Treating Eating Disorders with Yoga
As a therapist who is also a certified and trauma-informed yoga teacher, I am a strong believer in utilizing the healing power of yoga.
The transition into parenthood is hard, and people often turn to what they can control - which can look like trying to control one’s body and what one eats.
When a person struggles with food and body, they are most likely disconnected from their body.
There are myriad reasons for doing this:
To disconnect from hunger and fullness cues.
To ignore distressing emotions, such as overwhelm when the baby is crying
To not feel uncomfortable body sensations, like the physical anxiety symptoms of racing heart rate or jitteriness
To feel separate from a part of you that experienced physical trauma, such as birth trauma
It is very common for people to cope with this bodily distress by numbing.
Whether it be restriction or binge eating, a person feels they can have a way of distracting from, or controlling, their distress.
It can be very difficult to be aware of one’s body because, as Bessel van der Kolk says, the body keeps the score.
However, recovering from trauma, coping with high stress, or healing one’s relationship with food and body, cannot solely be done through treating the mind.
The mind-body system is one, and it is just as important to tend to the body and what it holds.
Yoga is a gentle and compassionate way to begin this process.
It is a way to look inward, tune into the body, and learn to tolerate bodily sensations - including signals for hunger and fullness, or the distress you feel when the baby is crying..
It is a way to ground in the breath, re-learn how to relax the muscles, and begin to find the feeling of safety in the body again.
It is a way to learn how to trust the body again - to know that your body has you, loves you, and wants the best for you.
Bessel van der Kolk said, “As I often tell my students, the two most important phrases in therapy, as in yoga, are “Notice that” and “What happens next?” Once you start approaching your body with curiosity rather than with fear, everything shifts.”
This is all easier said than done, and I absolutely do not want to minimize the feat of coping through the difficult transition into parenthood, navigating pregnancy and birth, and healing one’s relationship with food and body.
Doing yoga from your own home can be a more comfortable way to start. YouTube has great resources, such as Yoga With Adriene. Or maybe even trying some stretching.
What would it be like to connect with your body today, if even for 5 minutes?
