You’re receiving more emails than usual from me this week as we wrap up the launch of When Food is Your Mother. I hope that these emails offer support whether or not you join this particular offering.

In this class, we explore a neurobiological perspective that makes sense of the ways food can become a place of nervous system regulation, warmth, and safety. With this perspective, we can better understand and care for what’s driving the overeating rather than trying to control the behavior.

I answered a couple of questions in my last email about the level of participation that’s required (the answer: whichever level is best for you) and the people that join our classes (kind, thoughtful, sensitive women – and a few men.)

Over the weekend I received a question about ‘healing overwhelm’ and navigating different kinds of support. It’s a good question – and a common one.

The yearning for healing and the fear of missing out

We live in a time that’s rich in resources – an entire internet of summits, articles, webinars, websites, and you tube videos. Your inbox is probably filled with countless opportunities for learning, healing, and support.

We can get so excited and want to say yes to every opportunity! We can also get overwhelmed and feel paralyzed about making decisions:

Where do I start? Should I read this book, or take this other class? What about this teacher, or that one?

There’s a vulnerability here, too: when our patterns with food are causing significant distress and pain, we can feel a lot of urgency about finding the help that will ease our suffering.

This can bring up a lot of anxiety that we’ll ‘miss out’ if we don’t take a class. And so sometimes we take on lots of trainings and resources at once – and feel financially and emotionally overwhelmed.

The gift of slowing down

We need time, rest and spaciousness to heal, and we need time, rest and spaciousness to digest and integrate what we’re learning.

And we need support, safety, and lots of spaciousness to care for the tender places inside, those places in us that get activated and that seek out food for comfort.

Because of this, I encourage people to slow way down and take their time.

In my own journey, I’ve been regularly helped by slowing down and taking in one, small piece at a time. It’s a bit of a paradox, but the more we slow down and attend to what’s here, the more easily, steadily and seemingly ‘quickly’ our healing unfolds.

Surrendering to our inner healer

When we surrender to the pacing, wisdom and intelligence of our body and inner being, we become an ally for our healing. We often feel less anxiety about needing ‘to make our healing happen’ and feel more ‘held’ by the healing process itself.

This feeling of ‘being held in our healing’ can help us discern whether to say yes or no to classes, trainings, books, and other resources.

You can access your inner wisdom by noticing what’s coming up in your body as you read this email. You can also ask your body:  is this class right for me? It is the right time?

Questions?

If it feels like the right time for you, we’d love to have you in this year’s When Food is Your Mother class. But if you’ve got a full plate, there are opporunities to get help at another time.

I usually offer When Food is Your Mother and at least one other group class every year. You can see upcoming courses for the next few months here.

I also offer lots of free resources, the newsletter, and do at home courses that you can take anytime. So if this class or the timing isn’t right for you, you have other ways of being supported.

I hope this helps your decision making. And if you have any more questions, we’re here to help.

A note on the image: this is part of a collage I made for this year’s Listen class, a celebration and honoring of the time we had together and the group’s collective yearnings for healing.