The Center for Mindful Eating |
Our relationship to food is a central one that reflects our attitudes toward our environment and ourselves. As a practice, mindful eating can bring us awareness of our own actions, thoughts, feelings and motivations, and insight into the roots of health and contentment. The Center for Mindful Eating is a US-based 501(c)3 non-profit, established in May 2006. Our desire is to be a place of conversation, networking, and learning for professionals working with clients around food, body, and eating to explore how to apply mindfulness-based practices. Our VisionWe envision a world where all persons are treated with dignity and compassion and have the freedom, support and resources to cultivate a peaceful relationship with food and body through the practice of mindful eating. Our MissionWe are a global organization focused on mindful eating offering high-quality training and programs to diverse and interdisciplinary populations, based on scientific research and ancient wisdom. TCME is committed to building an equitable, inclusive, compassionate community supporting professionals practicing and teaching mindful eating. |
Liberation, compassion, inner wisdom, nourishment, and belonging are at the heart of The Center. In the following statements, we have framed the meaning of these values in relation to the organization for the community to reflect on.
Liberation:We stand for the fundamental principle or belief that everyone should have the freedom and autonomy to make choices regarding food and eating, express themselves, and live without undue constraints, oppression, or coercion including food insecurity and hunger. Mindful Eating can be part of the everyday practice of dismantling all forms of oppression within ourselves and our relationships.
Compassion:
We believe that Compassion represents the quality of embracing ourselves just as we are and caring for ourselves and others, particularly in times of suffering or needs relating to food, eating, and our bodies. It involves a deep sense of understanding and a desire to alleviate the pain, hardship, or distress within ourselves or others. Compassion goes beyond mere sympathy and leads to action aimed at caring for the well-being of ourselves and our communities.
Inner Wisdom:We believe in recognizing and respecting one's internal insights (cognition, emotional self-awareness, and interoception), intuition, and experience gained through self-reflection and validating personal knowledge. We believe that, when connected, we possess a source of heart and gut wisdom within ourselves to guide our actions and navigate life's challenges.
We stand for nourishment, providing sustenance and support to ourselves and our communities. We believe physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, relational, and environmental nourishment is essential for our well-being, growth, and flourishing; therefore, it is a fundamental human right. We foresee Mindful Eating as a practice to heal from suffering related to food and body and TCME as a home to be.
We believe belonging is a right. We envision building a community of belonging where people of all races, abilities, genders, sizes, and ethnicities feel accepted, heard, valued, and connected. We are committed to working together to create an environment of connection, inclusion, and shared ownership. And if we fail to practice belonging, TCME will prioritize repairing harm to foster healing.
Our Strategic ObjectivesThese core objectives represent how the Center for Mindful Eating aims to work towards achieving this new vision and mission while upholding our values.
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