Embodiment is the Key to Intuitive Eating

Have you ever craved a food, only to discover that the reality of it didn’t taste the way you expected it to?

Or have you ever found a recipe enticing and found that it hit the mark even more than you expected it would?

Both of these experiences can be part of intuitive eating. But they both need you to show up IN your body!

That’s because intuition is much different from intellect. The two work together! And there are several parts to intuitive eating.

Intuition vs. Intellect

The Process of Intuitive Eating

• You desire something. But you have to discern the difference between healthy desires and cravings. When your gut-heart-mind-Spirit is already in harmony, you’ll naturally want to maintain that. But when you’re out of balance, you’ll crave foods and experiences that keep you out of balance. This discernment can be somewhat intellectual, but it isn’t completely.
• Assuming you’re in balance, you’ll choose something that will serve you. It’ll taste good and feel good in your body, both now and later. Your choice will be a combination of what you know works for you and you ‘feel like’ having. It could be food or another sensory experience.
• You enjoy it, in the right amount, without going overboard. You notice what it feels like to have that thing. To enjoy it requires you to be present in your body while you’re consuming it.
• Notice how that thing affects you, now and later. You have to be present with your experience to notice! Depending on the experience AND your beliefs about it, you might choose it again soon, or not.

Gut Issues and Embodiment

I believe there are reasons for the seemingly ever-increasing number of people with gut issues. It’s related to showing up in your body! I’ll share a process for going deeper into this in a moment.

The Wisdom of Ayurveda

What is Ayurveda?

In case you don’t know what Ayurveda is, it’s the naturopathic system that developed alongside Yoga. It’s based on the five sacred elements and how they create the three ‘doshas,’ or Types. Your health is determined by how well you keep your Type in balance. You can do it with what you consume and how you consume it.

The Three Doshas

We ALL have all the Types, in some amount. 

• Kapha is present as the elements of earth and water. The minerals in our bones represent the quality of earth, and our bodies are made of mostly water.  Since you have a body, you have some Kapha.
• Pitta is present as the element of fire. We can all keep our bodies warm, at least relatively so. Everyone can digest to some degree, and we all have the ability to be discerning. That’s fire!
• Vata is made up of air and ether. If you’re alive, you can move and breathe, which means you can also be creatively inspired. Ether is the Spirit that animates each of us in our body.

Ayurveda and Modern Life

Vata and Disembodiment

So, let’s take a look at what’s going on in our modern world through the lens of Ayurveda and how embodied you are because of it:

Vata tends toward being disembodied. Think of activities that are faster than humans. Or projecting our consciousness out of our bodies and into space. Things like…

• Traveling in a car, on a train, or on a plane. Even on a bicycle!
• Working online, especially crossing timezones, and connecting with people outside our physical space.
• Being ‘on devices’ like phones, computers, and social media. Spending more time in the virtual world than in the physical one.
• Excessive talking and multitasking.

Marketing and Disembodiment

Modern marketing conditions us to believe all answers are ‘out there’ rather than ‘in here’. It says that you are not the expert on yourself, and all solutions come from outside of you. Today, most people have imbalanced Vata, regardless of their Type. That’s the nature of our modern world. When Vata is out of balance, it makes us neurotic and ungrounded. According to Ayurveda, the majority of diseases occur because of Vata running amok. (Hint: They also start in your gut!)

Technology and Embodiment

As much as the laptop lifestyle pretends to offer freedom, it depends completely on how you use tech. To reclaim your quality of life, spend more time in the physical world. You need significantly more time away from devices than on them. When you succeed in doing that, I promise, you’ll feel more alive than you ever have before.

Pitta and Productivity Culture

Pitta appears as the cultural narrative that values productivity above all else. When out of balance, Pitta is a workaholic, which relies on disembodied numbness. Otherwise, who would want to over work? It’s not actually that gratifying.

Cultural Conditioning and Productivity

As much as you might feel as if you’re acting independently of that narrative, you may not be. The proof is in the guilt or resistance you feel when you decide to do something just for enjoyment’s sake. You have to be alert to maintain your sovereignty over this! It’s not one-and-done, and it sneaks back in when you least expect it.

Reclaiming the Divine Feminine

It’s my belief that we need to redefine productivity so we can fully reclaim and call in the Divine Feminine. Keeping our nose to the grindstone comes from the centuries-old Protestant work ethic. We’ve all inherited it, regardless of our religious background. It’s in our very DNA, which means it’s deeply ingrained in our subconscious programming. It comes from both the collective consciousness AND from our ancestral lineages.

Food Choices and Disembodiment

It’s in the name of productivity that you might opt for low-quality, takeout, and packaged foods. You’ve gotten so used to it, you might actually think it tastes ok. And since you’re so out of your body, you don’t notice that it makes you feel like crap.

True Productivity and Values

Freedom for Pitta is in recognizing the importance of your quality of life. It’s connecting to what you truly value and having the courage to adhere to those values. True productivity isn’t about hours, dollars, or other metrics. When Pitta is out of balance, it’s all about metrics. It takes courage and faith to step out and trust.

The Power of Discipline

Pitta’s advantage is discipline. Which you can apply to enjoyable things just as readily as you can grind it out. I’ll share a fun way to get started below.

Kapha and the Culture of More

Kapha is the Culture of More, it’s big-box mentality. Why get one donut when you can ‘save’ and buy a whole box?

• It’s supersizing everything, because more is obviously better. It’s BOGO, but only if you buy now.
• It’s needing a pantry to store all that stuff and then throwing half of it out because it expired before you used it. It’s holding onto old clothes in case they fit again someday. Marketing preaches that they will, all while having your cake and eating it too.

Screen Addiction and Emotional Eating

By the way, excess screen time might be a Vata activity, but being addicted to those screens is a Kapha quality. So is eating your emotions, because Kaphas have BIG emotions. Everyone does; you’re not supposed to feel them… If you do, you might need a pill to calm down, because you could never do it yourself, now, could you?

Kapha’s Gifts

On the bright side, one of Kapha’s beautiful qualities is contentment. This is the inner answer to the Culture of More. So are your feelings—rather than being the enemy, they’re a gateway to liberation.

Back to Intuitive Eating!

Remember when I said we all have all the Types? The quality of Kapha is the most sensual, the most grounded, and the most embodied of them all. This makes the senses a great doorway into having a wonderful embodied experience! When you nourish all the senses, it becomes much easier to eat properly for your Type, and feel satisfied.

Here’s an experiment to nourish all your senses at your next meal:

• First, put your devices away and take a couple of deep breaths as you sit down. Feel your seat on the chair. Are you hungry?
• Notice your environment. Is it noisy or quiet? How are you feeling here?
• The eyes eat first: Notice the colours on your plate. What’s visually appealing about this meal?
• Will you eat this meal with utensils or your hands? Notice the feeling of the fork, spoon, or food in your hand.
• What does your food smell like? Is your mouth watering yet?
• Take a bite. Notice the flavours and textures. Chew slowly and mindfully, noticing how the taste changes. CHOOSE when it’s time to swallow, and notice what it feels like as the food goes down. Repeat.
• Notice what the food feels like in your stomach. Notice when you begin to feel satisfied and stop eating.

Reflect on Your Experience

What was different about this culinary experience from your usual one? If it was a little uncomfortable, it might be because it’s unfamiliar. Give it a chance by doing it again sometime soon.

Would you like a deeper experience of how to for your Ayurvedic Type?

Join me for Come to Your Senses: Explore the 6 Tastes of Ayurveda. You’ll have an embodied, sensory experience of how each of the 6 Tastes affects your body. More importantly, you’ll begin to notice everyday things that make you feel alive and happy to be in your body.

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