Geneen Roth, Women, Food, and God Retreat
I recently attended Geneen Roth’s Women, Food, and God retreat. It was an interesting experience on many levels, in terms of my own process and what I was hearing from other women there. During most of the retreat we were observing silence, so I didn’t get to verbally dialogue all that much. The silence was a good and necessary aspect, with too much chatter, we undo that which we just took in.
What did I take home from this experience? The most profound realization for me was just how much information our own dear bodies carry. Our own bodies, the entity we shun, we disconnect from, we try to hide and ignore. The entity so many of us have berated and felt hugely ashamed of. Yes, dear reader, that very body. Our own, sweet body has all the information we will ever need. And a bonus? It travels with us!
So the retreat was composed of basically four components:
1) body movement and meditation
2) eating meditation facilitated by Geneen
3) Geneen’s discourse on her approach, which is based on tuning in to your body for information regarding your degree of hunger and what it is your body is wanting
4) inquiry, which is about tuning in, being present to your immediate emotional and bodily feelings and sensations (described in the back of the book Women, Food, and God)
All four of these components are about tuning in and acknowledging our bodies as our partners, the vessels that make our life on this planet possible. Truly, until we begin to acknowledge and give thanks to our bodies, we will continue to have the disconnect which throws us into compulsive, emotional eating.
Notice how often I’ve used the term “tune in?” Yup, it’s a mindful practice of connecting to your mind, body, and spirit. Just practice, a little bit at a time…
And, thank your body today, each day, and hey, send your body some love, some Big, Big Love!
