Restorative Yoga and Eating Disorder Recovery: An Intro

The restorative yoga practice was developed by B.K.S. Iyengar in India as a therapeutic style of yoga for injuries or illness. Restorative yoga uses props like bolsters, blankets, straps, and more to support the body in various positions, which are held for several minutes or longer.

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Dear Eating Disorder Recovery Warrior, I hope you become your "Safe Space."

Both struggles and wins in our recovery raise our awareness. The eating disorder thrives in the unexplored. They both give us indispensable experiences. We need both. And it is this awareness that is so powerful because it gives us insight and understanding that we need to move forward.

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Identifying the Eating Disorder Voice

While at sometimes it can be pretty easy to decipher between the eating disorder voice and our authentic voice, at other times it can be pretty difficult. It can be hard to understand where some of our thoughts are coming from, if they are our own or if they are the eating disorder voice disguised as our own.

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Shifting from Compulsive to Intuitive Movement

There is no doubt that movement is a great thing for both our bodies and our minds, however in today’s toxic fitness culture exercise can easily become obsessive and dangerous. Unfortunately, disordered or compulsive exercise has become so normalized that it can be hard to recognize when your relationship with movement has crossed into unhealthy territory. Here are some warning signs that you may want to reevaluate your exercise habits.

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Grow as You Go Week 5: Bloom Where...ever You Want

Have you ever heard the phrase “bloom where you’re planted?” I have sometimes wondered, what does that really mean? I suppose the meaning changes when you actually know where you’re planted. For example…

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Grow as You Go Week 4: Pest Control

On a scale of 1 to 2020, how much negativity are you facing today? When it comes to the struggle, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how real it is. I am writing this in late September 2020, the gift that keeps on giving. (Or rather, taking.) On the one hand…

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Grow as You Go Week 3: Symbiotic Relationships

They say no person is an island. And honestly, that’s not a great comparison, because even no island is an island! Islands are not a stand-alone ecosystem by any means. Their survival depends on the surrounding waters, the climate, migrating animals, and so on. Similarly, we as people are all connected and dependent on each other for survival, at least, and to thrive, at best…

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Grow as You Go Week 2: Cultivate Positivity

Sticking with a new venture sometimes feels even harder than beginning one. A little of the newness dissipates and some of the shine seems slightly less lustrous. I recently heard a phrase, “familiarity breeds contempt.” And it stopped me in my tracks; it was the truest thing I’d heard in a long time. So how do we keep ourselves in motion once the initial energy burst has expired?

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How Self-Compassion can help Body Image

When the idea of body image work feels too overwhelming, start with self-compassion towards oneself around the suffering of body image distress.

Kristin Neff, a self-compassion researcher, author, and Associate Professor, describes self-compassion as having three different components.

  1. self kindness vs self judgement

  2. common humanity versus isolation

  3. mindfulness vs. over-identification

Self- Kindness is a very active stance and practice of soothing and taking care of one's suffering while self-judgment may look like judging and criticizing the suffering.

Common humanity is framing one’s experience as part of a larger human experience while isolation is isolating oneself and the experience.

Mindfulness allows us to notice our suffering and to be with the suffering as it is and be with it to then be able to give ourselves the caring and compassion we need.

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