As Feet Touch the Earth, An Ecoheuristic Study of Addiction to Food

Abstract

This heuristic study addresses the phenomenon of food addiction as seen through the lens of ecopsychology and ecotherapy. The intent is to describe through personal recorded dialogue, poetry, and art, the qualitative experience of addiction to food and how it is, or is not, affected by dream images, movement, and the internalizing of Earth’s elements as living properties in the psyche. The research examines the topic through a depth psychological imaginal perspective and the researcher’s own embodied process. Seven major thematic patterns were discovered: turning towards and away from food, resistance, integration of imaginal figures from the dream and natural world through embodied practices, moving from knowing to the unknown, addiction and breath, addiction as creative life partner, and ecodreaming as the world’s dream. The ecotherapeutic implications of this study conclude that by entering into an imaginal active relationship with addiction, a new consciousness is birthed that allows for a different sense of fullness in the body. Infused through active movement, communication with living dream images and the wisdom of these nonhuman fellow travelers, a new sense of awareness can transpire from one’s inner life, unlocking the opportunity to restore personal, social, and ecological well-being.