Mindfulness, Movement and Eating Disorders

We’ve all heard the word.
We may well use it frequently in conversation.

But what do we really mean by being ‘mindful’ and engaging in ‘mindfulness’?

At its simplest level, mindfulness is all about living in the ‘now’. It’s the action of trying to remain present, without judgment or distraction.

Now, those of us with eating disorder experience know that achieving that ‘undistracted state’ is mighty difficult.

We might be physically in the company of our peers and loved ones, but our ‘eating disorder dialogue’ could be taking us to all kinds of faraway places.

Struggling to silence the ‘critical voice’ as we often do, we’ll find ourselves listening to internal conversation about weight, food consumption, meal preparation, binge windows, exercise requirements, punishing regimes and anything which serves to remind us of our ‘unworthiness’.

Indeed, most who have achieved recovery,  say that one of the greatest triumphs is to realise that their head is no longer battling all those distractions, and that they really are able to be ‘present’ with those they care for most.

Given this complex relationship with our minds through an eating disorder journey, it’s no wonder research suggests that adopting mindfulness techniques can indeed help quieten those voices, provide peace, encourage self acceptance – and, often, reduce the amount of restrict or binge cycles we succumb to.

Wednesday’s Child is a passionate believer in practices which have mindfulness at their heart.

We don’t just mean meditation, but equally, other craft or ‘attention focused’ activities which allow us to be present with something other than our eating disorder dialogue.

Today then, we’re delighted to announce that we’re introducing a new programme, routed in mindfulness, and built with eating disorder / body dysmorphia recovery in mind.

From April, we’re partnering with a fabulous yoga teacher by the name of Hannah McCarthy, who’ll be delivering an internationally recognised programme called Eat, Breathe, Thrive.

The programme focuses on appropriate body movement, on focused mindfulness, and on challenging eating distress and body dissatisfaction.

There will be much more from us to come in future weeks and months about this programme, but do check out details on our website, and look out for future online resources which also allow you to ‘dip into’ this approach remotely.

And, if you’d like to tell us about your own experiences of using mindfulness in eating disorder recovery, please get in touch.