One of the most common questions I get about my BingeFree Course  is “I struggle with food but I don’t necessarily binge, will this course work for me?”.

My internal response, which I usually try and censor, is “no, you definitely binge, it just might not be on food.”

When you look closely you’ll notice we all binge.  If it’s not on food or alcohol it’ll be by falling head-first into anxiety, despair, anger or avoidance (you know, all that procrastination, Netflix and going to bed too late).

What I’m always struck by is that people don’t usually get that they’re all the same thing– whether it’s eating a bunch of donuts, radiating hate at your husband or spiraling into panic. And people usually don’t understand that learning to open into the physical sensations that are difficult  is the key to resolving all unhelpful patterns.

In other words healing panic attacks means learning how to feel the sensations of fear you might typically run from or try and avoid.  The racing, panicked, fluttery, swooping feelings that can feel like you’re losing control.  The more you can open into them, the more panic attacks disappear completely.

In order to heal depression and an inability to get motivated, you need to be able to sit with heavy lethargic sensations.  The sinking weight of rejection, failure, not-quite-where-you-thought you-should-be feelings.  If you can’t tolerate your chest or limbs feeling heavy with lead, the more your bed (and not getting out of it) will call you.  The heaviness needs to be felt.

The point is, it’s all the same shit (ok, so that’s not the clinical description but it’s true).  So it’s not really a question of whether you binge.  The question is what’s your drug/feeling/behavior of choice? And what sensations do you need to learn to feel in your body so that you’re not as reliant on the latter?

To see how I define a binge for me these days watch this 75 second video: