Before discovering Reiki, I struggled with body image issues and an unhealthy relationship with food. I constantly talked down to myself and engaged in a restrictive and disordered eating cycle. I did it all; binge eating, restriction, over-exercising, emotional eating, etc. As I practiced Reiki, I understood that my food issues were not just about food but mirroring deeper issues that needed love and healing. Through the love of Reiki, I was able to heal my relationship with food and my body.
Reiki helped me to let go of guilt and shame around food and to accept my body for what it was. It also helped me to heal my relationship with my sexuality and to address deeper traumas that were underlying my disordered eating. Reiki became my tool for healing and self-discovery. This brought me freedom with food and acceptance in my life.
If you are struggling with emotional eating, binge eating, stress eating, or preoccupation with food and dieting, Reiki can be the missing link in your search for peace with food.
Here are three ways Reiki can help you with Food challenges:
1. Reiki & Stress
When feeling stressed or anxious, it can be challenging to make healthy choices around food. However, by incorporating Reiki into our daily routine, we can activate the vagus nerve and calm our bodies down, allowing us to make more mindful decisions around food.
Reiki is a powerful tool that can rewire our bodies and change our nervous system. By practicing Reiki regularly, we can focus on activating the parasympathetic nervous system. This, in turn, releases the tension and anxiety that can often lead to unhealthy eating habits. One of the key benefits of Reiki is that it allows us to separate our feelings and emotions from our food. Instead of allowing anxiety and stress to dictate our relationship with food, we can use Reiki to address these feelings before they manifest at mealtime.
For those who struggle with compulsive or anxious eating, incorporating Reiki into your daily routine can be a powerful tool in managing these behaviors. It’s important to remember that the root of these issues may be more profound than just food, and incorporating a practice like Reiki can help to address these underlying issues.
2. Spiritual Practice
When we feel unlovable, unworthy, and shameful, we can search for love in all the wrong places. When we lose connection to ourselves on a spiritual level, food, body obsession, and other addictions can fill the empty space. The painful void inside us craves connection; craves attention, craves spiritual food. However, sometimes we can turn to an accessible source, FOOD.
No amount of weight loss nor peanut butter fudge ice cream will fill it—I know, I’ve tried. Only a deep connection to love is the answer. Through the spiritual practices of Reiki, we can find deeper access to love ourselves that we previously were able to tap into. I was always a self-help junky. Incessantly reading spiritual books & taking self-improvement courses to make myself better. From the outside, it looked noble. But my desire to improve came from a belief that said, “I am wrong, and I need to be fixed.” I was walking like a negative self-talk monster. I felt that I was only worthy once I was perfect. This included how I looked, what I ate, and my spiritual aptitude.
Reiki turned my experience upside down. Instead of; I need to be fixed, my intention became I love myself so much I want to be the most authentic expression of myself. Compassion replaced shame. I leaned into love for myself. My desire to shift my behaviors came from a deep desire to love myself more. By leaning into Reiki’s spiritual elements, we can heal the inner turmoils around our food.
3. Practical Reiki Tools
The above are potent ways to let the Reiki seep into our hearts, mind and spirit. It is in these deeper spaces that Reiki heals. However, as Reiki Practitioners, we can use our Reiki hands practically to bring peace with food.
Here are some of my faves.
- Reiki your belly and food before you eat.
- You can attune to your body’s intuitive needs by asking Spirit to support you. “What does my body want to eat, and how much?” Setting an intention for Reiki to help you release doubt and shame around your food choices can work like magic. Doubt and shame have no place at your dinner table.
- By Reiki-ing your food, you allow the Reiki to balance the food to your body’s frequency, bringing more peace to your food choices.
- Another effective way to bring peace with food is through Long Distance Healing. Going out to dinner with friends is supposed to be fun, but it always stressed me. My preoccupation with my food made me unpresent. I had a fear of eating too much or not enough. With an unauthentic smile on my face, I was a ball of nerves. To support myself in these situations, before I go out, I will sit and send Reiki to myself in the future. l, ask Reiki to surround me in pink light and bring me calmness. I intend for grace and feel a sense of relief knowing that I have Reiki as my added dinner date. This easy tool can be used with any food situation that brings anxiety, travel, dinner with triggering family members, buffets, night eating, etc.
Reiki is a loving force that brings us peace with food. It allows us to release anxiety, so we can come back to our breath and body. Using food as a coping mechanism is a painful experience physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Reiki compassionately brings us home to our bodies, so we address any inner turmoil and finally find the freedom we deserve.
Article by Marla Mervis-Hartmann
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As the creator of Love Your Body Love Yourself, Marla Mervis-Hartmann assists women in finding a “YES!” to that question.
After years of struggling with her own dysfunctional body-relationship, Marla has transformed her experiences into services to help women discover honor and appreciate their bodies.
As a professional, Marla has been featured at TEDx Salinas. Marla has followed her passion for women’s health down many study paths, including women’s sexual wellness; postpartum care; Restore Your Core educator; Tantra teacher certification; Yoga teacher training, and massage therapy. She has a Certification in Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy. In all of her work, Marla is devoted to empowering women to feel good about themselves and to live the life they desire.
She lives in Maui with her husband and son, working full-time as a professional coach, speaker, facilitator, and Reiki Master and Teacher.
Website: www.LoveYourBodyLoveYourself.com
Instagram: @LoveYourBodyLoveYourselfAlways
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