Last night I spent the night with four amazing women. We sat on our yoga mats talking about our relationship with food, how the power of grounding and mindfulness can help us become aware of our complicated feelings surrounding food – something that nourishes and binds us to the physical world.

Last night was the first workshop that I co-hosted with my good friend Holly. We met at yoga teacher training this past year and felt an immediate connection. Turns out, she also felt a calling to help others deal with their relationship to food. She’s an inspiring woman who currently helps others as a social worker and through her work with addiction and recovery. She’s an inspiration to us all and I’m beyond grateful that I can call her my friend and partner.

Last night we started something special. With just a small group of women we opened up to each other as we began a conversation about food. How do we feel about the food we eat everyday? Do we feel nourished by it? Is it just a necessity? Or is it just another action throughout the day that is on our mental “to do” list.

Last night we delved into our spiritual and physical self. How without one, we can’t have the other. We tend to separate them throughout our lives and it’s only when we connect them that we find our true self.

Last night we learned the true meaning of ahimsa, the first yama of nonviolence. Nonviolence to each other and to ourselves. Why do we always put ourselves on the back burner? Why do we not take care of our body? Is it because we’re disconnected to our physical needs of nourishment and support? Or is it because we don’t know how the relationship will work? Maybe it’s just like any other relationship – we’re afraid to get our hearts broken so we shut down.

Last night we learned how to take the first step towards recovery. How we all have our trigger foods and trigger situations. How after speaking about it with others and finding that others have similar issues makes us stronger to take that first step. To look at our situation with love, light, and understanding. How we can take the steps of relabeling, reattributing, refocusing, revaluing, and recreating to give attention to our relationship and ground down with intention.

Last night I learned that we are all connected. Our physical bodies allow us to feel Mother Earth, watch a beautiful sunrise, feel the wind on our face, taste the sweetness of a clementine, play with the dirt in our garden, and embrace each other. Our spiritual selves allow us to sense the higher connection with the world, with each other, and with our true self. It’s when we connect our spiritual and physical body that we can find true connections to each other and to the world that we live in. Our relationship with food is so much more than what’s for dinner. It’s what kind of life you’re living and really, you deserve a whole one.

After such a beautiful evening of stepping out on the path to find our true selves through our relationship with food, Holly and I will be hosting additional workshops that will continue to break this complicated relationship down. Allowing us to be the true version of ourself that lies within the heart of us all.

Check out our Facebook page Living the Whole Truth to stay updated!

And thank you to the Joyful Living Center in Eatontown for inviting us into their beautiful space.

Finally, thank you to the women and men who support us. We couldn’t do it without you.

As always, “bee” well,

Melissa