A bald woman (Elizabeth) is standing in a kitchen (Gampo Abbey) with her arms outstretched and smiling. She’s wearing a striped apron over a maroon long-sleeved shirt and maroon robes.

Behind the Scenes:
eating (and not eating) at meditation retreats

pitfalls of mindfulness contexts for those with a background of disordered eating

POSTPONED UNTIL OCTOBER 2023

interested?

fill out the form below and you’ll be the first to know the rescheduled date

Meditation is all the rage. It can be so helpful to work with our mind/heart/bodies, and for cultivating many nourishing habits, including feeding ourselves with ease.

However, how it’s taught and presented can also activate old patterns and harm us, particularly in retreat contexts when we already have a history of tension around eating (guess what: a lot of us do). This is often not properly understood or acknowledged.

In this virtual presentation, I will share how I navigated meditation retreat contexts as somebody with a disordered eating history --

  • what helped,

  • what didn’t,

  • and what I suggest you consider if you either want to go on a meditation retreat (or even a workshop etc) or this is relevant for who you are supporting.

I’ll share about my experience in Buddhist meditation retreat centers.

However, I imagine some of what I share might also be helpful for other cultural contexts, including other spiritual/religious communities, and engaging with the wellness/yoga/mindfulness sphere as a whole.

 
 

who might benefit?

  1. You feel stressed in relation to food and you either are curious about or practice meditation. You have either experienced harm in this context, or want to decrease the likelihood of harm happening.

  2. You guide people in meditation and you’d like more insight about how some of the teachings can land negatively for people who struggle in relation to food.

  3. You love or work with somebody who struggles in relationship to food, and you’d like a little more insight about this intersection.

 

Accessibility

  • I will use the Zoom live transcription service — it’s my first time using it, so I’m not sure how it will go yet, but if you want more information about that please feel free to let me know.

  • There will not be ASL — unfortunately that’s beyond my capacity at this time.

Questions about this topic?

fill out the form below with any ponderings or questions you have — I will then work these into the presentation as I’m able

a bit more about me, elizabeth cooper


Starting in 2015 I helped queer and trans people heal their relationship with food and their bodies through workshops, groups, retreats, interviews, meditations, emails, and working with people 1-on-1 through my coaching practice, Queer Body Love. You can read more about my story here.

In 2019, I put Queer Body Love on pause, and have spent most of the last four years in Buddhist monastic and meditation retreat contexts. (I started off taking temporary monastic ordination at Gampo Abbey, in Canada and spent about four months of the last year since leaving in intensive silent retreats in the insight tradition in the United States. I am currently in Kathmandu, Nepal, and headed to Dharamshala, India, next week.