Welcome to justBstill™
A place to awaken to Body Mind-Fullness
SPECIAL WELCOME TEENPEACE KIDS!
Please visit "What's New" for more info on your bracelet.
Please join me, Shirley Kessel,RYT, and Amy Tuttle, RD, LCSW for a life changing series of workshops and ongoing classes:
Beginning Body Mind-Fullness Group for Midlife Women
Stop Watching Your Weight and to Start Living Your LifeTM
Beginning October, 2011 for 10 weeks in Center City and Chestnut Hill, PA.
Please click on "CLASSES" section to learn more.
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"The justBstill bracelet is an ideal tool to help you eat more mindfully. In addition to being a 24/7 reminder, it also helps initiate another level of self- discovery related to when, what, and how much we eat. The bracelet encourages you to reflect upon the reasons WHY we eat, and it leads a person to pause –for just a fraction of a second –and ask, 'Am I really hungry enough that I need another bite?'This is the single best reminder to help you eat a little healthier instead of a little more.”
BRIAN WANSINK, PH.D., Professor and Director of Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, author of Mindless Eating – Why We Eat More
Than We Think
About the just B still Philosophy:
There is more to nourishing your body than eating normally. The key to maintaining balance with food begins in your mind. Your active mind – that chatterbox voice that sends you negative messages about yourself – is causing you to eat past comfortable fullness or restrict food when you are stressed, tired, irritable and lonely, in the company of others…… What is going on in your life that causes you to use food as a panacea rather than get to the root of the problem?
Using the just B still philosophy, you can gradually come back to the table by tuning in to your senses. Often, we miss out on listening to our senses and to our heart – the act of pure listening, pure seeing, pure hearing, feeling, tasting - because we are wrapped up in our 6th sense – the mind. Our minds are judging our actions and causing us to overreact emotionally. What can you do?
Just B still –
Just Breathe, & Be still.
The B in justBstill has a dual meaning. It stands for Breathing
and Be-ING - to Become still, to pause, to be aware, and open with awareness to the present moment.
“There seemed to be endless obstacles... it seemed that the root cause of them all was fear.” – Joanna Field.
Stillness is another word for pausing and becoming present to what is through the practice of yoga and/or meditation. By inviting stillness into your life, you can begin to cultivate awareness and mindfulness, allowing your heart to reopen. Imagine - you can begin to trust your body again. When we get to Know our mind, focus on our breath, and go within our body-mind to stillness, we can train the mind to Acknowledge the present moment. Present moment awareness can lead to happiness, fulfillment and serenity. Allow your mind to be a tool; don’t let your mind use you.
Cultivating mindfulness is a practice, just as yoga is a practice. This bracelet is a reminder to nourish yourself with self care, compassion and kindness. The wood beads are a reminder to connect back to your inner self by becoming grounded. Wood is a natural product that grows from the earth. When in mountain pose, become grounded. When seated, notice the connection of your sitz bones on the chair.
The crystal beads are a reminder to become clear of your intention. As we practice yoga we can clear clutter from our mind, to clear our chakras. A single red heart, also a Swarovski crystal, is meant to turn your gaze inward, towards yourself. Can you breathe and be still to open your heart center to the possibility of what’s here now? Can you open up to exploring what’s in your heart and remind yourself that your trueness emanates from your heart, not from your mind? You are not your thoughts.
Clear beads are separated by the letters justBstill. When you invite stillness into your life, you can begin to cultivate awareness of the moment, right here now and learn to open the possibility of what is. What has been, what will be, is not the focus, but rather becoming clear about present moment awareness to awaken your heart (crystal heart). Acknowledge grace, and beauty, suffering, and become grounded to connect to right now, whatever is here now. Just listen, see, feel, breathe in the is-ness of now, tasting life one breath at a time. Just breathe and be still, become aware of now. Can you try this while you are in line at the bank, riding the bus or sitting in traffic?
What is Mindfulness and Mindful Eating?
courtesy of tcme.org
Principles of Mindfulness:
• Mindfulness is deliberately paying attention, non-judgmentally.
• Mindfulness encompasses both internal processes and external environments.
• Mindfulness is being aware of what is present for you mentally, emotionally and physically in each moment.
• With practice, mindfulness cultivates the possibility of freeing yourself of reactive, habitual patterns of thinking, feeling and acting.
• Mindfulness promotes balance, choice, wisdom and acceptance of what is.
Mindful Eating is:
• Allowing yourself to become aware of the positive and nurturing
opportunities that are available through food preparation and consumption by respecting your own inner wisdom.
• Choosing to eat food that is both pleasing to you and nourishing to your body by using all your senses to explore, savor and taste.
• Acknowledging responses to food (likes, neutral or dislikes) without judgment.
• Learning to be aware of physical hunger and satiety cues to guide your decision to begin eating and to stop eating.
Someone Who Eats Mindfully:
• Acknowledges that there is no right or wrong way to eat but varying degrees of awareness surrounding the experience of food.
• Accepts that his/her eating experiences are unique.
• Is an individual who by choice, directs his/her awareness to all aspects of food and eating on a moment-by-moment basis.
• Is an individual who looks at the immediate choices and direct experiences associated with food and eating: not to the distant health outcome of that choice.
• Is aware of and reflects on the effects caused by unmindful eating.
• Experiences insight about how he/she can act to achieve specific health goals as he/she becomes more attuned to the direct experience of eating and feelings of health.
• Becomes aware of the interconnection of earth, living beings, and cultural practices and the impact of his/ her food choices has on those systems.
courtesy of tcme.org
* * * *
Mindful Eating Exercise
This is an exercise for your brain. Research shows you can retrain your brain to eat mindfully, and mindful eating leads to long term natural weight goals.
Try any or all the steps to justBstill™.
a. Set the table. Make it pretty by using real silverware, lighting candles, etc. Turn on some relaxing music, or enjoy the stillness of a quiet meal.
b. Prepare and serve your food from the kitchen, bringing only your plate to the table.
c. Turn your gaze inward, breathe and be still. JustBstill. Look at your food, noticing colors, textures, whatever comes to mind. Smell, touch your food. Taste it. Allow your first bite to linger, noticing texture. What does it feel like? Soft, crunchy, hard? Begin to chew. How does it taste? Salty, sweet, sour? Swallow. Wait. Sip some water. You may repeat this for 20 minutes with one plate. This provides your stomach time to signal your brain that it is full. Or simply try this new and fun skill with only one bite.
d. How do you feel when you eat this way? You may want to record your thoughts, likes and dislikes, into a personal journal.
Yours in Good Health,
Shirley Kessel
Yoga Teacher and Nutritionist
© Justbstill LLC I Health Disclaimer