Well, we did it! We pulled off our first even in-person workshop and it was a huge success.
Noah Rasheta, host of Secular Buddhism Podcast as well as author of a brand new book, and I hosted an all-day Mindful Eating Workshop in Salt Lake City for 34 attendees on April 7, 2018.
We started the day off with Kodiak Cakes who sponsored our pancake and fruit breakfast. Each attendee got a cute reusable Positive Nutrition™ grocery bag, a workbook to write and reflect in during the presentations, and lots of other great products from our sponsors in their swag bags to take home. After a little food in our stomachs, we dove right into the first of four sessions on mindfulness and eating.
The day was divided into four sections. The beginning of each section was a mindfulness topic, covered by Noah. Noah's teaching style is information and invitational—he's not prescriptive about shoulds and shouldn'ts but instead teaches through analogy and story which really help drive home concepts that can be abstract and difficult to understand. He is truly a phenomenal teacher. I covered the second part of each session, where I built upon what Noah talked about and related the mindfulness topic he explored to our relationships with food and body.
Overall, the folks who attended rated the workshop 4.8 out of 5. Our participants were engaged, supportive and so enthusiastic the entire day. The energy in the room was so invigorating and exciting—I'm now a huge believer in the power of in-person events and communication. We can do so much these days online, and while that's incredibly valuable and helpful, there's still somethings special about being together and learning together.
Here are a few comments made about the workshop:
"This was a mind-blowing way to connect our habits and behaviors with who we are as individuals. And great energy! Great content! Thank you."
"This workshop delivered as promised and so much more. GREAT combination, winning combination, of mindfulness being taught along with intuitive eating."
"Fantastic! Enlightening, refreshing, educating. I'm so thankful I stumbled upon Paige's podcast and I'm grateful for the teachings and concepts you both shared. You are making the world a better place—thank you!"
"LOVED the exercises! I learned about meditation—something I've tried to work through for a long time!"
"I loved the format with Noah laying out these huge ideas and Paige really helpful to relate them to food/bodies/nutrition. There were several 'mind-blown' moments in almost every session; especially with the notion of suffering being because of expectations unmet and the hunger scale—totally taking these with me!"
"This workshop was incredible and well worth my entire Saturday! Thank you so much, Paige and Noah. you guys tied mindfulness and eating together in an approachable, engaging and relatable way. I can't wait to apply and practice what I learned and am actually looking forward to doing it."
"I loved the entire day! Paige and Noah, you were both incredible! I learned so much that I will be able to take with me going forward. I'm very grateful—thank you both!"
"This workshop is exactly what I've been looking for. I am so grateful for all of the information and encouragement. Sometimes I leave classes feeling overwhelmed and discouraged, but not this workshop. I feel motivated and feel knowledgeable about mindfulness now. I also appreciate the non-judgmental environment. Everyone was kind, loving and supportive. Thank you."
"I laughed, I cried! OMG!"
"The content was highly digestible and eating to palate...pun intended!"
"This was amazing! I loved tying what I already knew about intuitive eating with the concept of mindfulness. I feel like these go so well together and truly support each other."
Many of you have asked me if Noah and I are planning on doing this again. The answer is: I'm not sure, but I hope so! I'm trying to get a feel for where and when we might be able to put on this workshop again in the future, so if you'd like to stay in the loop, be sure to follow me on social media and join my email list. I'm known for giving out huge discounts and promotional prices exclusively to my list, so if you're interested in hearing first about future workshops and interested in getting big discounts, join the email list by clicking here.
UPDATE: We are hosting another Mindful Eating Workshop for dietitians on June 23, 2018. To register, click here .