I thought I had healed my Inner Child. But as I've completed the "assignments" she suggests and followed her recommendations to use journaling and a source of spiritual support, I have identifed some previously unconscious beliefs and needs that were being expressed through compulsive eating.
The compulsions are all but gone, and food is no longer a major focus in my life. Thank you, Jane!
I am fortunate to have worked with Jane in her support and meditation groups, in private counseling, and have many of her books. Each book is wonderful in its own way, for its message, and also because of Jane's gift for writing-down-the-bones.
Beyond the Food Game is one example of Jane's ability to put down on paper an entire process - in this book it's healing from emotional eating - that enables the reader to reach deep inside themselves to extract what needs to be revealed, illuminated and healed.
This dis-ease of eating restrictively, or bingeing/overeating compulsively is ingrained, rampant, and condoned in our society. We try to manage our lives - our feeling or lack of feeling - through ever increasing compulsive behavior - restricting or bingeing - only to find that the result of this type of behavior is self-annihilation. To quote Jane "I don't see individuals who suffer from emotional eating as pathological. I see us as expressions of a pathological culture that has replaced true aliveness with soulless, empty shells of existence."
If you're looking for just another diet or quick fix to entertain yourself until the next quick fix comes along, this book is not for you. If you're motivated to do some deep work that will richly bless your life in ways you cannot even imagine, then this is the book and process for you. You read the book at your own pace...ditto the homework exercises. The chapters and exercises in the book are like treasure maps that point the way to a life of full recovery from food obsession. Even if you consider yourself hopeless, all you need to do is read the book, and do the exercises, one chapter at a time.
Jane shows us how to use the tools - we are the artist and life is our canvas. We learn step-by-step how to create our paint-by-number self-portrait that is more vivid and real than we ever imagined.
If you have dreamed of full recovery - or - even if you are skeptical, afraid that full-recovery will always be just beyond your reach, this book is for you. I also encourage you to check out Jane Latimer's website for classes and workshops which provide even more in-depth support to move you beyond the destructive games we play with food and eating behaviors. Her other books nicely supplement the homework/exercises in Beyond the Food Game. I have found the meditation exercises in The Healing Power of Inner Light-Fire to be especially helpful.