Have you ever felt that exercise was just another way to avoid accepting your body as it is — right now? Or that eating healthfully is a way to keep your body fit {and, therefore worthy of your acceptance}? Lisa Sarick used to feel that way — until she found yoga and gave herself the permission to love her body just as it is. This week, Lisa shares her wisdom on intuitive eating and how she’s learned to love her body into health.
Lisa Sarick {sometimes known as Reverend Lisa} is a yoga instructor, interfaith minister and spiritual guide. She leads people seeking peace beyond the limits of the mind to the freedom of the spirit. And she is the Mistress of the Moon Circle, an online gathering for women friends that you can join at any time. Her greatest hope is to add to the love in the world.
Kellie Adkins: How do you manifest intuitive eating in your life?
Lisa Sarick: I really go into my body and try to feel the sensations that come up for me –just like you would for meditation—close the eyes, start to feel your body, feel each energy center, and expand out. Because of this process, I’m more aware of when something I’ve eaten doesn’t feel good. I’m also more aware of when something I do doesn’t feel good –it kind of goes across the board. When I can center myself and ground myself in my body, I can be more authentic and know when I’m living my truth. It’s really a process of developing sensitivity to the subtleties of sensations that the body gives: whether the body is saying ‘yes’ or saying ‘no’, ‘good,’ or ‘bad.’
KA: How would you recommend starting this process?
LS: Just stay with it…at first it’s a very sensitive, subtle process [tuning into the body] but it gets bigger and bigger! Many years ago, before I really developed this sensitivity, I could eat a bag of Doritos and probably not notice the effects – now, no way! My body sends me a definite ‘no’ very loud and clear. Plus, I can taste chemicals. Blah!
KA: What was the impetus for nourishing yourself more intuitively?
LS: Yoga was definitely a turning point for me; before yoga I had an attitude of beating my body into submission. I was only going to love myself ‘when:’ it’s like I needed to hate my body in order to take care of myself by exercising. Yoga was the first time I got the message that I could love my body now. Yoga helped me to make that switch from beating my body into submission [with exercise] to loving my body into health. Yoga changed everything about my relationship to my body and to exercise. My motivation to exercise no longer comes from a place of dissatisfaction with my body or self-hatred; it comes from a place of appreciating and loving my body now.
KA: What’s your best advice to people struggling to love their body and nourish themselves more intuitively?
LS: Try a friendly attitude toward your body, and go into your body –really feel your body. As long as you’re up in your head, well, let’s face it –it’s a bad neighborhood! But in your body and in your heart, there’s so much love to give. Make a gratitude list about all the things you love about your body. Come up with ten things that are amazing about your body right now. Can you walk, talk, dance, hug your beloved? Be grateful for those little miracles.Continue to check in with your body as much as you can – even if you need to find a guided meditation to listen to or a yoga teacher to guide you through the process.
Be sure to join Lisa’s Moon Circle and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and the web.
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