Welcome Eater!
Find out how to have an easy, kind, natural relationship with eating and your body that doesn’t require discipline, willpower, torturous exercise, or control. Download the Seven Steps to Eating Peace Journey eGuide and get on the mailing list HERE.
- Head here for more current information about all Eating Peace Retreats and workshops: https://www.workwithgrace.com/eating-peace-process/
Do you wonder why you eat sometimes….when you know it’s not really what you really want, or later, you’re upset about it because you’re stuffed, exhausted, or disappointed, again?
The urge to reach for food, or eat when not hungry, or think about food obsessively, or create plans to starve oneself or diet are all ways to deal with thoughts and feelings you aren’t comfortable with in the moment you’re thinking and feeling them.
Eating for emotional and psychic reasons seems normal. Food can be comforting, distracting, temporarily satisfying, and even feel like a drug. But it isn’t really any of these things.
You can stop acting on your cravings, understand what you’re thinking and feeling instead. Through pausing to see what you’re thinking and feeling at a deeper level, and inquire and explore yourself….the urge or need to eat dies away.
Really.
Warning: this retreat is not about nutrition. It’s about emotions, impulses, cravings, fear, powerlessness and self-criticism. It’s a retreat about noticing, and awareness, and watching thoughts that scream at you to eat, rather than following them like they’re in charge. Even if you’re an expert in diet and exercise….people who come to Eating Peace can learn what’s going on so that they never have to over or under-eat again.
Many years ago at age 18 I had my first binge that felt so awful, where I was so stuffed with food, I forced myself to throw up.
It took a decade to get back to “normal” with no extreme binges, and no bulimic behavior. But I was still constantly anxious or angry about food.
What was too much? What was not enough? Would I ever feel just right? Could I ever accept my body the way it was? Would my cravings ever end? Would I ever NOT feel self-conscious, or like I needed improvement? Could I stop caring about labels, and ingredients in such a debilitating, fearful way…ever? Why did I always look ugly or too heavy to myself in the mirror?
My whole relationship with eating and my body seemed riddled with anxiety, disappointment and fear, and huge frustration.
But when I began to see my experience of eating as a spiritual path….a place inviting me to the deepest healing and awareness….the war was over.
This didn’t happen overnight. But the obsession with eating and not-eating and body image dissolved. My weight no longer yo-yo’s up and down a size, there are no binges, there is no self-starvation, there is no fear of any food.
Eating concerns can dissolve for you, too. I am sure of it.
In the Eating Peace retreat, you can experience a deeper approach to understanding your own behaviors, actions, cravings, and dynamic with food.
In this immersion together, I offer exercises and stories that shifted my way of thinking about food and eating. I give these same experiences to everyone who attends the retreat. You might experience slowing down enough to truly enjoy your food, relax in your body, and get excited about becoming truly intimate with yourself. With deep intimacy and connection, with yourself, there is no need to eat , or to think and feel, in an unbalanced way.
Here are a few of the experiences you’ll encounter in the Eating Peace Retreat with Grace:
- How to identify what you’re thinking and believing that leads to eating off-balance
- How to change your mindset, beginning with self-inquiry, to interrupt the cycle of reaching for food, obsessing about food, managing food and eating, or feeling guilty about food, eating or your body.
- Living a new way, with new thoughts to direct your behaviors (the living turnarounds) and accessing a new feeling of relaxation and awareness when it come to hunger, fullness and your emotions
- Mindful eating practice
- Moving meditation – we will move at least once to practice taking care of our own bodies, our own movements, in a peaceful joyful way–and to identify our stressful thoughts when they arise
- Art work- everyone will work with their hands for one important piece of artwork to bring the practice of creativity into your eating peace in a deeply therapeutic way
- The Work of Byron Katie – our primary way of being with self-inquiry and deep investigation of the patterns we are stuck in, and how to break out of them. We’ll use some important journaling exercises to sink into our personal awareness of what’s going on with eating, food and self-judgment or self-care.
- A map you can take with you to continue your journey in your daily life after retreat
Will you join me? I can’t wait to spend this time with you to experience peace with food and eating.
Listed below, please write grace@workwithgrace.com to ask about staying in our Eating Peace retreat location–there will be room for a number of people to sleep at the retreat venue. Fee for accommodations are separate from tuition registration.
Note: if you are attending a retreat hosted by someone else, you’ll need to contact them to make arrangements for your lodging and meals.
In northeast Seattle near my home: Our beautiful retreat house is an oasis in Lake Forest Park. There is space for up to 10-12 to spend the night onsite, but only 5 bedrooms. Some people will also commute from either nearby, or their own home. People can put up a tent and camp, or stay on the couch or mattress (very comfy).
Rooms onsite include all linens and towels, coffee and tea, laundry room, hot tub, large kitchen for your groceries, a luxurious peaceful setting for retreat, both inside and out.
Suggestions for other places to stay near Lake Forest Park, WA:
www.airbnb.com Look for places in Seattle (Lake City area, Northgate, north Seattle, Wedgewood, Maple Leaf, Bothell, anywhere in the north end), Lake Forest Park, Shoreline, Lynnwood.
www.vrbo.com. Look for places in Lake Forest Park, Kenmore, Bothell. There are some lovely very close-by places, within walking distance.
Here’s a wide range of very good hotels, with good reports on all of them, ranging from $100 and up.
- McMenamins Anderson School: Bothell (beautiful hotel 4 miles away)
- Days Inn Seattle Aurora: less expensive 3.5 miles away
- Travelodge Seattle North/Edmonds 3.7 miles away
- Comfort Inn Bothell – Seattle North 4.0 miles away
Sometimes other lovely participants are open to having guests. Please ask if you’d like to know if there’s anyone taking visitors overnight, and we’ll pair you up.
Traveling:
Please fly into Seatac International Airport. Retreat house is located in Lake Forest Park, a small tiny “town” on the edge of Seattle (about 12 miles from downtown Seattle).
You can take the train from the airport into downtown Seattle quite easily, and one buss (522 or 351) both head directly to Lake Forest Park town center. You can find an uber ride all the way from the airport OR from LFP town center (significantly less and shorter ride).
We’ll be sharing information for travel and carpooling with people who register for the retreat, so everyone has the option to share rides or share rental cars, if you desire. Often, Jon (Grace’s husband) is also available to give people lifts to and from airport or train station for the same fee as he has made when driving Uber.
Meals are not included, although we will eat lunch and dinner together every day as an important part of the program. You can bring food to eat, or join in the activity of acquiring your meals during the program. You do not need to bring food. However, if you are staying at the retreat house and you are delivered there via uber, lyft or other means….please bring any dinner food you might need for your first evening meal before we begin with our retreat at 7:00 pm. (You can also easily order delivery if you do arrive your afternoon/evening before retreat begins).
Bring your own money to buy your meals or extra snacks, or bring your own meals with you. You will not ever be eating in restaurants, we will be eating at the retreat location, together. There is a full kitchen, and space in the fridge for your items. You will be choosing your meals (to-go meals from restaurants are OK and welcomed) and bringing them back to our location to eat together as an important part of the program. Our focus will be to experience choosing food, acquiring food and eating meals a guilt-free, pleasurable experience.
To register for the Seattle retreat, sign up HERE.
Lodging will be paid for separately (we send a paypal request, venmo, or a regular link to pay with a credit card for your lodging separately). Payment for your room choice confirms your room in the retreat house.
With love, Grace
WHAT PEOPLE HAVE SAID ABOUT EATING PEACE RETREAT:
“Grace is amazing!! She is a presence of pure peace, love and welcome. She created and held such a safe space for all of us to slow down and get in touch with our needs, our story, and ultimately our freedom. Deeply grateful. The Work works!!!” ~ Rebekah
“Grace is a bright light, supportive, intelligent, the perfect facilitator for this work. I am excited to continue to work with her and attend more of her retreats. She is gentle but strong and holds space for self-discovery beautifully. I am free, and actually believe it. I am safe, and actually feel it in my bones.” ~ January 2020 participant
“Grace directs the group with kindness and compassion. She leaves plenty of room for questions and discussion, and then brings the group back to the topic and The Work always. I am so glad I opted to stay at the retreat house. Sharing a space with women during the day and the late night/early morning discussions were connecting and beautiful.” ~ Vanessa
“Grace is a yummy gumdrop. On this retreat, I think I’ve trusted food for the first time.” ~ Choi
“I honestly can’t think of anything that wasn’t helpful in this experience. I love that we dove right in the first night going deep vs letting it build. Every exercise, question, writing, sharing, small journals for eating were perfectly timed. Grace simply is a master of modeling respect and love for others. I am a fan for life.” ~ Tracy
“I never thought of myself as restricting food since I’ve never been anorexic, but now I see some food being “bad” is restricting. Now I can see food as fuel for my body and not good or bad. This was a perfect blend of The Work of Byron Katie and new exercises. Grace was present, compassionate, and kept us focused. I loved how she demonstrated The Work and was willing to answer any questions.” ~ Wendy
“I know that speaking shame is the way to help it have less power, but to experience this around food and body was profound. It all worked for me, the content was just what I needed. Grace is amazing, She was able to meet each person just as they are.” ~ Emily
“I can feel a deep, beautiful connection to people/women who I barely know. Life is truly beautiful without my story. I love Grace. Her bubbly personality, and giggle is warm and infectious. I cannot wait for Breitenbush (I already signed up).” ~ Kim
“The underlying current of negative thoughts about myself surrounding food, weight and diet became clearer to me–particularly through the writing and meal exercises. Grace is phenomenal. She makes the retreat a 10/10; no matter what made me uncomfortable her energy and presence made it a safe environment. Her guidance and sharing of her experience were invaluable.” ~ Participant January 2020 Retreat
“I learned that I don’t need to eat the amount I am eating, and I can slow down. Grace was excellent. She knows how to manage and use opportunities for learning. It was wonderful.” Participant January 2020 Retreat
“Grace was awesome. Wise, insightful and available. I was very comfortable with the setting, the people, and how Grace handled everybody’s anxiety, questions and emotions.” ~ Participant January 2020 Retreat
“I can eat mindfully. The meditation meals were very helpful. Grace was wonderful. She really knows the Work of Byron Katie and how to apply it to disordered eating. It was wonderful to meet such a wonderful group and hear their stories.” ~ Katie January 2020
“Grace is lovely. Willing, receptive, welcoming to it all. She lives The Work. The eating process, as difficult as it was, was immensely helpful. I loved eating together and seeing how others related to food and to life.” ~ Laurie January 2020