FOOD
Week 3
printable view
THE MAIN COURSE Have your basic needs always been met?
Emotionally. Spiritually. Mentally. Physically.
THE ORDERING PROCESS Do you have any ‘food’ insecurities? Work through the prompts as you make recollections from your earliest memories regarding your relationship with food, how you were nurtured, how you were nourished, and what meal times were like in your life. What importance did family members place around food? Did your family label you as any “type” of eater? Did you follow regular meal times? Has that changed throughout your life? Do you mostly share meals with others or alone? Were/Are there any family rules around food? Did you compete with family members for food? Were there any signs of eating disorders around your friends/family? If so, were they openly discussed? Do you continue to struggle with any issues from childhood that prohibit providing good nutrition for your body, mind, and/or spirit? Breathe.
THE NOURISHED SOUL After spending some thought around your answers to those questions (and any others that came up as a result of this thinking) write your perceptions about the evolution of your current relationship with food. Notice whether any people attach heavily to those memories and whether the memories have a positive or negative effect on your thinking. Take your time with this process, noting if and where any major changes occurred. Breathe.
HOME MADE Who, if anyone, did the cooking in your home? Were there any family recipes that stand out in your memories? Did your family eat any particular ‘style’ of food over another? Did your family grow any food? Did you frequent a farm or a farmer’s market? Did you have access to a variety of foods? Did you help with any food gathering, prep or clean-up? What are the foods you associate with childhood and what sort of memories do they evoke? Breathe.
MOVING FORWARD We are each on a personal, daily journey to fuel our bodies. Ask yourself whether your current relationship with food is a healthy one? If you’d like to make any adjustments to your current conditions, write a few sentences detailing the intentions for your change as if it is already happening. (ex. I eat and enjoy at least 4 servings of leafy greens each day, or I enjoy a sweet treat now and then because it symbolizes a reward for treating my body with respect). Reread each statement as you take a full deep breath into your heart and exhale. Take another into your abdomen, and exhale, filling each cavity with breath. Visualize any unwanted habits/ideas leaving with each full exhale. Continue to breathe around these issues until you feel complete.
BREATH AND DIGESTION Breathe around and through your memories, positive and negative. Breathing helps us clear any energetic debris that’s hanging in our field, leaving space for accepting both the Soul and the Ego perspective about our deeply personal journey to be and feel nourished. Food is a week that carries many weights and levels of shame for many human beings. Increased oxygen equals increased metabolism. A well-breathed body can more easily connect the dots of reason that come from examining our own raw ingredients, with acceptance and Wholeness.