What is mindfulness? Why mindfullness?

The idea for this site preceded the name. I spent a lot of time searching for a name that would appropriately capture the messages and feelings I wanted to convey to you. Finally, I landed on mindfullness, inspired by the concept of mindfulness used in meditation. The spelling, note the second “L” in mindfullness, was inspired by my belief that you can live a full life. A life free from food, weight, and eating concerns, and nurtured by those things that fulfill you. This is my hope for you.

Mindfulness emphasizes the importance of being present in the “here and now.” It is a process of learning to pay attention to your emotions as they come and accepting them in a welcoming, nonjudgmental way. You can do this daily in a general sense, but also while eating! Imagine: approaching food as something to be enjoyed and tasted one bite at a time!

These ideas can be overwhelming for anyone, but especially for people with eating disorders. Often people are confused, asking, “Why would I want to let myself feel sad?” Or saying, “This may hurt.” That makes sense. If you are out of practice and not used to acknowledging your feelings it seems hard. Most of us do want to protect ourselves from feeling bad. That is often where the eating disorder comes in. Yet think about it…how good are you feeling right now? The thing that started to protect you, ended up causing a lot of problems!

Mindfulness teaches you to accept your feelings and truly allow yourself to experience them. Over time you get used to the feelings and become attuned with what your mind and body need. You learn to become used to a variety of feelings, learning to manage and deal with them along the way. It becomes less important to “numb” yourself by overeating, purging, or restricting. You no longer need to distance yourself from what you feel.

Mindfullness…By accepting your feelings, being present in the here and now, and nurturing yourself life becomes much fuller!