Eating for Well-Being and Life Enhancing Movement through Mindfulness
“Be accountable to yourself. Do what challenges you to move toward living your best Life.”
When you need support navigating health challenges or just trying to approach well-being from a holistic approach, it is difficult to discern what is noise and fad and what is actual science. I won’t be talking about diets, exercises, or anything of the sorts here. This article is about how mindfulness practices can enhance your health and well-being.
In our journey to wellness, one of the most important aspects might be to accept humans’ inherent diversity. We all have different backgrounds, bodies, and points of view. Most of us are bombarded by information and conflicting messages, it can become difficult to listen to your body with curiosity, care, and compassion over all the noise.
Mindfulness is based on the practice of paying full attention to the present moment, as it is, letting all judgement go. I don’t teach “without judgment” because our systems need to have biases to survive. Rather, I teach “If any particular thought, feeling, or emotion comes up, notice it, name it, and let it keep walking.” To me, it is sort of watching a train pass by but not hoping in…
Eating for Well-Being and Life Enhancing Movement
Mindfulness practices can aid eating for well-being by promoting awareness of eating habits, reducing emotional eating, and enhancing self-regulation. Being present in the moment during meals helps recognize hunger cues, preventing eating more than what your body needs and helping you select foods that’d provide the fuel you need. Additionally, mindfulness reduces stress, which can be a factor in many health conditions and encourages a more balanced and conscious approach to lifestyle choices.
Intuitive Eating
For example, Christine Miktas (Registered Dietitian Nutritionist in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area) teaches intuitive eating. Instead of following diets or going for a certain appearance, intuitive eating is about listening to your body and following its natural ability to tell you when you’re hungry or satisfy. It also helps you choose whatever works best for your physical and mental health.
Mindful Eating Practices
Techniques like chewing slowly, savoring each bite, and paying attention to textures and flavors can enhance the enjoyment of food, making you more satisfied with smaller portions. Mindfulness is a practice of being fully present in the moment. Our minds like to wander, and that’s OK, but we often get even more distracted with our phones and T.V. and miss opportunities to just be there, to pay our full attention to one thing at a time, to have conversations over dinner with friends or family…
Emotional Regulation
Practicing mindfulness increases your ability to identify and manage emotional experiences that may trigger unhelpful habits. A key aspect of this is, again, letting go of any judgment and approaching yourself with care, curiosity, and compassion. Many people who are trying to break free from certain habits who aren’t serving them well long-term, experience a cycle of doing “the thing”, feeling guilty, ashamed, (insert any other emotions here), and end up cycling back to it because it’d make them feel better… Learning how to take good care of yourself, in many different ways, helps in breaking away from coping strategies who are doing more harm than good.
Improved Body Image
These practices encourage acceptance and appreciation for your body and everything it does for you. They help you get better attuned with your body and this positive relationship helps your ability to be present with it (not trying to escape how it looks, its pain, or any other negative association with it). Knowing your body can also help you improve how you fuel yourself, find movements that make you feel good, and use this knowledge to experience more pleasure in life.
Stress reduction
Mindfulness practices lower cortisol, the “stress hormone”. We need just enough cortisol (stress) to get us moving and doing the things we need to do but, in excess, cortisol may lead to many health problems. Mindful breathing, paying attention to your thoughts, emotions, etcetera, and finding gentle movement can help you decrease tension and prevent burnout.
Awareness and Freedom of Choice
Being more aware of the different aspects of your experience and how they influence each other can help you identify patterns, disrupt unhelpful habits, and allow you to make more conscious choices. We are memory beings and the automatic pilot preserves energy and makes us more efficient, but it sometimes gets on the way of making choices that lead to healthier living, well-being, and life satisfaction. These practices help strengthen the prefrontal cortex, a brain region associated with self-regulation.
Riding the Wave
Sometimes, cravings or urges are like a wave… They can get very intense, but if you learn to surf it, it eventually falls again. Mindfulness-based practices can help you create a toolbox to cope with urges. Urge Surfing is a distress tolerance tool to manage unwanted behaviors. There is a bit of this ‘distress tolerance’ practice in yoga and other movement practices as well. We’re sometimes playing at our edge when stretching.
Mindful Movement
Combining mindfulness with physical activity, such as yoga or mindful walking, fosters a holistic approach to health, reinforcing the connection between the mind and body. It amplifies the benefits of mindfulness-based techniques by incorporating more effort that aids in fostering cardiovascular health and many other health benefits. This gentler way of finding enjoyable movement can help grow appreciation and gratitude for what your body is doing right.
Community Heals
One of the benefits of joining group sessions is having a like-minded community. Regardless of personal beliefs, life story, or having different journeys, there is much more that connects us. Having a sense of connection and belonging has many health benefits. We are pack animals, we need others to survive!
Improved Sleep
Mindfulness practices can help regulate sleep. Better sleep, better overall function! We need regular quality sleep to be at the top of our game. It also helps us make better choices and be more able to adapt to daily challenges.
Compassion and Gratitude
Mindfulness practices such as Loving Kindness Meditations help cultivate positive feelings toward one self and others. Reinforcing a positive mindset that may make it easier for you to make choices that align with your goals and values.
Attention Skills
Mindfulness-based practices can strengthen your ability to focus your attention. When you’re able to intentionally redirect your attention, you become better able to direct where your attention is going to. It can help you amplify positive emotions while becoming better able to manage negative thoughts, feelings, or behavior.
Add community to your wellness journey…
These techniques collectively contribute to emotional resilience, improved self-awareness, and the ability to navigate challenging situations more effectively. If you have specific questions or if you'd like more information on any of these, feel free to ask! Check out our Events page if you’re in Tampa Bay, Florida and would like to join a group session or message me if you’d like to inquire about private sessions.
This February 10th at 11am Melissa Hafliger and I will be hosting a FREE 30-minutes Chair Yoga at Oasis Coffee Spot. Chair Yoga adapts traditional yoga poses while sitting on the chair or using it as support. It involves gentle movement, stretches, and mindful breathing while paying attention to your body in a kinder way. Melissa will lead a group activity afterwards.
Melissa is a wellness coach and offers supports to those who want to build a healthier mind, body, and finances. I, Thaina, am a yoga instructor and Sex Counselor and support individuals and couples in managing stress, emotional regulation, understanding their communication dynamics, managing conflict, and improving their sexual well-being.
FAQ
What to bring? Wear comfortable clothing and shoes. You're welcome to bring a bottle of water, but Oasis Coffee Spot has plenty of options as well!
Do I need to register? It is not necessary, but if you could RSVP so we can make sure we have enough chairs for everyone, that'd be great.
What's the cost? This is a FREE class. Donations are welcome but not required. If you wish to make a donation:
Venmo: @BlissfulBonds
PayPal: corderothaina@gmail.com
You can find Melissa here: https://www.melissahafliger.com/
You can find my biography here: https://www.blissful-bonds.com/
