Somatic Eating® Meditation to Create Pre and Post Meal Body Regulation and Safety

From the beginning of starting this podcast, I have wanted to provide you with an abundant amount of resources to support you with creating a regulating and safety producing relationship with food.

After teaching my first Somatic Eating® Intensive last weekend, it inspired me to create this meditation for you to utilize when you eat. You can put this on when you sit down for your next meal to practice slowly connecting with your body so that you can deepen your relationship with food.

It can be exponentially harder to feel safe in your body when food is being experienced as threatening and dangerous and you need to be interacting with food at least 3 times every day. Mealtimes can be a practice ground for guiding your body into the parasympathetic nervous system or rest and digest, safety, and connection state.

Even if you're not eating right now, you can listen through this to get your body familiar with what you might try out at your next meal. This way when you listen to this again when you're eating, you know what to expect and there won't be any surprises. This is important as your nervous system may already be primed to pick up more cues of threat in your environment. You want to be creating eating experiences that feel familiar and safe so your body can relax.

So let's dive in.

First, notice how you're sitting in your chair or couch or cushion.

Are you comfortable? Move around and notice where you want your legs, arms, and body to be, and if you need a pillow or blanket or anything else. Look out for cues of relaxation or deeper breath to know that your body is where it wants to be and with the resources it needs to settle into eating.

Now, let's do a really quick body scan.

You can start at your feet and slowly move your attention up through your body. You can pass through your legs, belly, chest, shoulders, and face and notice what sensations are there. You can observe any holding, tension, or tightness or the presence of relaxation, ease, or neutrality.

There's nothing you need to fix or change. You're making contact with your body and what is right now. If there is any impulse present, feel free to follow what your body is telling you it needs. This might be taking some deeper breaths. This could be putting your hand on your heart and letting your body know you're here for it.

Next, look at your food and notice your body's reactions.

Do you notice salivation? Does your body get excited looking at the food? Does it get scared and fearful? Are there any reactions happening in your gut? Take a break from looking at your food and look around your room for a cue of safety. This could be an object, a color, something outside your window, a person, or an animal. Notice what it feels like looking at that thing and give yourself a second to savor that experience in your body. Let your body know that whatever happens, you're always allowed to eat more and eat more of these foods when it tells you that it is physically hungry again.

Take your first bite of food and notice how your body responds as you begin to chew.

Observe any impulses to eat quicker. Describe the bite in your mouth to yourself and get curious about what you like or don't like about it. As you continue to eat, if you notice your mind drift off to what you need to do next or feeling bored with the experience of chewing, come back to describing the food, your environment, and how you feel.

As you complete your meal, check in with yourself again.

What has changed? Do you notice any difference in your mental clarity, digestion, or mood? What emotions are present? Is there some sadness for the meal being over? Is there longing to continue to eat? Is there fear about what you ate? Practice detaching from the story, as it's not a truth or a fact, and make space for the emotion. Where do you notice this emotion feel the strongest in your body? If that body part could talk to you what would it say and what does it need? Look around for your cues of safety again. Show your body that regardless of how it is digesting and assimilating that meal that it is safe right here and right now.

You can practice this again and again. It will take time and repetition to feel safe around food. At some point, you may experience mealtimes as the times in your day that remind you to slow down and support your body in feeling safe and secure.

If you want more practice with this, I'm offering everyone on my newsletter 30% off my newest offering the Somatic Eating® Intensive. You will receive a 2.5 hour experiential class to enhance your awareness of what your food coping mechanisms are trying to protect you from, begin to understand what nervous system state you're in, and learn new regulating resources. You also receive a week of Voxer support where you will be able to send me 1-2 messages a day and receive a message back from me for individualized support. If you're listening to this and have recently joined my newsletter, email me at support@stephaniemara.com and I'll send you that coupon code. And, if you listen to this Somatic Eating® Meditation while you eat, let me know how it goes!