In her clinical psychology practice, Joan “Joni” Dittrich, Ph.D., often counsels people about weight and eating issues. In her yoga instruction, Dittrich stresses the alignment of body, mind and spirit.

The doctor has combined the two into a new program she calls “Yoga, Meditation and Body Weight: Achieving Your Goals Through Self-Acceptance.”

“In my practice, I work with people who have weight issues and I looked for ways to combine the physical with the psychological aspects of weight loss management,” said Dittrich. “Many people have issues around eating and I deal with a variety of disordered eating.”

Dittrich admits she has struggled with weight issues in the past and has lost 30 pounds over the last five years while developing the program.

“I know what it’s like to be an overweight woman in today’s society. Now I’m 55 years old and feel younger with more self-confidence.”

The six-week program focuses on individual lifestyle changes and includes six 2-hour group sessions on Sundays and three 30-minute individual coaching sessions by appointment. It is open to both sexes and all ranges of ability. Participants do not need previous experience in yoga or meditation. Space is available for 12 people. Yoga classes will be held at Napa Valley Yoga and prior registration is necessary. Fee for the class is $550, with a deposit of $150.

“This is exciting and important to me,” said Dittrich, who has lived in Napa for 23 years. “This is how to lose weight and manage weight loss. I learned yoga in college and began studying seriously about five or six years ago. I’ve taught yoga for four years. The most important thing is to feel good about yourself. And when you start out overweight, you don’t feel good about yourself.”

She felt combining the psychology of eating behaviors and patterns with the yoga and meditation portion could give people the jump-start they need to reach their individual goals. Dittrich explained that yoga will improve strength, flexibility and overall health, meditation provides mental clarity and peach of mind, and psychological coaching strategies improve self-esteem, defeat old resistances and transform negative body image into self-love.

“We know there are negative patterns of eating behavior, including the cultural influences of size and food in general,” said Dittrich. “Yoga and meditation allow you to step back and observe your behavior. It gives you a pause so you can make choices. Often the overeating pattern is ‘I want that food; it tastes good, so I’ll eat more; I shouldn’t have done that.’ When you focus on yoga and eating behavior, one doesn’t stay stuck in the blame, which destroys self-esteem.”

The program will not recommend any diet regime, such as low carbohydrates or counting calories.

“Each person can choose their own eating plan and I’ll support it. What I want to do is teach people what they can do every day, so they feel good every day, not just the day that they’re with me.”

In the three individual sessions, Dittrich will assess the students’ goals, follow up to see if those goals are being met and strategize about how to meet their goals.

“The reason that diets don’t work is that people haven’t changed their lifestyles. They do something temporarily and then life takes over. With yoga and meditation, it feels so good to do it, you don’t feel good without it.”

Dittrich doesn’t mince words when talking about overeating.

“Eating is an addictive behavior. Sometimes people have to cut particular foods out of their lives. We comfort ourselves with food. We have to eat and it is a pleasure, yet so many people eat in secret. They hide their eating from people and feel terrible about it.”

In the future, she’d also like to introduce her program to adolescents.

“There is such a need. The food we provide for children is critical. If we eat fast food several times a week, we’re bound to get obese. People with children are so busy, though, they resort to fast food. That’s why the stress management portion of yoga and meditation is so important. We need to eat mindfully, not while we’re on the run. If we’re multitasking, even if we’re reading the paper while we’re eating, we’re not savoring the food.”

The type of yoga taught during the program is Anusara Yoga, a popular form of hatha yoga, which literally means, “flow with grace.” The emphasis of Anusara Yoga is on a set of “Universal Principles of Alignment.” Attainable bliss and joy in practice and everyday life are an important aspect of the underlying philosophy of this form of yoga.

“It’s very important to pay attention to alignment to avoid injury as well as aligning your body, mind and spirit,” said Dittrich.

The program suggests using two books as reference, “Eat by Choice, Not by Habit,” by Sylvia Haskvitz (Puddle Dancer Press) and “Yoga from Inside Out” by Christina Sell (Hohm Press).

Stressing that achieving ideal body weight should be done with self-acceptance and self-compassion, Dittrich says the coaching sessions will help participants set personal goals and overcome long-held self-defeating beliefs and behaviors.

“Anybody who had body image issues or weight image issues, no matter how big or small, can be dealing with these things.”

Dittrich has copyrighted the program and hopes to offer it several times a year. The first session begins on Jan. 14; there are no sessions over the President’s Day weekend. To register, phone (707) 258-1426 or email joniyogini@comcast.net.