Latest / The Priestess Temple Podcast / Ep 11: Join My Kinky Food Party & Heal Your Relationship with Food
Transcript
- Embodied By Jenna: Hi, Baddie. Welcome to another episode of Bad Bitch Embodiment Podcast. My name is Jenna. I'm your host and guide, helping you feel empowered and supported to break up with diet culture, fall in love with your body, and call in your dream relationship. Let's get started. Today we are going to talk about how to heal your relationship with food and your body through my signature event entitled The Kinky Food Party. Yes, I said kinky food party. Hear me out. After working with hundreds of women one-on-one in nutrition counseling, I realized that there was a severe problem going on in our society with women not knowing how to eat. not knowing when they feel hungry or when they feel full or how to really be present inside of their bodies during an eating experience. And this led my clients to feel a lot of guilt and shame when it came to their relationship with food because it left them feeling like, what the hell is wrong with me? Why do I keep overeating? Why don't I have any self-control or willpower when it comes to food? And I want you to know that this is not your fault. And it's something that I want to bring great awareness to because eating is one of those simple pleasures in life that helps us to nourish our body, mind, and spirit. And this practice should really be handled with great reverence and care. And we have completely lost that. So what I'm going to do today, I'm going to tell you a story from my own personal life. I'm gonna give you tips about how to Be embodied in your eating experiences so you can reconnect to your sensations of hunger and fullness and over time have a better relationship with food and your body. And then I am going to talk about my signature event, the kinky food party, which is going to take place online in the month of August. And you have an opportunity to join if you want to be guided through this type of practice. All right. So let's get into it. I went to a women's gathering called Spirit Weavers in Southern Oregon in the month of June. And at this gathering, they have many different opportunities for arts and crafts and dance and skill share activities And there was an experience that me and my friend attended that was a Japanese tea ceremony. This was one of the most coveted activities at Spirit Weavers. You had to sign up the night before. I was on the wait list. So I didn't know if I was gonna get in or not. And so me and my friend We get there in the morning, everyone is quiet. There is like 25 women lined up outside of this geodesic dome in the middle of the woods. And so we watch everyone file in in this really quiet and dramatic and reverent kind of way. And we ended up getting the last two spots. It was such a cool experience to not know if I was going and to be granted access to this sacred tea temple. So once I got inside of the temple, there were Blankets that were folded up in squares surrounding three different tables that were on the floor. And we sat down on the blankets and we were staring at our tea server. And this server had an array of cups and a teapot and boiling water and tea and chopsticks all laid out in front of her. She was wearing a special outfit and in the tent it was very quiet. Not one word was spoken. As they started the ceremony, the waitress was using these cups in a very particular fashion. Each time she picked up a cup and put it down, there was a very specific intention and purpose behind her action. She was rotating the cups a quarter turn in her hand when she went from right to left, and she arranged them in this. Perfectly formed rainbow arc that went across the entire table. All of the rims of the glasses were touching. And as she got ready to pour the tea into the teapot, she said a prayer and used chopsticks to gently caress each and every tea leaf into the pot. Once the tea water was ready, she poured it in there and we waited for the tea to steep. She started to just pour regular plain hot water into each cup to cleanse the cups before we began the tea portion. And as she cleansed the cups, she rotated them and we watched and we waited in great suspense and stillness. She poured all of the water that was used to rinse the cups into a special bowl on the side and then rearranged them neatly in front of us before she began pouring the tea. Each pour was done in a very meticulous fashion as to ensure that every cup had tea from the bottom and the top of the pot so that the flavor could be evenly dispersed in each cup. So she was pouring into every cup through the ark and back over and over and over again until there was no tea left in the pot. Then she would slowly carefully hand each cup out individually And we stared at the tea with great reverence and care and respect. As we were awaiting the signal from our tea server to take our first sip. And she looked at us and she looked at the tea and we stared back and we waited. And eventually she bowed and we were allowed to begin our ceremony. I will never forget the taste of that first sip. my gosh, it was so flavorful and explosive as it hit my taste buds. I remember feeling the warm liquid just drizzle down my throat. And in that moment, I felt so connected to the plant That was being steeped in the pot that was prepared with such intention and care for my nourishment. And I sat there at six o'clock in the morning in complete silence, drinking that tea for almost an hour. Every single round, we came back and we had more tea over and over and over again. The same care was Placed into every serving. I went through so many different emotions during this practice, y'all. I'm not fucking kidding you. The first cup was just sheer orgasmic excitement. The second cup, I felt really leveled and clear and calm. The third cup, I was starting to get a little full. The fourth cup, I was feeling. Angry and unsettled and frustrated. Like, when is this gonna end already? Like, this has been going on for a long time. My legs are getting tired. Do I really need another cup of tea? By the next cup, I was so overwhelmed with emotion because After I pushed through that anger and frustration of having this prolonged tea sipping experience, I was overwhelmed with sadness. And I had tears pouring down my face by the seventh cup because I had realized that we have truly lost reverence and connection and care and respect for our food. And for our bodies, being in that ceremony for over an hour where I was just sipping tea in silence, surrounded by other people who were enjoying the same connection to the plant. We were all in our own world, having our own. Embodied eating experience that changed the perspective on how we see our food forever. When I came out of the tea hut after the ceremony was over, my mind was fucking blown. Especially because I had already been a dietitian who specialized in eating disorder recovery and embodied eating for a very long time. But through that experience, I had realized how much we rush through consuming our food and beverages. And how much of a disservice it does not only to our bodies, minds, and spirits, but also to the food itself. Typically, when I'm in the United States, I'm drinking tea as I'm driving my car or working on my computer or laying in bed reading a book. I'm in communion with tea all the time, but I'm never truly a Appreciating it. I was taking it for granted as something that was just always there to be consumed and enjoyed for my pleasure without any real care or respect or connection to the herb itself, to the earth that grew it for me, and to my body that was receiving the nourishment from this food. And I was like, holy shit, okay, let's stop here. Let's hold up here and think about this. In our society today, we are being robbed of the experience of being inside of our bodies and eating food. And I think it's total bullshit, y'all. We should really stop and slow down so we can feel every drip of tea. Running down our throat and every bite of our favorite food rolling over our taste buds because life is short. And is this not the whole point, anyways? To be here and to enjoy the array of experiences that this planet has to offer. Our society has us so blind. To the simple pleasures that are right in front of our faces every single fucking day. We're always thinking about the next thing. We're always thinking about something that is outside of us that we need to aspire to be or that we need to consume. I'll be happy once I have this thing. I'll be. Enjoy and pleasure when I look this way. And I want to challenge that belief for you and ask you to really look around right fucking now and see what's here. Because if you can really see what is here, you will realize that you are so fucking abundant and that this planet and the life that you have is beautiful. And I'm getting really emotional about it right now because. The systems of late stage capitalism tell us that our world and our bodies need to be different, but they don't. If you can have grace and respect and reverence for what is here right now, your life will drastically improve. And that's really the concept of the kinky food party. Because I see so many women who struggle to Have a healthy relationship with food because of diet culture, because of patriarchy, because of being on repeated diets in the past that pretty much cut off their ability to sense hunger and fullness, because we have been taught that hunger is a bad thing. We have been taught that feeling the need to eat food is wrong or shameful. And it's Fucking ridiculous because if you look at it, if you really look at it, the sensation of hunger is no different than the sensation of having to pee. And think about it. Think about how you perceive your hunger versus perceiving having to go to the bathroom and empty your bladder. These are neutral sensations that come from the body that tell you a need needs to be met. That something needs to be addressed for you to maintain homeostasis. And the sensation of having to pee or go to the bathroom is so neutral for us. It arises, we feel it, we answer the call, and we move on. But the sensation of hunger, well, again, it is a very neutral, normal survival response. We look at it as being inconvenient or ridden with shame. Like, I'm hungry again. What the fuck is wrong with me? Babe, nothing is wrong with you except for how you've been socialized to relate to the sensation of hunger. And I want to talk about how you can start to embody some more sensuality and presence when it comes to your eating experiences. First off. I need you to slow the fuck down. Okay. I need you to really commit to taking your time and not being in a rush. And the easiest way to do this is by being well nourished all throughout the day. So do not skip breakfast. Make sure you eat breakfast first thing in the morning and make sure that you eat every three to four hours after that. A meal or a snack to keep your blood sugar levels stable so that your sensations of hunger and fullness can come back online in an appropriate way. You might not feel hungry first thing in the morning if you've gone on a lot of diets and restricted your food in the past. And I want to tell you that you can re-regulate your hunger and fullness cues, but you have to give yourself unconditional permission to eat often. The second thing you have to do is you have to ditch all of the external stimuli. So get off of your phone, get off of the TV, try not to eat while you're driving or while you're on your laptop. Because when you are staring at a screen that's outside of your body, your nervous system is orienting to the screen And so when you are watching a screen while you're consuming your food, you're really confusing the fuck out of your body because it has to digest two different things at one time. So I want you to challenge yourself by doing one meal per day where you have no external stimuli. It's just you and your food, and that's it. I know this can be really fucking uncomfortable at first. Trust me, when I first started to do this, it was. But hear me out. This really gives you the opportunity to be in communion with your food, to be present while you are eating. Because When you can slow down and get into all of your five senses when eating, this helps your body digest your food better. We start our digestion with our eyes, believe it or not. And so when you look at your food, your mouth starts to water. Maybe you smell it as well. And when we have these sensory intakes, our body starts to make saliva, which has digestive enzymes in it. You might feel your tummy start to. Grumble and come alive. Yeah, your body's starting to make gastric juices and bile that help the food digest and assimilate with more ease. And so by being really present during your eating experience, you're learning not only what you like and what you don't like. By tasting the food fully, but you're also helping your body to digest and assimilate the nutrition in a way that is more optimal for your body's tissues. and finally you can take this to the next level by creating a ceremony around eating. So maybe you put on a nice outfit and pretend like you're at a restaurant, get out a candle, get out a placemat, set the table before you eat. Even if it's just you. If you're drinking something with your dinner, get a nice crystal glass and really make it a Full sensory experience, I want you to think about the act of eating food like a ceremony. And if you really want to get crazy, well, then you can say thank you for your food before you eat it. Like that practice of saying grace at the dinner table, I think that's one of those things that's kind of been lost. And so through taking a moment to slow down and really acknowledge the abundance that is sitting right in front of your Eyes, you can improve your relationship with food and your body because the two will be in direct communication with one another, and the relationship will be built on reciprocity and respect, as opposed to just going through the motions and eating on autopilot without taking a moment to acknowledge all of the things that food and your body do for you, because hear me out, if you didn't have food or your body, well then you wouldn't be here. I want you to truly understand the gravity of that statement. You only get this lifetime to enjoy this body that you have right here. And even if it's not where you want it to be, or if you want something to change or be different, sure, that's okay. But why not at least be present and allow yourself to have the sensory experience that your body provides you with every single day? To derive pleasure from an act that can sometimes feel mundane or laborous. When you do this every day over an extended period of time, it can really improve the quality of your life, your relationship with food, your relationship with your body, and your relationship with other people. And so this brings me to talk about my signature event, which is the canky food. Party. Yes. in the month of May for my birthday, I hosted the first kinky food party. I had 10 women come to my house and we dressed really freaking sexy, y'all. Like I'm talking about lingerie and over the top dresses, heels, doing our hair, doing our makeup just to celebrate our bodies. Every woman came in the door looking like a work of art. Every girl there was a bad bitch on fleek. And then we did some embodied movement. We got really fun and we got really sexy. We were grinding and to working and humping pillows and just like being really silly. But what that Did is it helped us to increase our connection with our bodies while also having fun? Once we did the dance practice, we sat through a meditation to collect our energy, get us back into our wombs, get us back into our hearts, and get us back into our mouths. And then I had a dessert buffet where we got to eat with our eyes first. Everyone chose something that looked really good to them. And I acted as the food dom where I guided them through an embodied eating meditation where we ate so fucking slow, people were freaking out. Like just like how I cried during that tea ceremony because it was so intense and long and drawn out. Like that's how some of the girls were at the kinky food party. But hear me out. After having that really slow embodied eating experience, we all talked about it. And the revelations that these women had were fucking insane about their relationship to food, about how they were tasting it and perceiving it in their body, how they felt hunger and fullness during the experience, and how they really came to appreciate the act of eating more. And after that party, every single woman that I talked to came up to me and was like, Jenna. You changed my freaking life. I will never think about food the same way again. Now, when I eat, I think about you and I try and go slow and be present and be in my body for the experience. And that's the whole motherfucking point. Because Once you have one embodied eating experience and you understand what it feels like in your body to be present, it is so much easier to get to that place again. And that is really my purpose and passion on this planet is to help you connect with these more subtle sensations in your body so you can have autonomy over your life and feel. Confident when it comes to food and eating, because when you can fully connect to the sensations of hunger and fullness, you know exactly what, when, and how much to eat, which alleviates any confusion, guilt, or shame around food because you deserve to enjoy the meals that you eat and to be fully present and embodied. In your relationship with food. And so I'm doing the kinky food party again, but this time I'm taking it online because I want to give everybody who wants this kind of experience the opportunity to join. The kinky food party is going to be on Thursday, August 13th at 8 p.m. EST. It's going to take place on Riverside, which is an online meeting platform that's similar to Zoom. I have the link for the next kinky food party in the description of this podcast episode. And I would love for you to join and sign up. It is only $27, which is fucking insane for the transformation that you will experience attending this event. Because I swear to God, once you have this embodied eating experience through me being your personal food dom and telling you exactly what the fuck. To do to reconnect to your sensations of hunger and fullness, you will never look at food the same again. So come join me on Riverside, dress fucking hot, get ready to dance and twerk and have fun. And then you are going to eat your favorite food in a way that is truly sacred, ceremonial, and sexy. I am so fucking excited. So with that being said, I cannot wait for you to join me. And I look forward to seeing you August 13th at 8 p.m. EST at the next kinky food party. Let's fucking go. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Bad Bitch Embodiment Podcast. If you enjoyed our conversation, please share with members of your community and be sure to like, comment, and subscribe so we can keep having these amazing conversations every week. I will see you next Thursday. And until then, you are a bad bitch. Don't you ever forget it.