Yoga For Eating Disorders Recovery

All my life, I struggled with a food addiction. Actually it was a bit more complex than a simple food addiction, it was full-blown bulimia and strong poor body image issues, but my addiction to food and sugar was definitely a problem.

Breaking this deep-rooted destructive addiction was not easy, that’s for sure! But some basic and inexpensive things helped me so much than expensive treatments.

Yoga was one of them! So I read all the things I could possibly find about that and started to interview yoga teachers to understand better how yoga could possibly help people breaking free from food addictions or eating disorders.

Here is what I found…

Yoga, as all physical activities releases endorphins, our feel-good neurotransmitters, in our brain within about 30min after starting your activity.

We also know that 3 hours of sport per week tend to have the same impact as antidepressant on our brain chemistry, without the side effects. Knowing that yoga classes generally last for 1.5 hour, this is pretty easy to get there if you practice only 2 times per week.

On top of that, yoga is pretty different form other kind of exercises as the focus is clearly maintained on your breath. This is when yoga becomes a type of moving meditation, which allows us to focus on the present moment and accept our body for what it really is. This is quite powerful when struggling with food issues or poor body image.

People suffering from such problems are often stuck worrying about the past, the future or their body image. Their perception of reality is highly distorted and yoga has the ability to help them resetting that. It has definitely helped me to see my body differently and to be grateful for it.

By practicing yoga poses, we will also stretch our body in a certain way to allow energy to flow freely. This way, we will be able to release blocks of energy, emotions, traumas and feelings that have been stored in our body.

Everyone is storing blocks of energy in his/her own body, but I think this is definitely accentuated when suffering from eating issues. When dealing with food addiction, we usually use food to cope with emotions, traumas or feelings. Using food to numb these sensations doesn’t allow us to release this energy and that’s why lots of energy can be stored in our body.

Practicing yoga will allow you to release these blocks of energy, cleanse and realign your chakras, which is pretty powerful and beneficial when struggling with addictions.

Yoga has many other benefits. It allows you to improve your breathing, relax your mind, de-stress your body, tone your body, improve your flexibility and your peace of mind. When practiced in the evening, yoga also helps you sleep like a baby, which can be very beneficial for people with sleep issues.

I would recommend everyone to try yoga but if you are struggling with addictions, especially food addiction, I think you should definitely try it a couple of times per week for a few months. It has changed my life and I am sure it can change yours as well.

Now I’d love to hear from you!

Have you ever experienced benefits from yoga, if so, please share your insights in the comments below. I know we would live o a better planet if everyone of us was practising yoga, so help us get there!

xox