Dying to be thin . . .

98 percent of all people who lose weight through a diet or eating plan gain it back within five years. Which proves that the real reason people find it difficult to  “keep control” over their bodies is a symptom of something else. That “something else” is exactly what this workshop helps you find out.

The Truth About Diets.

Having now worked with hundreds of people around weight loss, exercise, nutrition and eating disorders I can honestly say that whether you are a size 8 or a size 18, the issue is exactly the same, you are trying to use control to create what you perceive as your perfect body.

And while I am yet to meet anyone who believes there is an easy way to lose weight, what I do see is a million diet books telling you that there is, and that all you need to do in order to achieve your perfect body is muster up a little bit of willpower and follow their amazing new eating plan and hey presto you will look like a super model!

Wow, if only it were that simple.

Because actually the real truth about diets is that long-term over 90% of them fail and short-term while you may indeed lose weight, in the long-term both your body and your self-esteem are getting damaged

By adding mindfulness to weight loss and body transformation, we can touch the very place where we originally stored the experiences that made us disconnect and lose trust with the thing we need to connect with most - our body.

However when we use mindfulness as a means of transformation what we are doing is creating change from the inside out rather than from the outside in. And then as time goes on and new thoughts about how and why we over eat emerge, not only will you learn how to let go of the emotional blockages that are stopping you from gaining a healthy body. But also how to stop sabotaging yourself and start enjoying what you eat because you have discovered that not only do you deserve to be healthy but that you can be healthy.

Mindfulness vs Willpower.

What diet books, eating plans and slimming clubs teach us to do is disconnect from our body and use willpower to “control” our eating and exercise habits, which actually means you are disconnecting from your richest and most tangible source of transformation which is actually the messages your body sends you on a moment to moment basis.

Yet ask anyone who struggles with their weight what they need to do in order to have a healthy body and the answer will usually be to control it, go on a strict diet plan and use willpower to keep it up.

However, what control really does is smother our feelings and keeps what we really need to experience/reveal about ourselves at bay. It makes us think of our body as something separate from our mind and teaches us to ignore the signals and messages that our body try’s to communicate with us on a constant basis.

And even if you are lucky enough to master the effects of control and willpower to transform your body, what often occurs is a constant worry that you can never keep this up and you will lose control at any given moment.

Just because someone is a size 8 – don’t think they have it all under control as often below this surface is a sense of absolute fear that they will never ever be able to maintain what they have achieved.

Mindfulness – Coming into your Body And Understanding What It Really Needs.

So what does learning to “come into your body” mean exactly and how can mindfulness make this possible?

Learning to come back into your body with mindfulness is about discovering how to be present, grounded, open, aware and not scared to find out what’s really at the core of why you overeat or sabotage your body.

And then by bravely working through your emotional and physical barriers, one by one, via listening and connecting to what your body and past experiences have to share with you – long-term changes and transformations to your life, behaviours and body can occur.

Until we can become aware of and acknowledge what is holding us back from getting a healthy body - we can never truly succeed at anything long term. And if we are to come into harmony with our body,so that long term changes can take place, we need to do more than an adjustment to our way of living – we need a revolution in the way we understand and connect with ourselves. 
Zara Cordella ~ Conversations with your body.

The only way you can change your body is to come back into your body and start working with your self-worth, not your self-hate.

Control verses Freedom and Why Control Is A Poor Way To Change What We Really Need To Change.

Control smothers our feelings and keeps what we really need to experience/reveal about ourselves at bay. It stops us connecting with our past so we can change the present and makes our future seem rigid and restrictive rather than flowing and carefree.

Yet when we look at how we really live on a day-to-day basis, we see that it is not just our weight we are trying to control, it’s nearly every single aspect of our life. We try to control our spending, our emotions, our past, our relationships, our work, our future and even the way we relate to ourselves. We end up falsely believing that the only way to live our life successfully is to ignore our natural urges and instincts and yet we still live without the results we think control will give us.

With mindfulness what we start to realise, then experience is that we don’t need to live in a constant battle ground of control and willpower and that there is another way to live.

We discover that by trying to make our body behave by ruling it with our head is a futile exercise, and that for real change and transformation to occur, we need to relax and come right back into the real place where change takes place. The body.

Control tries to create order, which is the opposite of authenticity and living in harmony with oneself. However, when the body begins to let go and relax under a skilled sensorium therapists hands - profound shifts in both our emotional and physical awareness begin to occur and our mind and body begin to integrate again. The separation of mind and body that created your sense of worth around food and how you respond to it change, and you are able to make the connection as to why these issues arose in the first place. And then with time, patience and acceptance you can learn to come back into your body and all it has to share with you. 

Zara Cordella ~ Conversations with your body.

If you would like to lose weight or find the “answers” within your body as to why you have issues losing weight, exercise or control then please contact Zara direct on 07756 3366 06 or via her online booking form by clicking here.

• August 18, 2013