Athletes frequently encounter intense physical and mental challenges that may lead to restrictive eating habits, compulsive workouts and dissatisfaction with their bodies. This is a topic not talked about enough. Many thanks to guest contributor Beth Rush for raising awareness and discussing why yoga can be helpful for athletes who struggle with eating disorders and body image.

Learn how body awareness practices quiet self-criticism, strengthen emotional balance, and rebuild trust through mindful daily routines.

I love being a yoga therapist. It's an absolute privilege to hold space for individuals and share the practices, philosophies, and tools of yoga to support them in the shifts and changes they wish to make in their lives. Many thanks to Sofia Health for inviting me to share about the benefits of yoga therapy for eating disorder recovery in this interview.

Meet guest contributor Stacy J. Bryant, who shares how, through her gift of writing, realized she was struggling with disordered eating. Read how she is meeting herself where she is each day through yoga and therapy to heal the shame that lived beneath the eating disorder behaviors and thoughts for so long. Stacy’s writing is beautiful, and you will be moved!

For Lisa Faremouth Weber, developing daily rituals and routines helped her overcome decades of suffering from eating disorders. Read Lisa’s story of recovery and how she uses daily rituals to gain power, strength, and personal sovereignty in her life.

Guest contributor Sarah Webb shares how living with scoliosis affected her body image, causing her to feel trapped in a broken body. Sarah describes the pain she endured as well as the hope that she felt after attending her first yoga class. For Sarah, yoga was the beginning of true healing, offering a path to feeling empowered and whole in her body.

How would giving yourself permission to see yourself as part of the whole rather than a collection of imperfect parts change your relationship with your body? Somewhere along my body image journey, this was a question I began asking myself daily. Surprisingly, with time and support, I felt a shift, a sense of wholeness versus a fragmented mess of imperfect body parts. If you struggle with body image, this blog offers some guidance on how to practice “seeing” yourself as a whole being.

In her final blog of our 12-month series, Niya Bajaj explores how the experiences of systemic exclusion and the power imbalance in healthcare systems impact how people seek help for eating disorders, and how yoga therapy can support inclusive recovery. 

In this month’s blog series, Niya Bajaj explores how the experiences of stigma and silence around mental health concerns, including eating disorders, impact how people seek help and how yoga therapy can support inclusive recovery.