Woman’s Relationship to Food and Body Image
Instead of seeing our physical hunger as a craving for food, we can begin to understand it as a hunger for our life. It is us telling ourselves know that we are not satisfied with our life, that want something else, but are having difficulty in knowing what this is and are using food as a way to distract us getting what we really want.
As women we have been taught to judge and ridicule our bodies. We all know in our mind’s eye the way we want to look. This image is rarely self-defined but rather we are significantly influenced by the media and fashion industry to strive for what is for most women an unobtainable shape. Amazingly we support each other in our pain of attempting to create this fantasy by exchanging diets and judging each other’s bodies to be beautiful.
If you feel dissatisfied or unhappy with your body, feel like your body image gets in the way of being able to live your life or do the things you would like to, or you are engaging in restrictive eating or other unhealthy eating or exercise behaviours, then seeking professional help is important.
I offer individual and group work and workshops on women’s relationship to food and body image. I can help you change your relationship with food and feel at ease/enjoy your body again. I will work with you to explore your relationship with food and body image, we will dispel myths about dieting, explore our negative thinking patterns and experiment with affirmation and imagery work so that our internal attitudes begin to change and we begin to listen to our bodies a little more, we begin to challenge the critical voice which makes us feel bad about ourselves.
Exploring your relationship with food and body image allows you to begin to trust and enjoy your body again; it is miraculous how, when you do trust your body, it tells you when and what to eat and when you want to stop. Although, I do not encourage weight loss to be the end goal it is surprising how many bodies adjust to their natural weight as women begin to trust their appetites and move out of a diet mentality.
Body Centered Therapy
Body Centred psychotherapy is an experiential therapy based on the idea that we store or hold information and emotions in our bodies. Said another way, our bodies have a kind of memory for experiences and feelings. Body centred psychotherapy supports you in identifying where experiences may be blocked and inhibiting you from accessing your feeling.
By giving the body a "voice" through movement, gesture, sound and/or awareness of subtle sensations, you can gain insight into long held patterns of thought, emotion or behaviour. The awareness and understanding gained in this process can help you to develop a deep inner sense of knowing, to reduce anxiety and depression, to make healthy decisions, to set boundaries in relationships and to feel more grounded and confident. By using information from the body, we can understand ourselves more fully, deepen self-acceptance and change patterns that no longer serve us.