My approach:

My practical philosophy begins with the idea that in order to really know ourselves, we must first care for ourselves. Through care, we can cultivate a friendly and harmonious inner relationship. This means that when we are kind and compassionate toward ourselves, we are more able to get to know our many parts of self (including the dark and scary ones!). This makes it easier to resolve internal tensions that might affect the way we experience the world.

Through a process of philosophical inquiry, we can facilitate a transformation of character and discover the freedom through which we are able to direct our own self-cultivation. At the same time, we practice acceptance of the limits on our freedom and an understanding of those constraints. As a result, this path to wisdom shows us where our choices lie. Furthermore, it helps us see a variety of perspectives on our day-to-day lived experience through attending to ourselves and the world around us. Thus, my mission is to inspire you to care about yourself and awaken to your own being-in-the-world in such a way that you really start to get to know yourself and treat yourself with kindness and compassion.

Professional bio:

Katherine Dittmann, MA, MS, RD, is a nutrition therapist and philosophical practitioner specializing in eating behaviors, having worked with disordered eating across the spectrum of care since 2008. She uses a food-positive and practical approach, weaving in mind-body therapeutics and philosophical inquiry to help people connect with their bodies and eat with more ease. Katherine holds certifications in Philosophical Counseling (from APPA), MindBody Therapy (from Embodied Philosophy), Mindful Self-Compassion (from Center for MSC), and Mindfulness-Based Yoga Therapy for Eating Disorders (Beverly Price, RD).

She completed her nutrition masters thesis by investigating eating attitudes, spiritual beliefs, and body awareness in women who practice yoga (Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention, 2009). Her philosophy masters thesis, Self-Compassion as an Ethical Attitude in Foucault’s Care of the Self (2021), proposes that the way in which we relate to ourselves constitutes our primary ethical relationship, enabling us to exercise freedom in self-cultivation and ethical interactions with the world.