(CANCELLED) Wellington CBD Intro to Mindful Eating - 4 Week course.

AN INTRODUCTION TO MINDFUL EATING

$99 for entire course including four classes, guided mindful eating meditations, full-colour booklet and weekly articles.

Mindfulness has proven to be very effective in assisting people to eat in a more naturally healthy way. Healthy, in this case, meaning a way that is right for your lifestyle and your body.

Mindful eating involves use of meditation and mindfulness practices to build our capacity to be aware and to direct our attention to the present moment. With mindful eating, we can better observe our triggers to overeating and eating when we are not hungry. With mindfulness, we can develop a new, flexible relationship to food and eating. The use of mindful eating techniques can help us, with regular practise, to reconnect with our body’s own systems for hunger and fullness and to start to identify the thoughts, emotions and behaviours that lead us to overeat or eat when not hungry. By listening to what our bodies need, we can move toward a more positive relationship with food and with our bodies.

This course is an abbreviated overview of Mindfulness Based-Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT). MB-EAT is an evidence-based, 12 session, group program created in the USA by Dr. Jean Kristeller and colleagues.

What you get from this course…

• Ways to decrease mindless eating, emotional eating and binge eating.
• How to reconnect with your body’s own built-in systems of hunger and fullness.
• How to release yourself from negative judgements about food and your body.
• How to slow down, savour and more fully taste and enjoy food.
• How to become less reactive and more calm; especially when making food decisions.

What’s included in this course…

• Four weekly one-hour group classes
• Three guided mindfulness meditations for you to download
• Handouts with useful reflections and practices
• Opportunities for questions and answers

No weigh-ins, no calorie counts…

• There are no weigh-ins or calorie counts required for you to get benefit from this course.
• The course encourages you to use your own insight and awareness to guide you.
• The course is designed by expert psychologists and delivered by experienced trainers.
• There is no religion or dogma in the course; just a focus on your own everyday experience.

Week 1: What is Mindful Eating?

• What is mindful eating and how can it be helpful?
• What evidence do we have that it works?
• How can we cultivate mindful eating behaviour?
  
  

Week 2: Our Body and Our Thoughts: Internal and External Triggers to Eating

• We will look at internal and external triggers for hunger and eating.
• We will discuss how our patterns and habits of thinking can influence when we eat and how much we eat. These thought patterns can lead to mindless eating, emotional eating and binge eating.
• We will cover black and white thinking and behavioural chaining.
• We will discuss the benefits of taking a non-judgemental stance towards ourselves and the food choices that we make.
  
  

Week 3: Chasing Taste: Mindfulness of Our Taste Buds

• We will demonstrate how mindfulness of how our taste buds operate can influence how much of any one type of food we consume.
• We will look at how we can shift our focus from quantity of food to quality of food: we can eat less yet feel more satisfied.
  
  

Week 4: Cultivating Connection and Kindness Towards Yourself and Your Body

• Many people with food issues make negative judgements about themselves and dislike their bodies. Guilt about food intake is common.
• We will discuss some ways to move away from this pattern and towards kindness and acceptance and a more positive relationship with food and with our bodies.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness means “paying attention in a particular way; On purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally.” – Jon Kabat Zinn (Professor of Medicine Emeritus Stress Reduction Clinic and the Centre for Mindfulness in Medicine)

Mindfulness and meditation are both gaining in popularity as more and more people discover how this simple skill can have a profoundly positive impact on your life. Organisations such as Google, Apple, Nike and Yahoo! now run mindfulness programmes and sessions for staff during work hours. Modern research about mindfulness and meditation shows measurable and significant benefits to people including less stress, less anxiety, greater focus, calm and happiness.

This particular course emphasises your own natural wisdom, your own innate OKness, right here and now. The instructions and guidance will be explicitly inviting you to embrace your whole human experience as it happens, moment by moment with a radical acceptance.

"Mental Health Foundation mental health promoter, Grant Rix, says mindfulness has been shown to benefit our brains to such an extent that we can feel calmer, more aware, have an increased ability to focus and concentrate, remember things better and feel happier." – NZ Mental Health Foundation Press Release July 2012

Who is this course suitable for?

• People who struggle with emotional eating, binge eating or mindless eating.
• People who struggle with guilt over food decisions.
• People wanting to explore mindfulness and meditation in relation to relaxation, stress reduction and wellness.
  
  

How long is each weekly class and what happens?

Each class is one hour long. A typical class will include:

• An overview of the topics for that session
• A practical mindfulness exercise
• A guided mindfulness meditation
• Time for questions and answers.

Refund policy and money back guarantee

Should you attend the entire course and not be satisfied, you are entitled to a full 100% refund should you wish.

Your trainer is Catrina Bengree

Catrina Bengree has been eating mindfully for 20 years. She founded Nourish ‘N Nurture in 2009 when she realised it was her “true purpose” to share mindful eating. Catrina is a motivational speaker and offers three courses which enable her clients to develop a healthy relationship with food.

Her business is based on her own personal journey of 20 years of yo-yo dieting and excessive exercise, culminating in a six-year battle with depression and bulimia. Since learning to eat mindfully in 1996, she has remained slim and healthy without starving, depriving or fighting herself. She no longer diets, exercises excessively or feels guilty about what she eats. Eating mindfully has enabled her to simply eat when she is hungry and stop when she is satisfied.

Catrina has been married for 17 years and has two teenage boys. She loves walking, reading, sports, travelling, personal development and meditation.

Catrina is also the Regional Manager for the Venus Women’s Business Network in Wellington.

What People are Saying About The Intro to Mindful Eating Course and Course Designer Dr Heidi Douglass

“So interesting! Heidi has a beautiful, friendly, kind and understanding personality. Awesome to be in a room with others dealing similar feelings. Loved the balance of meditations and discussion.” Kate U.

“So honest and relatable. Great new ideas made simple. Made me feel that all my inner dialogue and disagreements around food was normal, just thoughts, and could be managed with mindfulness, time and kindness to myself. Thanks so much. ”
Jenny D.

“Interesting, animated – fostered self acceptance.” A.M.

“Made me really think about my actions and decisions that lead to over eating.” K Coulter

“ Warm, friendly, real instructor. Does make you think and notice the value of meditation to thoughts and behaviour.” Andrea E.

“It has been useful and enjoyable. It has been really nice to make time for myself and learn skills that I can apply to my everyday life.” Anna S.

“The course was extremely informative. It was practical, insightful and useful for everyone. Heidi truly has the skill to put people at ease and able to deliver. I think it was great.” Sandnya F.

“Heidi is absolutely lovely and explains everything thoroughly. She makes it interesting to listen and learn and love her accent.” Meena P.

“I have found your style to be very effective and informative and I have learnt a lot. I like your humour and your knowledge. I find you to be welcoming and down to Earth.” Elizabeth

Questions or More Information:

If you have questions or require more information, please:

View the Mindfulness Works website

Email: karen@mindfulnessworks.co.nz

Ring or text: 027 664 9281

Website Contact Form: Mindfulness Works website contact form