I’m SO excited Dawn Hopkins ERYT 500 has agreed to lead mindful movement during our upcoming Eat Mindfully, Live Vibrantly Retreat!
Not only is she my personal yoga teacher, she is a Licensed Am I Hungry? Facilitator and the co-creator of the Am I Hungry? Mindful Eating and Yoga Program.
The best thing about having her at the retreat is she has personally walked the walk, healing her relationship with food and her body, and shares freely about her experience. I asked her to share more about her journey.
I met Michelle way back in 2002 when I owned a Curves Gym. We had an instant connection through our history of disordered eating and desire to help others. Michelle was in the early years of developing her mindful eating program and invited me to participate in an 8-week workshop series.
She knew I wanted a program I could confidently recommend for my own clientele. I just didn’t realize I needed the program every bit as much as they did!
I’d had an eating disorder in high school and college but thought I had healed from it because I was no longer engaged in those behaviors. I didn’t recognize that I’d been managing my eating restrictively since then – and never even dreamed I could eat instinctively. Until it happened!
Michelle’s mindful eating program literally transformed the way I thought about food. I gave up all my food rules and “good food, bad food” thinking. I learned how to eat what I really wanted without feeling guilty or exercising for permission to eat. It’s hard to put into words how liberating and impactful this has been in my life!
When Michelle introduced Mindful Eating Facilitator Training in 2006, I immediately registered for the first class and have been helping people transform their relationship with food since then! (Fun fact: During that first training, I came up with the phrase “eat-repent-repeat” cycle!)
Around that same time, Michelle and I began taking yoga. Truth be told, I remember that first yoga class; I didn’t enjoy it because it was too slow, my body didn’t want to bend into the postures, and I couldn’t turn off my busy brain.
As a former athlete, most sports had come naturally to me, but not yoga! I couldn’t do what the teacher and other students were doing, so I felt stupid and uncoordinated. Yoga is not supposed to be competitive, but my competitive nature kept me coming back to figure out why everyone raved about the benefits they got from their practice.
Finally, I was introduced to a style of yoga that really resonated, and everything changed for me. Less than a year later, I signed up for yoga teacher training with no intention of teaching; I just wanted to learn as much as I could. Then I offered to sub for my teacher when she went on maternity leave and I’ve been teaching ever since! I even developed my own teacher training program in 2011.
I was honored when Michelle asked me to co-create the Am I Hungry? Mindful Eating and Yoga Program and Training with Jessie Dwiggins. Combining mindful eating and yoga is a match made in heaven!
Through mindful eating and yoga, I have found healing, hope, transformation, and connection – and share it with my clients too.
I’m so grateful to have found Michelle and this program. It is truly life-changing! And I couldn’t be more excited to share it during our Eat Mindfully, Live Vibrantly Retreat in March!
In Love and Light,
Dawn Hopkins