Solving Eating Disorders – Mindless Eating vs Mindful Eating

Are you suffering from stress or binge eating disorders? Your daily yoga practice can help you eat mindfully and stop binge eating.

Yoga offers a gentle and effective healing path to those suffering from eating disorders. Yoga can be used to augment traditional therapies and allopathic treatments to create a comprehensive system of recovery for eating disorders.

National Survey estimates 20 million women and 10 million men in America suffer from an eating disorder at some point in their lives. For these sufferers yoga provides a welcome relief and a way out. By approaching the root causes of eating disorders, yogic solutions are reliable and long-lasting without the fear of relapse.

Causes for Eating Disorders

Eating disorders like Bulimia Nervosa (overeating followed by induced vomiting, purging) or Anorexia Nervosa (starvation and obsession to lose weight) can be caused by a variety of factors like biochemistry, physical or psychological make-up or cultural reasons. Societal pressure to conform to a certain body image plays a major role in instigating eating disorders.

For those suffering from eating disorders, food becomes an escape mechanism to deal with difficult situations. The individual indulges in unhealthy behaviors like dieting, starving, binging and purging to cope with stressful situations and overwhelming emotions. Although it may offer temporary relief these behaviors are self-destructive long-term and end up exacerbating symptoms and situations.

Understanding The Chemical Imbalance

In yoga, the body is seen as the sacred temple which houses the eternal spirit. The function of the body takes precedence over appearance. In this gentle disassociation from the physical form there is space for love and self-acceptance. You learn to step into the state of witness consciousness to view the body from a non-judgmental state of an observer.

This can help establish a healing relationship with the body. A relationship of appreciation and gratitude for the body is key to embarking on a path of complete healing. Yoga also advocates a method of non-violence towards ourselves, our body and others.

Establishing Mindfulness

An individual suffering from any form of eating disorder experiences a loss of empowerment over the body particularly during episodes of binge-eating or starvation. Yoga when practiced mindfully can help rewire the brain and establish a deep and meaningful connection to the body.

Reestablishing the connection also means bringing back awareness to the body. During episodes of binge eating an individual can lose awareness of the body. For this reason, people suffering from eating-disorders report being unable to taste the food after a point. Mindfulness established during a yoga routine can help one stay aware and present during episodes of binge-eating.

Rebuild Mental and Physical Strength

In yoga, you learn to seek the inner wisdom inherent to all human beings. When you perform yogic postures, the body is pushed past certain limitations. In holding the body in uncomfortable stances, one comes to terms with the discomfort. The mind also becomes more malleable and thus open to challenges that one is faced with.

Building mental and physical strength is the most fundamental aspect of any yoga practice. Pushing past one’s boundaries in a safe space through yoga, among individuals who are compassionate and supportive allows one to heal holistically.