Intuitive Eating and Your Breath

Do you breathe deeply as you eat? Practicing this will help heal overeating.

If you're a compulsive eater, you probably inhale your food. You likely don't breathe much.

Changing the pattern of how we eat can really help us to heal overeating. When we slow down, breathe, chew, and are present with ourselves, it's a way to show love to ourselves.

Breathing as you eat demonstrates to yourself that you are worth time and space.

And one of the most important messages it teaches us is, it is okay to eat.

It is ok that you're eating. You're allowed to eat. You're allowed to enjoy it.

"But what if it's a binge?", you ask.

In that case it is important to feel about what is happening for you in that moment and in the big picture. But slowing down and breathing through your eating can actually help this process.

You can be in your compulsive eating, breathe deeply as you eat, show compassion to yourself while simultaneously asking yourself, "How are you doing right now, darling?"

I've had times where all I did was slow down my eating, start to breathe slowly and deeply, and immediately realize why I was feeling compulsive and start crying.

Feeling is where the healing is, so anything that connects you to your feelings is beneficial.

So when you eat, give it a try:

Take long, slow, deep breaths. Breathe as you take a bite, breathe as you chew, breathe as you swallow. Breathe between bites.

What comes up for you emotionally when you do so?

Photo by Galina N via Unsplash