Lifestyle Choice: Learning On How to Overcome Emotional Overeating with YIN Yoga and Nature.
Overcoming emotional overeating can at times become overwhelming, and failures are to be expected, instead of calling them failures lets change the vocab and start seeing any mishaps, trips, falling along the way or lets simply call them feed-back, falling short is to be expected. As an emotional overeater myself growing up, fasting of all types, for me was and still is one of the most hated activities, food then and still becomes an obsession more than any of the other. Damn even according to AIt it appears I’ve lived a life where over eating is the least of my worries any way the good news is, there are lifestyle choices that you can make to help overcome this problem.
The key word is choice – Choice is the KEYWORD …you can choose to follow a more healthier way of life. At times like these it helps to break everything down into small, specific steps, goals that you can take I’ve generated with the help of A.I some of specifics which I will elaborate and remember, setbacks and relapses are not un common, think about it, you were young once, I mean, like a toddler learning to walk, how many times did you fall? How many times did you come tumbling down like an oversized bag of walnuts? how many times did you wobble? your little knees and hips creaking under the sheer weight of your fat ass and oversized head…see nothing has changed much, however when did you decide that you were going to walk? somewhere deep inside you made the decision that you were going to walk and to be honest let’s face it you haven’t stopped. I bet your even good at running away from things)- This time when you do trip up, don’t beat yourself up; just start fresh, as in tomorrow, the next day, be born again remerge like a fresh cream cake or a doughnut!
Yoga
But what does AI know about the complexities of the human body and mind. Sporty types, Exercise Gurus, Computer Nerds and AI fanboys and girls will all agree that regular exercise three to five days a week is most beneficial. I read this mantra all the time and all I can say in my expert opinion;
“What a load of BULLSH*T”
Exercise is in fact detrimental to over eaters, you will hear that exercising should consist of at least 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise (such as vigorous walking, jogging, biking, etc.) followed by some light toning or weight training. I’ve just punched my laptop screen in frustration, you see over eaters, over eat for a myriad of reasons most are riddled with pain, guilt and possibly depression and to ask them to drag their sorry arses to a gym may probably trigger another munch-athon of salted snacks, diet soda and other crap.
Yoga, might just be a key to overeating.
YOGA maybe a solution you see not all types of Yoga are suitable especially not, Hatha or Ashtanga (unless you are physically fit) a slower and more relaxing style of yoga will suit with YIN YOGA being top of the list. Yoga will go a long way to your personal healing journey.
I know your probably thinking. “Where’s the catch? as if you’d really get of your lard of an ass and run to catch a ball!
I am not selling any courses on overeating, I’m no longer an Amazon Associate or an Affiliate and I am not hunting for key words (Even though Words are Key.) I am speaking as an emotional overeater myself, I found that gentle exercise as recommended by all the Exercise Gurus out there, soon becomes vigorous and before long you are over training which only exacerbates over eating and bingeing and then you’re in another emotional rollercoaster and I was on that ride for several years!
Yoga especially YIN YOGA can and over time will relieve emotional overeating in several ways.
The Physical activity will help to produce endorphins which are the body’s natural “feel good” hormones.
Yoga will likely boost your self-image, helping to break the cycle of low self-esteem and poor self-image that “feeds” emotional overeating disorder.
Yoga will also improve your own body Acceptance and Self-Care.
You don’t need to wear hot sexy yoga pants but can and should wear something more baggy fitting and more comfortable so no body shaming.
YIN YOGA practice involves deep breathing exercises, meditation, and various poses that promote relaxation and balance which in turn support better emotional regulation.
It will prevent boredom and mindless eating, which is what you might be doing if you weren’t practicing yoga!
My own personal story was that I found myself practicing yoga and it soon became a healthy addiction however I was in studios surrounded by stunningly beautiful people at first as a newbie no body including the teachers noticed me but over time when students said “Hi” or “Namaste” or placed there mats next to mine, my mind would go into over- drive and panic would set in, so to overcome this awkwardness I always and to this day still wear oversized black cotton T Shirts,
Before I go into a bit more depth on how Yoga can alleviate overeating disorder, I need to discuss one more important key to this self-healing puzzle.
Nature the best Stress Buster.
A lot of Yoga poses are grounding and nothing is more grounding than practising on grass in the midst of nature, if not Yoga then long walks in the countryside being one with nature helps to “ground” you and the beautify of nature will mesmerise you and you will start to see yourself not as an isolated being but one with nature when I had my moment of epiphany, I was hugging trees and crying uncontrollably for months!!!
Nature and it’s grounding effect will bring you closer to your natural state of being, you will begin to realise that you are part of a sacred and magical whole, just lie under a tree and look up through the branches and you will see, you will realise, that there are in fact numerous branches that veer away from the trunk, just wonder for a moment if you will, exactly how many branches there are and how many of them cross each other, perhaps, some may form their own connected- ness, see the sky through the gaps and understand that the more natural you become and the more natural foods that you select the more in touch you will be with your inner sacred divine self.
Also (Sorry to mess up the moment) emotional over eaters eat SHITE, think about it how many emotional eaters binge on healthy fruit or organic vegetables, on the whole emotional over eaters eat crap that is so far removed from nature as nebulae gas clouds exploding from the planet Uranus, it’s also time to plug that hole!
So, never underestimate the healing power of Yoga and if not possible then long self-reflective walks in nature!
(Original blog was kindly sent to us by Ericka she teaches Yin Yoga in Sutton Birmingham and is a great teacher and a great friend)
