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Hungry for Safety: A Felt Sense Polyvagal Approach to Eating Dysregulation

Mon Sep 14, 2026 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM PDT Online, Zoom
Reserve Your Spot

Hungry for Safety: A Felt Sense Polyvagal Approach to Eating Dysregulation

Mon Sep 14, 2026 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM PDT Online, Zoom
Reserve Your Spot

Somatic Mondays · An Open Community Gathering

Hungry for Safety

A Felt Sense Polyvagal Approach to Eating Dysregulation

With Jan Winhall, developer of the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model™
and Kirsten Hunneyball

🖥️ Zoom link will be emailed 1 day before the gathering.
Registering less than 24 hours before? You'll get the link right after you sign up. Be sure to check your inbox (and your spam folder, just in case).

About this gathering

Why is it so hard to change our relationship with food? Why do patterns like restriction, bingeing, or food anxiety feel so powerful, even when we know we want something different?

In this gathering, we explore the idea that food is not the problem. Through the lens of the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model™ (FSPM), developed by Jan Winhall, we look at how eating behaviors can be adaptive responses of the nervous system. Rather than seeing these patterns as failures, this approach invites a shift toward understanding them as the body's attempt to create safety and regulate overwhelm.

Together, we will gently explore how the nervous system shapes our relationship with food, and how the body communicates through sensation before behavior. There will be a simple experiential practice to connect with the felt sense and introduce a small pause between urge and action.

As we begin to understand the nervous system, new possibilities for safety, connection, and change can emerge.

What you'll take from our time together

  • Eating behaviors seen through a nervous system lens
  • A way to recognize patterns of activation and shutdown
  • A starting point for tracking internal states through the body
  • Room to move from self-judgment toward curiosity
  • A simple, body-based practice for more awareness and choice
Why your contribution matters
This gathering is offered on a donation basis, with a suggested contribution of $3. If that isn't possible for you, you're still very welcome to join.

If you can contribute, please do. Every contribution helps us continue offering these gatherings without a fee.
The recording of this session (without the Q&A) will be shared on our YouTube channel after the event.

Times by region

This 90 minute gathering begins at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time (PDT), that's:

Central US (CDT)12:30 p.m.
Eastern US (EDT)1:30 p.m.
UK & Ireland (BST)6:30 p.m.
Berlin (CEST)7:30 p.m.
🕒 Your local time isn't listed or you're not sure?
Tip: On this website, add your city and hover over PDT – 10:30 a.m. to see what time that is where you live.

About the presenters

Jan Winhall, M.S.W., P.I.F.O.T. is a psychotherapist, author, and educator who has worked in the field of trauma and addiction for over four decades. She is the developer of the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model™, an embodied approach to understanding addiction and dysregulation that brings together Eugene Gendlin's Focusing and Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory. She is the author of Treating Trauma and Addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model and co-directs Borden Street Clinic in Toronto. Her work reframes addictive behavior as an understandable attempt to regulate the nervous system, and offers a compassionate, body-based path toward change.
fspminstitute.com
Kirsten Hunneyball works with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model in supporting people through eating dysregulation and nervous system healing. She brings a warm, embodied, and practical approach to this work, helping people move from self-judgment toward curiosity and a felt sense of safety in their own bodies.
kirstenhunneyball.co.za

Recovery Reimagined workshops and community gatherings are educational and recovery-supportive spaces. They are designed to complement, rather than replace, professional mental health care, therapy, treatment or an individual's existing recovery program. Personal reflection and questions are welcome, but participation does not create a therapeutic or clinical relationship with Recovery Reimagined or a guest presenter.