Love your Food, Love your Body upcoming workshop

We have a special announcement to share!  A colleague of mine, a very thoughtful and skilled yoga therapist, is offering a new workshop this summer called Love your Food, Love your Body. It’s on 8/23/15 from 2-4pm at Leela Yoga in Alameda. Participants will learn techniques to re-establish a healthy relationship to food and body: manage stress, enhance body awareness, and practice joyful and intuitive eating. Jennifer has shared with us her story here, as well as one of the exercises that she will feature in her workshop.

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One day during savasana (the relaxation pose at the end of a yoga class) I basically ‘woke’ up. In that moment, I felt completely content, possibly for the first time in my life. I began to clearly see the suffering I was putting myself through in relationship to my body and eating.

It set me on a track towards wholeness…towards getting back in touch with my true self – that part deep within you that is always content, peaceful, unchanging and unaffected by societal pressures.

Once I learned how to extend my awareness and acceptance of myself off the mat and into my life, yoga helped me both become more aware of and heal my disordered eating habits and negative body image.

It essentially rewired my thoughts and, in turn, my habits. I had no idea this was even possible! I truly thought I was doomed to live in a body I disliked and feel like a failure for not being able to change it.

Yoga and mindfulness give us so many brilliant tools for improving our relationship to our bodies and the food we offer them. I’m thrilled to share with you some of the tools that have helped me learn to once again enjoy food and enjoy living in my body.

Here’s one you can try right now:

  1. Lie down in a comfortable position.

  2. Take 10 relaxing breaths focusing on releasing any tension in your body or mind.

  3. Pick two areas of your body that you appreciate and clearly state to yourself why…and really mean it! Stay with each thought and let it soak in for several moments.

For example:

1. I appreciate my feet because they carry me around all day without complaint.

2. I appreciate my arms because they allow me to embrace my loved ones.

“It is through your body that you realize you are a spark of divinity.”

— BKS Iyengar

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Jennifer Meek is a Certified Yoga Teacher (RYT 500) specializing in Yoga Therapy for common challenges such as diabetes, hypertension, back pain, stress, anxiety, body image and trauma.

Yoga transformed her relationship with food and body and she is passionate about sharing these tools with others. You can find her teaching private lessons, public group classes, as well as incarcerated youth in Alameda County. More info at www.jennifermeek.com.

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