Food/Eating has always been central to the human experience because of it’s obvious relationship to survival. Today, food/eating plays a much larger role and in fact has become not just a science but an art as well. In becoming such a focal point in our culture it gives us an opportunity to not only enjoy it in all it’s diversity but to suffer with it as well. Like all things in life, whether we enjoy or suffer through our experiences is highly influenced by our relationship to them.
Mindfulness directly address this root cause by allowing us to reconnect, come out of fight or flight and put the stress cycle and fear of survival behind us. At this point we are free to see food as it really is….something that nourishes us and sustains life. As we reconnect to our bodies and our dulled senses become enlivened, we are also in for the treat of being able to experience food/eating in a deeper more enjoyable way. If we pay attention mindfully to our food/eating our bodies will tell us what we need to know about about quantity, quality and how to enjoy.
In the practice of mindfulness the main theme is our relationship to the present moment via our connection to our bodies, minds, breath and emotions. Because stress plays such a large role in our lives, and since stress is dictated by our relationship to our experiences, it makes perfect sense that the practice of mindfulness which brings balance into our lives could play a pivotal role in how we experience food and eating.
The big issue with stress is coping by disconnecting from ourselves and the present moment and getting stuck in the stress cycle for extended periods of time(think years). That fight or flight experience has one major function….survival. If we are stuck in survival mode then our relationship to everything will be through the lens of survival/fear including our relationship to food/eating. We will magnify it’s importance as a strategy for survival and grasp onto it for all we are worth. We’ll grasp onto it and won’t be able to get enough of it to ease our fears of survival because the root cause of being stuck in fight or flight hasn’t been addressed. It will also result in other forms of food/eating dysfunction.