Change how you relate to food and eating and learn ways to nourish your mind, body and heart

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is intentionally paying attention to all that we experience in the mind, body and heart in the present moment with acceptance, compassion and without criticism or judgment. It is a practice that enables the practitioner to avoid a mindless life on automatic pilot. It promotes curiosity and full engagement in one’s life and the everyday experiences as they unfold.

Mindful awareness allows the practitioner to become consciously aware of his/her mind and its flow of energy and information in order to appreciate its contents and learn how to regulate its flow in a new way.

Mindful awareness, helps us awaken and respond purposefully and intentionally rather than reacting automatically and thus change how we relate to the stressors inherent in life.

What is Mindful Eating?

To eat mindfully is to intentionally pay attention to the experience of eating and drinking and to what is happening inside and outside of the body as we consume our food and beverage. We focus our awareness on how eating impacts our senses. We notice what the food looks like, how does it smell, the texture, the taste, the consistency as we touch and place it in our mouth and the sounds of different foods that we consume.

To eat mindfully is to pay deliberate attention to the experience of the body as it relates to hunger, food and satisfaction. Where in the body is hunger or satisfaction sensed?  Can feeling full be measured?  Paying attention to the mind, body and the heart as we eat without criticism and judgment is really going back to the way we all ate as nursing babies. As adults, often we eat mindlessly while multi-tasking without paying full attention to the practice of eating. By becoming aware and paying intentional attention to how eating affects our emotions and moods and how in turn our emotions and moods impact how and what we consume, we reclaim our natural birthright and begin to notice and change our relationship to food and eating.

Who may benefit from Mindful Eating?

Most people are not mindful of the present moment, especially as they eat. Their minds are occupied with either rehashing the past or rehearsing the future which leads to: not being present and feeling stressed or anxious and at times, to coping with life’s challenges maladaptively. Eating mindlessly can be maladaptive and lead to multiple problems and health-related issues. If you are feeling stressed, anxious, experiencing a challenging relationship with food and eating, this program may benefit you.

About the Mindful Eating-Mindful Living Program

This program is based on the world-renowned stress reduction program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. and the works of Jan Chozen-Bays This program combines breath awareness, meditation, yoga and other mind-body methods to enhance the participant’s health, well-being and how he/she relates to food and eating. This Mindful Eating- Mindful Living (MEML) program, is designed to improve eating and food-related challenges by drawing upon the participant’s inner resources.

Program benefits

There is a tremendous body of research that support the benefits of participating in a MEML Program which includes the following:

• Enhanced sense of and freedom in relationship to food
• Enhanced mood and attitude
• Improved energy levels
• Increased effective responses to stress
• Decrease in maladaptive reaction to stress

The eight-week MEML course facilitated by Tarane Sondoozi, Psy.D. provides training in the use of formal and informal mindfulness practices of meditation and movement to help the participants change how they relate to food and eating. The practices and techniques offered in this program support conventional medical and preventive health approaches by activating and enhancing the participant’s inherent resources for relating to food and eating differently which will lead to an improved sense of well-being.