Album Notes

What does compassion have to do with weight loss? For most dieters, absolutely nothing. They typically force themselves to follow a diet no matter what. No matter if they’re hungry, cranky, tired or bored! And then beat themselves up when they’re unable to stick with the rigid menu and puny portions. Perhaps the CD cover photo looks a little too familiar.

What waist watchers have yet to discover is the missing ingredient in every diet and most other weight-loss strategies: self-compassion!

Ancient compassion-enhancing practices are breaking new ground in modern-day psychology. A growing body of research is inspiring transformative compassion-based therapies that enhance mood, outlook and behavior. Like eating. That’s right, self-compassion practices are helping waist watchers do the seemingly impossible – eat with more control, less compulsion. In fact, research psychologists have discovered that compassion-enhancing strategies decrease the self-criticism and emotional distress that fuels emotional eating.

Losing weight without self-compassion is an uphill battle, pretty much a losing battle at that. But with self-compassion, it’s possible, downright do-able, to make peace with food. With self-compassion, veteran dieters are actually winning the battle of the bulge without the battle.

This CD is a compilation of favorite self-compassion practices for the range of eating problems, from yo-yo dieting to binge eating disorder. Every track is designed to help you forge a more peaceful, harmonious relationship with food AND lose weight.

After an introduction to this thing called self-compassion, you’ll find an assortment of meditations and guided visualizations to help you get a handle on your eating, meal by meal... snack by snack... day by day. To start, listen to two tracks a day -- the relaxation track plus the self-compassion track of your choice. In only 12 minutes a day, you’ll feel calmer, more optimistic, more able to choose delicious, nutritious foods. When you see for yourself what a difference compassion makes, you’ll want to extend your daily self-compassion practice to 20-30 minutes.

Psychotherapist Jean Fain specializes in what she likes to call "eating disturbances," the range of food-related issues that have serious physical and emotional consequences, but fall short of diagnosable eating disorders. Whether she's teaching at Harvard Medical School, seeing clients in her private practice or writing for publication, she is dedicated to helping people keep physically, mentally and emotionally fit.

You may have heard about Jean Fain's new book, “The Self-Compassion Diet: A Step-by-Step Program to Lose Weight with Loving-Kindness” (Sounds True, January 2011). Or maybe you’ve read her articles in Oprah Magazine, Shape, The Boston Globe.... Her writings and recordings help her share some of her favorite weight-loss tools with people beyond the scope of her private practice in Concord, Massachusetts.