Guest contributor Isabelle Gillibrand admits that she started practicing yoga to lose weight. Now, looking back on her own journey as well as how yoga is often marketed for weight loss, Isabelle is calling out why this is a problem and reminds us that, “Yoga is meant to celebrate you and your journey - not be a punisher.”

Guest contributor Isabelle Gillibrand shares how embracing an anti-diet mindset is a practice of the yoga concept of ahimsa, which means nonviolence or kindness. By including aspects of her own story as well as current research, Isabelle discusses components of the wellness industry that are harmful and seeks to help people live their yoga in all aspects of their lives, including in their relationship with their body, food, and health.

In this month’s blog series on yoga therapy and inclusive eating disorder recovery, Niya Bajaj investigates the impact of systemic exclusion on eating disorder recovery. She educates about how we can apply the niyama of tapas (TAH-pahs) to make systems more inclusive. Niya offers practical suggestions for how researchers, care providers, and individuals seeking care can practice tapas to build systems that are more inclusive.

Writer and yoga teacher Ashley Paige explains how the fifth chakra, also know as the throat chakra, relates to eating disorder recovery. Learn some practices to help heal this energy center so that you can be authentic in your words, and actions and feel empowered to communicate openly.

Writer and yoga teacher Ashley Paige explains how the fourth chakra relates to eating disorder recovery. Learn why taking steps to practice self-respect and self-love are cornerstones to healing our relationship with food and our body.

In her latest blog post, Niya Bajaj highlights how the experience of intersectionality--or multiple social identities--impacts eating disorders and recovery outcomes. She explores how the yoga concept of svādhyāya (self-study) guides us to deepen our awareness of what influences our identity and body image. Niya also explains how researchers and care providers can apply svādhyāya to help address eating disorders in a truly inclusive way by including systemically excluded populations in the eating disorder community.

Writer and yoga teacher Ashley Paige explains how the third chakra relates to eating disorder recovery. Learn why exploring your strengths, values, and sense of purpose are important for both recovery and this chakra.

In our latest blog series on yoga therapy and inclusive eating disorder recovery, Niya Bajaj investigates how gender identity impacts eating disorder recovery, and explains why yoga therapy —specifically the practice of pratyahara—can help support a more inclusive eating disorder recovery for transgender, non-binary and agender individuals.

Learn about the yoga philosophy known as the kleshas, or psychological blocks. The kleshas can be a helpful lens through which to understand how eating disorder thoughts and behaviors create blocks in our lives. As Ashley Paige shares in this blog post, once we understand the block, we can learn to make new choices that will lessen its intensity and eventually remove it.