I have many years of experience witnessing the healing journeys of those of us with troubled relationships with food. And through these years, I have become ever more deeply intimate with fear. I have learned that fear finds its home inside us – literally inside our living bodies. Fear constricts and contracts, tightens and toughens. I’ve witnessed fear in a clenched jaw or belly or in tight fists… the body reveals the dwelling place and effects of fear when we turn a gentle gaze towards it. As I bring more mindfulness to my own body’s relaxation as I heal, so those I work with notice where they too may be holding fear.
Recovery from obsessive relationships with food requires that we feel safe. Many of us may have struggled to feel safe through our whole lives …. however, I know that a depth of safety and relaxation is within reach for us all. The journey of recovery is not easy, but it is simple: as we step into the uncertainty of the future, with the support and encouragement available to us in our journies of recovery, we begin to relax.
Our fears may never completely leave us, however we do feel safer all the time. A part of learning to take care of ourselves no matter what is learning to relax in the midst of our fears. We no longer allow our fears to prevent us from living the fullest life we can live.