There is a growing body of research exploring the effectiveness of yoga as a pathway to positive embodiment for those at-risk for and struggling with eating disorders. This book provides a comprehensive look at the state of the field. This book begins with an introduction to positive embodiment, eating disorders, and yoga. It also offers insights into the personal journey of each of the editors as they share what brought them to this work. The first section of this book explores the empirical and conceptual rationale for approaching eating disorder prevention and treatment through the lens of embodiment and yoga. The next section of the text integrates the history of embodiment theory as related to yoga and eating disorders, provides the logic model for change and guidance for researchers, and offers a critical social justice perceptive of the work to date. The third section addresses the efficacy of yoga in the prevention and treatment of eating disorders including a comprehensive review and meta-analysis as well as five research studies demonstrating the various approaches to exploring the preventative and therapeutic effects of yoga for disordered eating. The final section of this book closes with a chapter on future directions and offers guidance for what is next in both practice and research. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special edition of Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention.

Tools for the clinician to help clients turn their bodies into resources for healing from eating disorders. Embodiment refers to the lived attunement of the inner and outer experience of self. Cognitions are aligned with the sensing and feeling body. Further, in an attuned experience of self, positive embodiment is maintained by internally focused tools, such as self-care practices that support physiological health, emotional well-being, and effective cognitive functioning. For those who suffer from eating disorders, this is not the case; in fact, the opposite is true. Disordered thinking, an unattuned sense of self, and negative cognitions abound. Turning this thinking around is key to client resilience and treatment successes. Catherine Cook-Cottone provides tools for clinicians working with clients to restore their healthy selves and use their bodies as a positive resource for healing and long-term health. The book goes beyond traditional treatments to talk about mindful self-care, mindful eating, yoga, and other practices designed to support self-regulation.

There is a growing body of research exploring the effectiveness of yoga as a pathway to positive embodiment for those at-risk for and struggling with eating disorders. This book provides a comprehensive look at the state of the field. This book begins with an introduction to positive embodiment, eating disorders, and yoga. It also offers insights into the personal journey of each of the editors as they share what brought them to this work. The first section of this book explores the empirical and conceptual rationale for approaching eating disorder prevention and treatment through the lens of embodiment and yoga. The next section of the text integrates the history of embodiment theory as related to yoga and eating disorders, provides the logic model for change and guidance for researchers, and offers a critical social justice perceptive of the work to date. The third section addresses the efficacy of yoga in the prevention and treatment of eating disorders including a comprehensive review and meta-analysis as well as five research studies demonstrating the various approaches to exploring the preventative and therapeutic effects of yoga for disordered eating. The final section of this book closes with a chapter on future directions and offers guidance for what is next in both practice and research. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special edition of Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention.

This is an insightful and essential new volume for academics and professionals interested in the lived experience of those who struggle with disordered eating. Embodiment and Eating Disorders situates the complicated – and increasingly prevalent – topic of disordered eating at the crossroads of many academic disciplines, articulating a notion of embodied selfhood that rejects the separation of mind and body and calls for a feminist, existential, and sociopolitically aware approach to eating disorder treatment. Experts from a variety of backgrounds and specializations examine theories of embodiment, current empirical research, and practical examples and strategies for prevention and treatment.

For five decades, negative body image has been a major focus of study due to its association with psychological and social morbidity, including eating disorders. However, more recently the body image construct has broadened to include positive ways of living in the body, enabling greater understanding of embodied well-being, as well as protective factors and interventions to guide the prevention and treatment of eating disorders. Handbook of Positive Body Image and Embodiment is the first comprehensive, research-based resource to address the breadth of innovative theoretical concepts and related practices concerning positive ways of living in the body, including positive body image and embodiment. Presenting 37 chapters by world-renowned experts in body image and eating behaviors, this state-of-the-art collection delineates constructs of positive body image and embodiment, as well as social environments (such as families, peers, schools, media, and the Internet) and therapeutic processes that can enhance them. Constructs examined include positive embodiment, body appreciation, body functionality, body image flexibility, broad conceptualization of beauty, intuitive eating, and attuned sexuality. Also discussed are protective factors, such as environments that promote body acceptance, personal safety, diversity, and activism, and a resistant stance towards objectification, media images, and restrictive feminine ideals. The handbook also explores how therapeutic interventions (including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Dissonance, and many more) and public health and policy initiatives can inform scholarly, clinical, and prevention-based work in the field of eating disorders.

Features contributions from more than 15 experts in eating disorders treatment, yoga practice, and research Edited by well-known eating disorder specialist and treatment pioneer, Carolyn Costin, and family expert Joe Kelly—both successful authors and speakers Written in accessible, compelling language that will make it a useful resource to practitioners as well as general readers

It’s hard to decide which is more frightening--the “food” teenagers enjoy, or the things they say about their bodies. Whether it’s your son’s passion for chips and soda or your daughter’s announcement that she “feels fat,” kids’ attitude about how they look and what they should eat often seem devoid of common sense. In a world where television and school cafeterias push super-sized sandwiches while magazines feature pencil-thin models, many teens feel pressured to starve themselves and others eat way too much. Blending her experience as the mother of four with results from a survey of nearly 5,000 teens, Dr. Diane Neumark-Sztainer shows you how to respond constructively to “fat talk,” counteract negative media messages, and give your kids the straight story about nutrition and calories, the dangers of dieting, and eating right when they’re away from home. Full of examples illustrating the challenges teens face today, this upbeat and insightful book is packed with great ideas that will help kids everywhere feel better about their looks and make healthier choices about eating and exercise.

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Explains what makes people love and appreciate their bodies, and offers advice on how we can all do the same.

Journeys of Embodiment at the Intersection of Body and Culture: The Developmental Theory of Embodiment describes an innovative developmental and feminist theory—understanding embodiment—to provide a new perspective on the interactions between the social environment of girls and young women of different social locations and their embodied experience of engagement with the world around them. The book proposes that the multitude of social experiences described by girls and women shape their body experiences via three core pathways: experiences in the physical domain, experiences in the mental domain and experiences related directly to social power. The book is structured around each developmental stage in the body journey of girls and young women, as influenced by their experience of embodiment. The theory builds on the emergent constructs of 'embodiment' and 'body journey,' and the key social experiences which shape embodiment throughout development and adolescence—from agency, functionality and passion during early childhood to restriction, shame and varied expressions of self-harm during and following puberty. By addressing not only adverse experiences at the intersection of gender, social class, ethnocultural grouping, resilience and facilitative social factors, the theory outlines constructive pathways toward transformation. It contends that both protective and risk factors are organized along these three pathways, with the positive and negative aspects conceptualized as Physical Freedom (vs. Corseting), Mental Freedom (vs. Corseting), and Social Power (vs. Disempowerment and Disconnection). - Examines the construct of embodiment and its theoretical development - Explores the social experiences that shape girls throughout development - Recognizes the importance of the body and sexuality - Includes narratives by girls and young women on how they inhabit their bodies - Invites scholars and health professionals to critically reflect on the body journeys of diverse girls and women - Addresses the advancement of feminist, social critical and psychological theory, as well as implications to practice—both therapy and health promotion