AN EXPERIENTIAL SIX-WEEK GROUP PROGRAM
Over the course of this six-week program you will learn vital tools to help you better understand and manage the emotional eating cycle, develop awareness and resilience to triggers and difficult emotions, build a balanced plate without restriction, and consciously nourish yourself.
Photo by Kait Miller on Unsplash
CONSIDER JOINING THIS GROUP PROGRAM IF YOU:
Feel alone in your struggles with food and body
Would like to be supported and validated in a small group setting
Use food to numb, distract, or soothe rather than feel the emotions that make you want to eat
Feel exhausted, depleted, and undernourished from following rigid or restrictive food rules
Want to stop the swings between restriction and mindless or out-of-control eating
Are trapped in an all-or-nothing mindset or critical self-talk about food and body
Feel anxious, guilty or confused about food choices
Experience shame or judgment about body shape or size and find it affects self-esteem
Are ready to feel skilled in make nourishing and conscious food and self-care choices
We become attuned to our body, emotions, thoughts, and beliefs through self-reflection and practice, so a primary focus in session will be on experiential exercises including group discussion and reflective journaling and meditation.
IN THIS GROUP PROGRAM YOU WILL:
Identify your personal Values and the pillars of physical nourishment to anchor your healing journey
Discover the root cause of emotional eating and why food is not your enemy
Identify the uncomfortable emotions that make you want to eat
Learn the difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger and what each feel like in your own body
Practice techniques for calming your nervous system so you can connect with your body, manage the intensity of emotions, and self-soothe, before turning to food
Acquire skills to eat more mindfully so eating experiences are less reactive and more satisfying
Learn non-diet food principles that make a satisfying and nourishing plate
Identify your “body story” and outdated beliefs that keep you stuck in harmful patterns
Release body shame and judgment
Explore the pillars of Radical Acceptance and ways to accept your body with compassion, without feeling resigned or complacent
Learn a timeless framework you can always fall back on to (re)cultivate a peaceful and trusting relationship with food and yourself
PROGRAM DETAILS
Dates: Friday, January 14, 2022 - Friday, February 18, 2022
Week 1: Friday, January 14
Week 2: Friday, January 21
Week 3: Friday, January 28
Week 4: Friday, February 4
Week 5: Friday, February 11
Week 6: Friday, February 18
Time: 9-10:30am PST
Location: Zoom (link will be provided upon registration)
Cost: $360
Sessions will be recorded. If you're unable to attend the live session you will have access to the recording for the next 7 days. Since each session builds off the prior, it’s important you're able to reserve time to watch the replay before the next session.
To create group safety and allow for quality discussion, the group will be limited to 10 people. Your spot will not be reserved until you have registered at the link below, and sent payment via Paypal or Venmo (see link for details).
Cancellation for a full refund can be made up to one week prior to the start of the program (by 9am PST on Friday, January 7th).
SESSION DETAILS
Overview
Each group session will be 90 minutes. Sessions will be recorded and available to those who cannot attend live. Concepts and tools will be taught to support you in cultivating a peaceful relationship with food and self. But since we become attuned to our body, emotions, thoughts, and beliefs through self-reflection and practice, a primary focus in session will be on experiential exercises including group discussion and reflective journaling and meditation.
Photo by John Salzarulo on Unsplash
Week 1: Ground Yourself
In our first session together, I’ll help you establish a sound foundation you can build off of throughout the program and return to in daily life when you feel thrown off course. This foundation involves identifying the personal values to guide your healing journey and the pillars for physical nourishment that have nothing to do with diet, deprivation, weight loss, good and bad food lists, or “clean eating”.
Week 2: Understand the Emotional Eating Cycle
With this foundation in place, we’ll explore the roots of emotional eating, the role food has played in your life, and why food is not your enemy. You’ll become familiar with the emotional eating cycle we get trapped in and ways you can engage your nervous system to break this cycle and have a more satisfying relationship with food and your body.
Week 3: Manage the Emotional Eating Cycle (Part 1) - Look to Your Body for Answers
You’ll discover the emotions (and nervous system states) that make you want to disconnect and turn to food, and you’ll learn to recognize the body sensations connected to these emotions. You’ll also learn and practice using “rescue strategies” to help you return to the present moment, feel safe in your body, and feel in control of your choices.
Week 4: Manage the Emotional Eating Cycle (Part 2) - Integrate the Wisdom Your Body Offers
At this point, you’ll have had time to practice observing your emotional eating patterns, the accompanying nervous system states and body sensations, and using the rescue strategies from Week 3. We’ll discuss your experiences, stuck points, and successes and allow time for further integration and processing.
Week 5: Explore Body Dissatisfaction and Rewrite Your Body Story
Body dissatisfaction and the ways we talk to, and think about, our bodies is often an underlying driver to an unhealthy relationship with food. We live in a world with narrowly defined beauty and body standards and an intolerance for body diversity. Since childhood we’ve received messages that our body is our worth, but our body is not as it “should” be. These messages inaccurately become our truth and exacerbate emotional eating or the binge-restrict cycle. In this session, I’ll help you to begin unraveling your own body story and learn the pillars of Radical Acceptance so that food and lifestyle choices can come from a gentle and whole place, rather than a fearful or shameful one. Through this work you’ll begin to form a deeper foundation for your self-worth that authentically reflects and reinforces how you want to show up in the world.
Week 6: Honor Your Hunger and Build a Balanced Plate
Carving out space for consistent and satisfying food experiences is an essential step in breaking the emotional eating and binge-restrict cycle. Yet our culture often rewards busyness and discounts the value in slowing down. I’ll help you identify what hunger and satisfaction feel like in your body and ways to (realistically!) carve out moments of calm so you can tune into and trust those body cues and build a foundation of nourishment that creates more stability and safety in daily life. As a part of this foundation of nourishment, we’ll also explore the non-diet food principles that make up a satisfying and balanced plate and will help you sustain a peaceful relationship with food and body.