5 Limiting Beliefs Holding Your Mind Hostage When I started MindBodyFood my main driver was to make a difference in the lives of women who struggled with liking themselves, accepting their bodies and were using food as a means of control, punishment or comfort in managing stressful thoughts and emotions. Think BINGE EATING, EMOTIONAL EATING, STRESS EATING. What I’ve realised over the years is that nearly EVERYONE in their lifetime struggles with five core underlying and limiting beliefs that they’re either: Not good enough Not smart enough Not worthy enough Don’t deserve it Can’t do it UNDERNEATH their body and
READ MORE →MINDBODYFOOD PODCAST This week I bring you an inspiring, insightful and delightful conversation about truth, transformation and self-acceptance through yoga, meditation and living in the NOW. The lovely and wise Michelle Hemming is a mother of two beautiful children. She’s also a yoga teacher, lawyer and holistic living enthusiast. Michelle joined me in the studio for a chat about her journey back to wellness. We discussed the last two years and how she deliberately set out to reclaim herself, heal her attachment to past experiences, and the lessons and teachings she’s learned along the way. We talk about: what it means to live consciously how
READ MORE →MINDBODYFOOD PODCAST Do you struggle with self-sabotaging beliefs? Do you get so far on your health and wellness journey, start to see positive changes, feel like you’re actually making progress and starting to feel more energy, more positivity and even a glimpse of self-love… And then all of a sudden….. something happens that triggers your subconscious mind and you come to a screaming holt, reverting back to old habits of thinking, feeling and behaving?! Maybe you find yourself focusing back on your food: restricting again, cutting foods out.. At the end of the day you might find yourself hungry, but
READ MORE →NEW MINDBODYFOOD PODCAST SERIES I have an inspiring and awesome new free resource for you, in the form of my brand new MindBodyFood Podcast series. An easily downloadable audio mp3 interview and meditations series you can listen to on the go. Hormones and Self-Care are huge topics for many women, so first up is an honest, practical and very inspiring self-care journey that started with a shock thyroid cancer diagnosis at 23, forcing a high-achieving, people-pleasing music teacher to reassess her life choices and start making herself and her health a priority. This meant learning to make friends with guilt and stop feeling resentful when
READ MORE →Have you ever shown up and did something that you weren’t initially sure about – do I know enough, can I pull this off, will I be able to deliver – but then totally surprised yourself by how much fun you had, and how comfortably you took to it when you did? That’s how I feel now after finally stepping up to the plate this year and teaching the yoga portion of the first half of my yoga and meditation classes. I love teaching meditation – I love teaching, connecting and engaging with people in general. But I hadn’t realised just how
READ MORE →Turn Anger to Forgiveness Forgiveness is a huge topic that can often open up many old wounds, stifling our ability to live fully and freely in the now. Angry thoughts of injustice, vengeance and retaliation can run riot in your mind, creating more stress and discomfort in your body. Forgiveness is generally defined as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you. This conscious act is done regardless of whether the person or group actually deserves your forgiveness. Just as important as defining what forgiveness is, though, is understanding what forgiveness
READ MORE →Do You Love Yourself? FREE Self-Love Reminders Printable PDF below! I used to loathe myself. Love was a word that didn’t compute. I could never truly accept love because I didn’t know how to feel it for myself. As babies we are born happy, loveable and wanting to love. But what happens when we experience feelings of neglect, criticism or abandonment in our childhood…. that we feel the hurt so strongly and intensely as children we appoint ourselves to blame and internalise our pain? As we grow, a part of us begins to believe we are unworthy of love…. That inner child who felt unsafe and
READ MORE →When Dieting Takes Over From Living Being on a diet is like forcing your real life body to squeeze into a Barbie and Ken sized dollhouse. Not a great fit if you really want to feel at home there. Does weighing all your food, watching your food portions and eating to the clock actually satisfy your hunger? What about when the rebel in you says, “Stuff it! I’m so hungry and I hate this food. I’m going to eat that cake anyway”? And what if you can’t stop at one piece after a week of willpower and restriction, and end
READ MORE →Body Hate, Dieting & the Scales Audio Interview Thank you Robyn Patton Intuitive Nourishment who interviewed me recently about body hate, dieting, the scales & vulnerability. Time for some #realtalk so we can get comfortable with uncomfortable feelings and make space for learning to navigate them. Let me know what you think! V xo About Viki Viki Thondley is a Mind-Body Wellness Specialist and qualified Holistic Counsellor, Food, Stress & Lifestyle Coach, Meditation Therapist, and Eating Disorder Recovery Coach who inspires women to shift from limited thinking, low self-esteem and restriction to whole-self nourishment, body confidence and whole food healing. Recovered from bulimia
READ MORE →Overcome Negative Body-Image Here’s how just one of many clients did it! Sometimes in my coaching practice I need to get down into the pit with a client… really sit down in the mud with them and wade through the shit in their lives. It’s my job to hold steadfast as an anchor for them while they experience losing control or embracing their fear. Whatever the overwhelming emotion is, I’m always willing to go to the depths with them in order to help guide them back out of it. Not many traditional therapists allow themselves to do that, with the idea
READ MORE →Body Image and the Dreaded Scales So after I shared my previous Vulnerability post today THIS happened…… Warning – Real and honest body talk here after they made me get on the scales… Well, actually I chose to. It was either get on or don’t donate. #BIMGA #bodyimagemovement Posted by Mindbodyfood with Viki Thondley on Monday, October 26, 2015 About Viki Viki Thondley is a Mind-Body Wellness Specialist and qualified Holistic Counsellor, Food, Stress & Lifestyle Coach, Meditation Therapist, and Eating Disorder Recovery Coach who inspires women to shift from limited thinking, low self-esteem and restriction to whole-self nourishment, body confidence and
READ MORE →VULNERABILITY ALERT… (spoiler, I’m not perfect) Yesterday I felt like a fat, inauthentic, hypocritical failure. I know I’ve gotten into some bad habits this year as I’ve struggled to balance a growing business and demand for my time with now building a second training institute, being a supportive partner, a loving and present step-mum, and delivering consistent energy and enthusiasm at my classes, workshops and live events. Somewhere in there I forgot to PRIORITISE myself. I forgot that my body doesn’t like missing breakfast, and especially does NOT like skipping lunch or being delayed to the point of feeling famished.
READ MORE →I really dislike labels. I especially dislike labelling the way we eat, the way we look, and the way we behave. “I eat clean. I am fat. I am a perfectionist.” Why do we need to make judgement instead of making way for growth, understanding and change? Labelling the way we eat is a dangerous tendency. We get so caught up in whether we’re doing it right or not. It develops a righteous thinking attitude, that for some can translate into control: If I can control my healthy diet, I can control the way I feel. Strong, intelligent and capable
READ MORE →Who’s in Control? You or Food? QUESTION for you: Why are you so afraid to let go of controlling your food? Is the answer something like, “Because I’ll put on weight!” So you’re afraid of putting on weight and that’s why you control your food so rigidly? Ok. So what if you do put on some weight? Will it kill you? Will you suddenly become unlovable? Will your family and co-workers disown you? No! Maybe your body might put on a little weight in an attempt to trust you enough to nourish it regularly before it can regain a sense of
READ MORE →Let Go of Control & Be Yourself A client came to see me with a desperate sense of her life being out of control, specifically, her obsessive thoughts about food, eating, and her body. She had been struggling with her inner world for so long, that it took a lot of courage to even type up an email and reach out for help. When she arrived at my door with a cool and calm exterior, she gave off an air of “I’m okay, everything is fine”. Despite all her efforts though I could sense her internal chaos. She was wound up inside
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