It may be surprising to hear that the one essential skill for weight loss has nothing to do with counting calories, cooking, or working out. It has to do with the ability to stay present with yourself. If you can cultivate the skill of maintaining awareness of your body and mind—-through difficult feelings as well as… Read More »
People frequently tell us they feel controlled by food, as if an outside force has taken over their body. The mind wants one thing, while the body is doing something else entirely—usually involving some sort of delectable dessert item. We tell them that the answer to this problem begins with practicing the skill of mindfulness.… Read More »
“What happened?” I say. The client responds, “I don’t know. I just didn’t care. I ate and ate and ate, and just didn’t care at all.” This exchange is in response to what is often described as a “bad week.” In our program we don’t really believe there are “bad” weeks or “good” weeks. There… Read More »
For many years I have had a habit of listening to health, personal development, and spiritual audiobooks. It is a big part of my mindfulness practice. Back before you could download books to your phone with Audible, I used to purchase cd sets from Sounds True. I also love to listen to podcasts or interviews… Read More »
Does this sound familiar? A great new weight loss program comes along—“the next new thing.” You haven’t tried it before, which is surprising because you thought you tried everything. Maybe it promises fast weight loss. Maybe it promises to finally get to the root of all of your problems for good this time. Or maybe… Read More »
I came across this study in the journal Neuron about how stress undermines self-control and predisposes people to choose foods with “immediately rewarding taste attributes” (code for Ben and Jerry’s). Here is what the authors said in the abstract: “Our results indicate that stress may compromise self-control decisions by both enhancing the impact of immediately rewarding… Read More »
A main part of my job is to facilitate the development of a personal contemplative practice for our members, and to support them as they grow in this process. Ultimately, as people become more mindful, they are led from within themselves to make their own necessary choices toward improved health. As people become more mindful,… Read More »
Engage (verb): to participate or become involved in. To assume an obligation. We often hear this in our groups “I had a bad week, yet I still lost a pound. I don’t know how that happened.” And then they go on to describe several instances where they made sligthly better choices, or choices that were… Read More »
Practice, noun: the repeated exercise in, or performance of, an activity or skill so as to acquire or maintain proficiency in it. A foundational tenet of our program is that in order to change habits, a person must have “a practice.” We borrowed the idea of a practice from the Eastern traditions of yoga, meditation, and… Read More »
One of the most common problems we see in our groups is not having enough time. People’s lives are filled to the max, and sometimes overflowing. Times are tough. We frequently hear people say they are “stretched thin,” “putting out fires all day,” “don’t have time to breathe,” and “pulled in all directions” — and… Read More »