acceptance and love…and the healing that it creates!!!

Many Blessings,

PK