In the Myth of Mind Over Matter Part 1 we explored the limitations of trying to control our eating and body with a cognitive-only approach. Now let’s look at the invisible system we follow, that’s so familiar and seems so obvious that no one questions it or even names it directly. We assume it’s the right system for the job because everyone follows it, operates from it, and implicitly endorses it as part of the Impermanent Approach to Losing Weight. It’s profoundly ineffective and a major contributor to the Western World’s dismal weight loss statistics.

As...

We are familiar with ourselves. We think, ‘This is me. This is how I am; this is how I’ve always been. This is who I am. I am this person, this body, this history, and these circumstances.’

Have you ever noticed that how you feel about and perceive yourself in the world changes with the wind? Sometimes you feel like a small, needy child. Sometimes like a superior know-it-all. Other times kind and loving. And occasionally (or more than occasionally) you feel like breaking all the rules and being reckless and wild. If this Me is such a sure, solid thing then why does it...

The wound is the place where the Light enters you. ~ Rumi

Culturally we hold a huge assumption about human maturity. We assume once a person reaches a certain biological age that they are mature. Or at least they should be. So we think of maturity in terms of the stages of biological development, which can be grouped as: pre-birth, birth, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, death. Once a human being reaches the age of adulthood (which can vary depending upon the culture), we assume she or he is mature – has reached an advanced stage of mental, physical, and emotional...

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not
serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure
around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us;...

Women, Weight, and Embodiment:

An Intuitive Inquiry into Women’s Psycho-spiritual Process of Healing Obesity

by

Rebecca Ocean

This exploratory study employed intuitive inquiry to address obesity, not as the physical or emotional health “problem” it is culturally defined to be, but rather as an invitation and avenue for psycho-spiritual growth for an exemplar group of 6 middle-class Euro- American women. The study aimed to add (a) a deeper understanding of the process of psycho-spiritual growth as it relates to obesity and (b) women’s lived experience and knowledge o...

”Any symptom can force you to go deeper into some area… Many people nowadays who discover that they have a major symptom, whether psychological or physical, begin to study it. They get drawn very deeply into the area of their trouble. They want to know more than their doctor. That’s a curious thing, and not at all the way it used to be. People used to trust their doctor. They went to an expert. Now people have new ideas and are thinking for themselves. That’s a very important change in our collective psychology.“(Hillman, 1998, p. 11)

Much has been written...

One of the 6 stories in this study is my own. I chose an intuitive inquiry (Anderson 1998, 2000) methodological design because it requires that the researcher’s personal experience is the foundation out of which the study emerges and the template for what will be explored. In addition, rather than attempting to bracket one’s assumptions and biases with the illusion that it is possible to do so to avoid data contamination, intuitive inquiry (Anderson, 1998b, 2000) encourages researchers to explicitly claim and utilize the fullness of their perspective as the tool for critically...

As stated in Chapter 1: Introduction, this review of the literature describes my initial perspective for this intuitive inquiry (Anderson 1998,2000). All material in this chapter has been preserved in its original form in order to facilitate a comparison between my understanding at the beginning and at the conclusion of this 2-year project. Bearing witness to the change in my understanding and in deference to my pride, it was extremely difficult to leave this section in this form as it is so much less coherent, complex, and full-bodied than my current view.

Including popular and anecdotal...

Having been overweight for 22 of my 34 years of life, I deeply understand the cultural norms and values associated with being overweight and attempting weight loss. My experimentation has included formal and personal education nearly sufficient to earn a degree; numerous weight loss regimes; thousands of weight conversations with professionals and other overweight women; and volumes ofjournal pages filled with the insights, anguishes, and celebrations I have experienced in my effort to achieve right body size. This wealth of experience makes me an expert: I am an expert in my knowledge of...

In Women’s Ways of Knowing, Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger and Tarule (1986) explore how women know and learn. The study is an extension and critique of the work of William Perry, who studied and reported on the learning experiences of men. Belenky et al. studied 135 women of diverse age, ethnicity, class, and educational backgrounds. Women were chosen from formal academic institutions and adult education programs in family agencies.

Their conclusions supported the novel view that women’s experiences of knowing and learning are different from the male experience. In the study...