Nina Ross, PhD

Working in a sandtray today, a client depicted what brings her pain, as well as what brings her joy. Being someone who struggles with body image and food, she stated ” I restrict everything. The things that are healthy for me are also hurtful for me.” So goes the addictive cycle of perfectionism and self-judgment. Because this client is in the health field, she is hyper aware of nutrition. However, what she knows imprisons her. She finds no freedom in being healthy, because she takes it to such an extreme of rigidity.

Looking together at the things in the tray that bring her joy, we realized that the joyful things for her ie. nature, spirituality, and art, are her soul food. When she doesn’t feed her soul, she will always be hungry.