My He(ART)-Full Life



Thursday, July 29, 2010

"Women, Food and God"

I recently picked up this book by Geneen Roth called "Women, Food and God". I have never really had issues with food (I have many other issues..way too numerous to go into here, let me tell you!!) but...Oprah was raving about this book and since I am a huge Oprah fan, I decided to read it. Boy, am I glad I did! I think this book is for everyone, really. It combines eating with a spiritual approach. Roth speaks of how, as women, we are generally full of self loathing about our bodies. She speaks of how we should be "full of ourselves" so that we can, then, fill others up. She speaks of how so many of us are not present in our lives or our bodies. How we associate food with love, comfort, acceptance and are not in touch with our true spiritual nature. If we were truly present...as the Buddhist saying goes "The path to enlightenment is this...When you eat, eat. When you walk, walk, When you sleep, sleep".  In other words, be present. I am only halfway through the book  but it is an amazing look at how women, especially in our culture, associate our self esteem, spirits, self worth with the number on the scale. Roth directs us to ourSELVES...that is where true peace, love and acceptance lie. It is not outside of ourselves whether in food, culture, materialism etc. Here is a picture of an Indian stone sculpture circa 1117 CE. Not to say that this is the ideal female form (how many of us look like this?!!) but I like the fact that she isn't just standing there looking pretty...she is shooting a bow!! Yikes!

(Woman with Bow-Belur)

3 comments:

Lis said...

Having had an eating disorder as a teen, this definitely speaks to me. I will have to read it as I desperately want my daughter to feel it is her right to fill up, occupy space, share her voice and be whoever she chooses to be. Me, I tried a vanishing act but thankfully yoga has helped me discover the wholeness that is always at my center.

Thank you for the mention in your previous post! We are working on our 5th painting (i don't know if we will be able to stop!) - a lovely pink tiger (I was born in the year of the tiger) with fire flies :) Gotta love the imagination of children.

You are one busy momma! I am loving all that you are doing here and your website! Wow! Keep soaring :)

xo Lis

eva diva said...

Hi Soraya, when I read this post my heart was thumping so loudly, because I got EXACTLY the same book from Borders last week, and as I was decluttering I found "feeding the hungry heart",I saw that she was the same author of the 2 books.

Even though I'm conscious about my relationship abt my body but it still feels like a battle sometimes with the media bombarding us with airbrushed image of women, and family that is critical doesn't help much.

so this book is empowering, I would love to introduce you to Denise Linn's "unlock the secret message of your body" too if you wish to empower your body, mind and spirit!

I'm learning to love my body every day with every small steps!

Blue Moon Mama said...

Yours is the third blog I've read recommending this book so I think I'll have to buy it. Food & my weight are BIG issues for me, something I probably need to blog about soon as it's been on my mind alot recently. Anyway thanks for the excellent book review. I'll be ordering it from Amazon this weekend.