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Inside a yoga therapy session for those with eating disorders

I’ve had a long career integrating yoga therapy into eating disorders recovery, a journey I outlined in “How Yoga Therapists Work: My Path to Supporting People with Eating Disorders.” But what does a yoga therapy session look like for someone who is, for example, struggling with binge eating disorder?

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How yoga therapists work: My path to supporting people with eating disorders

I started my career as a registered dietitian in the mid-1980s, hoping to bring evidence-based nutrition to the public. After working at a small community hospital, I started a private nutrition counseling practice, which I operated for more than 10 years. Although the practice was geared to general nutrition concerns, it wasn’t long before people with eating disorders sought out my services. 

In 2003, I immersed myself in a yoga practice and teacher training program. As I delved further into these studies, I realized that yoga was the missing link to eating disorders treatment. I found yoga to be instrumental in connecting individuals to their body, resulting in enjoyment of their body and defining it in terms of “what it can do” rather than “what it is.”

Yogatherapy.health

Yoga therapy can be a powerful healing tool for those who struggle with eating disorders. Throughout the continuum of care, yoga can be offered to patients. However, it is important for yoga practitioners to understand all facets of eating disorders before implementing yoga therapy with this population. This post will highlight how yoga therapists work in each level of care and discuss their experiences in integrating yoga therapy with patients. 

Early in my career, I owned and operated one of the first private nutrition practices in the country. As I began to treat more and more patients diagnosed with eating disorders, in collaboration with mental health therapists and physicians, I felt there was a missing link in our treatment approaches. When I sold my private practice, I embarked on a regular yoga practice and enrolled in the 200-hour yoga teacher training program with the nationally renowned Jonny Kest. As part of the training, we were assigned a special project, that spoke to us, to present to our training class. 

Supporting Patients with Eating Disorders Through Yoga Therapy

This article discusses the Business of Yoga Therapy and the path that led me to starting the first yoga therapy training in eating disorders for professionals. From a business standpoint, I share my guidance with other yoga therapists, including the importance of acknowledging those that have trained and inspired you for a similar business.

International Association of Yoga Therapists

How to Sell Your Private Practice

I have started and grown several businesses – two of which I have sold. One was a private nutrition practice, the other a comprehensive eating disorders treatment center. Consider how you can nurture, grow, shape and mold your business so you can sell it for a profit. This article discusses how to sell your private practice for registered dietitians.

Academy of Nutrition, Nutrition Entrepreneurs (NE) Dietetic Practice Group

Yoga therapy for eating disorders can help your patient go deeper than words alone. By observing your patient on their yoga mat as a trained yoga therapist, you can interpret what your patient is experiencing in that moment. Body centered therapies, such as mindfulness yoga, have gained momentum in the therapeutic community.

In yoga for eating disorders, we help our patients practice balancing effort with ease— sthira and sukha. Many yoga poses feel awkward and challenging - a metaphor for uncomfortable situations your clients experience in their lives. By using effort (sthira) but balancing this effort with ease (sukha), your client can gradually move into a yoga posture without tension, similar to the way they can approach their recovery. 

Yoga instructor. Yoga teacher. Yoga therapy. Yoga therapist. In the eating disorders treatment community, these terms are often used interchangeably. But are they one in the same? No. They are not.

Savasana is an important pose to complete each yoga therapy for eating disorders session with your patients. Active postures work to warm the body and break down old behaviors. Resting in savasana helps to cool the body to support the emergence of these new behaviors.