Families can play a crucial role in supporting recovery. While eating disorders are by no means a direct reflection of parents' or siblings' approach to food, it is necessary to be self-aware about food or movement. Whether you change rules around eating at the dinner table, how you comment on your own food intake or exercise choices, or even rethink comments about appearance in general, listening to your child and their support team can be incredibly helpful.

Beginning eating disorder recovery can be overwhelming. For many, beginning recovery signals an active choice to relearn the body’s cues, often the first thing to go when developing or maintaining an eating disorder. Because of this tendency to see one’s body as an enemy, learning to love your hunger cues, rest cues, energy cues, and discomfort is exhausting. And while there are many components to recovery, yoga has recently been studied for its focus on being present and listening to your body.

BALANCE blog intern Alyssa Gutierrez shares valuable information on how yoga can help someone suffering from an eating disorder.