food, body image & the impact of trauma + diet culture
THE PULSE
SENDING LOVE There are so few words that feel appropriate at this time of trauma, heartbreak, uncertainty and tragedy. We've been leaning on our spiritual practices in order to support ourselves, our families and our brothers and sisters around the world. We seem to run through all of our emotions on a daily basis. Since there seems to be no comprehensible answer, we continue to ask the BIG questions. We lead with our hearts. We set the intention each day to do all that we can to be light and love for those in need. We pray. And we come together with community. We are grateful for each one of you.
HELLO ECLIPSE SEASON
This past Saturday, we began this Fall's eclipse season. We had the Libra New Moon Solar Eclipse -- and we'll be feeling this energy all week.
Our go-to Astrologer, Stevie Calista, has lots to share about this eclipse energy.
"Do you feel a strong pull to break free from recurring patterns in your relationships? This eclipse amplifies that pull. It's an opportunity to face your fears head-on, to acknowledge the patterns that have held you back, and to take the brave step towards change.
Eclipses are known for marking the end of one chapter and the start of another.
One of the key aspects of this eclipse is Venus opposite Saturn. Thisalignment reminds us to take responsibility for our desires. Sometimes, breaking patterns of worthiness means doing the "hard thing." It means recognizing our desires, owning them, and taking action for ourselves.
Venus opposite Saturn is an astrological aspect that often brings tension and challenges to matters of love, relationships, and personal values. WhenVenus, the planet of love, beauty, and attraction, opposes Saturn, the planet of structure, responsibility, and limitations, it can signify a period where we may feel restricted or tested in our romantic or social connections.
This aspect may bring up issues related to commitment, boundaries, or a sense of duty within relationships. While it can present obstacles, it also provides an opportunity for personal growth and maturity, as we learn to navigate and address these challenges, ultimately strengthening our relationships through increased awareness and responsibility.
In its aftermath, reflect on what relationships and patterns need transformation in your life. Embrace the intensity of this cosmic event as an opportunity to grow, evolve, and step into your power.
Remember, you have the strength to do things that scare you, to face your fears, and to do the hard things. The New Moon Solar Eclipse in Libra is your portal to a new chapter. Take a deep breath, embrace your power, and trust in the transformative journey that awaits." Sign up for Stevie's astrology updates.
RSVP! GETTING UNSTUCK: FEAR OF NOT BEING IN CONTROL
In these challenging times, the fear of not being in control feels more prevalent than ever. Let’s address this at your core.
With all of the atrocities going on in our world, this feeling feels particularly heightened right now, and in some cases debilitating. The uncertainty of what is ahead can stop us in our tracks. We’re going to address it head on in Friday's free session — so that you can stand in your own power every day.
Lizzi Cutler will guide us to dig into that emotional block and release it so that next time you feel that fear coming on, you're empowered to push right past it because you’re connected to your own knowing and solid foundation.
Join us this Friday, October 20 at 2pm ET/1pm CT/11am PT. We look forward to continuing this transformative practice with you! RSVP NOW.
A Life-Changing Conversation: Food, Body Image & The Impact of Trauma + Diet Culture
How does your relationship with food impact your daily life? What are you eating? How does it make you feel? We find that our relationship with food can feel complicated at times. We’ve been wanting to have an in depth conversation about this for quite some time – and our conversation with Shannon Hayes Buescher was one aha! moment after another. Shannon is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian, Intuitive Eating Counselor and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. As a former high school and college athlete, Shannon is passionate about helping those that have struggled with constant dieting, weight cycling or yo-yo dieting rediscover trust with themselves again and find a healthy relationship with food – so she became an Intuitive Eating counselor and a Somatic Experiencing practitioner. Somatic Experiencing is a body-centered approach to healing that cultivates an integrated connection with mind and body. Somatic Experiencing’s main goal is to help shift the trauma-related stress response. Shannon is not your “average” dietitian. She is a nutritional counselor and most often, she is working with a therapist to help optimize self-discovery and healing in the process of creating a new relationship with food and body. Shannon helps you to look beyond the surface and discover the emotions that are attached to the excess or lack of food. She helps you look at how you are prioritizing food and yourself in your life. She encourages changing the language you use with food and yourself to be kinder, more loving, and self-honoring. Here are a few highlights from transformative conversation: Robyn + Karen: Shannon, this is such an important and multi-layered conversation. Let's start with what you've seen as the most common reasons people struggle with disordered eating? Shannon Hayes Buescher: Well, my first answer would be you're a woman in our culture! I would also say the top two reasons are our diet culture and then the weight stigma that exists in our society. Looking at how for some [people] the judgment of being in a larger body and being overweight is considered the worst possible thing that you could be, and that people are going to all these extraneous lengths to control that. So growing up, if that's the messaging you received at home, on top of what you're receiving in our culture, that makes you feel like something's wrong with your body and that it needs to be fixed. Or that I'm “good” or “bad” based on how I'm eating. R&K: So many of us relate to that! Let's talk about what Somatic Experiencing is, and why you’ve incorporated it in the work that you do with your clients. Shannon: The Somatic Experiencing work has been a game changer for me, because it looks at studying trauma and how we hold it in our bodies. Shock trauma stays in our central nervous system. And it can be any kind of trauma. It may have been a boundary crossed or something that happened that caused someone to go into shutdown or not want to be attractive. Or maybe it was a car accident and that trauma is stuck in your body. It’s not realizing how those impact the system and then how we show up. The Somatic work also impacts the feeling of being safe in your body. If someone was brought up where they were demonized for eating certain foods, or forbidden to eat this or that, it’s going to be the sense of unsafety. So, some of what the work is, how do we create an environment that allows their system to be safe? We feel into the here and now and create the emotion that they want to feel and create a foundational feeling of safety with food. How do we make the food environment safe? So the Somatic work is about trying to figure out the why. R+K: Can we also define Intuitive Eating? That’s also a really interesting approach that you use to help your clients tune into what their bodies need. Shannon: Intuitive Eating is all about listening to your body. It’s a very anti- diet approach to food. It's helping you essentially reconnect to yourself to be able to listen to hunger, to fullness, to the foods that make your body feel good and energized. Moving your body in a way that feels kind and joyful, and really healing from the trauma from dieting. One of the things when we look at Intuitive Eating is permission. That's the crux of healing the relationship with food. It's what you do if you wake up and you're hungry, and you’re craving pasta. You have the pasta and you notice, how do you feel? Do you feel energized? Do you feel tired? It's noticing what comes up, what the resistance might be, and really working with that versus override, override of deprivation. It’s allowing your bodies to give you the data versus me dictating what you need to do. R+K: You take the stigma and the guilt off of people for feeling like they're just weaklings or addicted to food or a bad person and all those things that we say about ourselves when we're not looking like everybody else. You shine the light on the “why” this is happening and where you can release the judgment and then really heal. Shannon: It's so important! So many times it's those emotions we felt when we were really young where we felt alone and we didn't know what to do with it. And that's this part of allowing. It's coming back into the here and now, and of, “I'm not alone in it anymore.”
Thank you Shannon!
Listen to the whole conversation.
MORE FROM SHANNON BUESCHER
Visit awakened-body.com to find out more about working with Shannon.
Follow @shannonbuescher on Instagram.
THE WEEKLY DOWNLOAD
Our Downloads are for everyone reading -- they are guidance from Spirit + The Universe that are channeled through us. ROBYN'S DOWNLOAD Oh this is a difficult time and you are here on purpose. Your being is needed at this very moment on planet Earth. You will know what to do as the days move forward. You will help humanity because you are reading this at this very moment, so you are connected to your humanity and you are aware of your soul. That awareness itself will help the vibration on the planet at this time. There are tears being shed and lives being lost and fear permeating throughout the globe. And there has always been…and yet at this time there is even more. You must stay soul connected so that you can stay connected to your humanity. You must do this in order to be of assistance to others.
We feel your heartbreaks. We feel your fear. We feel your passion for living and for helping others in need. Stay connected with this in order to help all of humanity.
Light always conquers dark. Be the LIGHT. How can you shine brightest so that others are lifted up and attracted to your light? What deeds can you do for yourself and others to shine even brighter? Make that your goal to continue to shine your light. Others will be attracted to this light and will rise up. And you have the power to light up other people. There is no shortage of light — it is meant to be shared. The planet has the opportunity to glow from this love. How will you keep your flame burning? What are the small things that you can do for yourself during this time of angst to keep yourself of the light?
The more light, the less darkness can spread. We see your light. We feel your light. Others can feel it to. Be the lighthouse for others that are scared or burdened with sadness. Offer your hand — that energy can flow into them and begin to help them. Being in the light is a choice — as is being in the dark. The light feels so better. In every moment we can choose which way we want to be in this world. We ask you to choose the light each time. Allow yourself time to have the dark emotions flow through you and then broadcast your light for the world to see.
We support you. We love you. You are here to help humanity heal. Find the other light workers. Together you are stronger and brighter. KAREN'S DOWNLOAD NOTE: My download was inspired from the conversation with Shannon Buescher this week. It stems from the word “enough.” I have a love/hate relationship with the word “enough.” It is a word I use to define so many things, which generates a judgment that either makes me feel “good” or “bad.” Just like the relationship we have with food and ourselves, “enoughness” can be a friend or a foe. So I set the intention in my download for some Divine perspective on what “enough” really means for us. "What do we need to understand about the word 'enough?'" "When do we know we have enough?" (Being happy/content with what we have) "When do we know we are enough? (Being satisfied with who we are) "When do we know we have had enough?" (Being ready to give up or try something new) "Is enoughness a finite destination? Or is it just a temporary state that varies with every day?" "How can I change my relationship and feelings about the word enough?" Enough is a word with so many different meanings - and yet a universal truth within it implies a yearning..and sitting in a place of lack or overwhelm.n This is never true. We would gently suggest removing the word from your vocabulary all together, because enough does not exist. Enough as you imply, is not a destination at all. It is a human measurement that is an illusion and as futile as trying to pour the air in a measuring cup. You are never going to be enough because you are constantly growing, and unfolding. You are never going to have enough because as long as you live you will be in a state of making choices and preferences that will shift and sway who are as both a human and a soul. And you will never be able to give up until you leave the planet, and then you will only be giving up your human form. If we were to suggest anything further, we would say always lean in to the becoming. When you look around your home and want to feel that it is enough, simply change the statement to “my home is always in a state of becoming more.” When you think about a job or a relationship that you may feel you have “had enough” to change it, my career or relationship is becoming more, it is offering me opportunities to feel my inner guidance system . You can change the energetic frequency of enoughness from a measurement to an expectation of evolvement. That whatever is unfolding is constantly transmuting into a new state of being ... .with every moment of every hour of every day…the state of everything in your life is fully reflective of what you need at the moment. And when the need changes so will your relationship to it. Sometimes, saying you have had enough is just a way of signaling that you need a pause. You need to take time out to evaluate something. So the next time you are feeling the need to throw up your hands and scream out the word “enough” on anything in your life…truly listen and feel into the emotion that accompanies it. We will also remind you that the word enough can be accompanied by the ego - that emotional seducer who will often bring along comparisons to others which also is not relevant to who you are. Let go of any association with what others have when you measure your own “enoughness.” In that sense you are never without your fullness. You are always fully, complete because you are a beautiful soul doing your best to navigate your life experience. Remember all is temporary in this lifetime. You are always YOU. You are never measurable. And you are always FULLY Love, which is endless, boundless and infinite.
SEEKING CENTER PODCAST SCHEDULE
SEPTEMBER 18: The Ultimate Energy Combo: Feng Shui + Numerology + Chakras
SEPTEMBER 26: Life After Loss: How You Can Heal + Free Yourself from the Fear of Death
OCTOBER 3:Manifesting Your Mission: A Guide to Transforming Your Life
OCTOBER 10:Meet Your Supernatural Wingwoman: Channeling Spirit Guides, Gods + Goddesses
OCTOBER 17:Life-Changing Conversation: Food, Body Image & The Impact of Trauma + Diet Culture
WE WANT TO BE FRIENDS
We want to hear from you.
Are you at a crossroads in your life? Are you seeking guidance? What do you want to hear about? What practices have you tried? Do you have a healer or practitioner or spiritual modality that we need to know about?
Email us: connect@seekingcenter.app
And follow us on instagram at @seekingcenterrobyn and @seekingcenterofficial.