Introducing Well Now, a non-diet approach to improve your health and make peace with food

I don't know about you, but I had quite the busy winter break, with lots of ups and downs and life-turn-arounds. But we're back to the usual wonderful routine now, full of massage and laughter and food and family -- and soon, facilitating a great wellness class!

The Well Now course has been helping people improve their health, confidence, and compassion in the UK for years. Now, thanks to Lucy Aphramor and the USA's own Linda Bacon, I've been lucky enough to receive the training and licensing to offer it here in Portland, Oregon.

About Well Now:

Do you want to transform your relationship with food?

Well Now is an 8 session course that helps people feel better about their eating and weight using a non-diet approach called Health At Every Size (HAES). You can read more on HAES practice here [pdf].

It teaches you how to:

Tune into your body signals
Embrace body respect
Replace eating guilt with gentle nutrition
Move from food panic to food autonomy
Heal from body shame
Practice mindful eating
Explore the bigger picture of health and wellbeing
Learn compassion for yourself and others

This 8 week course will be offered Sundays 2-4pm starting February 16th, 2014.

The cost of the course is $360, but if you register by January 22, 2014, you can take this life-changing class for just $295. Class limited to 10 people, so sign up now!

Imagine:

• Eating effortlessly and healthfully, without struggle or guilt.
• Enjoying movement, rather than using it as punishment for "indulgence".
• Feeling confidence and pleasure in your body right now, exactly as it is.
• Improving your relationships, as compassion and justice replace criticism and judgment.
• Taking real steps to improve your health in measurable ways, like lower blood pressure and blood sugars, without restrictive food rules.

It may sound like a dream, but it can be reality. Join me to explore how to make it yours!

Contact Arwyn with any question or to sign up. Or, for your convenience you can register online now.

The HAES Holiday Survival Guide, even if you're not in Portland Oregon!

There are some excellent parts of the holiday season.
CC image courtesy simplyla on Flickr

The autumn/winter holidays can be stressful for many, especially if food or body issues were a part of your childhood, and even more so if they remain part of your current family dynamics. Fortunately, two amazing women are here to help the holidays go more smoothly, in a body-positive, weight-neutral way -- and it's all online, so you can get the support you need no matter where you are or what your travel plans look like.

HAES® For the Holidays

Golda Poretsky is a Health at Every Size® coach who runs Body Love Wellness. This winter, she's offering a 30 day coaching program by email and Facebook to help you navigate all the challenges of food, family, and taking care of yourself in this stressful time. You can sign up now or in the next week, with the course starting the day before American Thanksgiving (perfect timing, no?). She's offering the course for $49, or a two payment plan of $25 each. What a great gift for to offer yourself -- and your family, as you keep your cool and stay calm and centered and with a sense of humor.

Movin' Easy Through the Holidays

Gillian of Mindfully Active is offering this group coaching program through December 31st to easily and joyfully keep moving (or bring movement into your life) during the holidays. Her body-positive online coaching supports you where you are now, and offers ways that are easy, enjoyable, and fast to incorporate more movement into your life. The program is a bargain at $10 for more than a month of support, with 50% of the proceeds being donated to the Tillamook County Women's Resource Center.

Here at Holding Space Massage

In the next weeks, I'll be posting more tips, suggestions, and encouragement for how to stay centered in and compassionate toward your body during this season of stress and celebration, family and frustration. And of course, nothing helps you feel better in your body and reduce your stress more than getting a massage. But I encourage you to make use of all the help you can get, and these are two affordable, accessible resources you can take with you wherever this holiday season takes you.

Note: I am not affiliated with either of these business, and do not receive any compensation for your participation in either of them. I have not yet experienced either of the courses myself and make these recommendations based on my observation of these two coaches as a fan of their online work.