For so many of us in recovery, being “healthy” creates quite a conundrum. Although we commit to health and desire the benefits that come from being healthy, it can be painfully difficult to hear the words: “You look healthy.” Here I open up about the trouble I had with this word, and how I eventually learned to expand my definition of healthy from one rooted in eating disorder thinking to one that aligns with recovery values.

Meet guest contributor Evie Rose, who shares about making the brave, hard choice to leave university to seek help for an eating disorder and addiction. Evie describes how she’s integrated yoga into her recovery journey, and the many ways the practice has helped her feel again and move her body with intention and compassion. If you could use a little hope today that recovery is possible, give Evie’s post a read.

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.

Guest contributor Minh-Hai Alex, MS, RDN, RYT, helps understand why food guilt, which feels so personal, is an internalized response to eating because we are “a society that’s so inundated with dieting propaganda, often times imperceptibly, that it affects how we relate to ourselves and each other.”

A beautiful poem about healing and forgiveness by Dr. Jo, an anorexia survivor who now helps women celebrate their unique identities, boldly use their voices, and proudly take up space.

In a letter to the eating disorder that “came into our home, unannounced and uninvited” and affected a family member, guest contributor Barri Leiner Grant describes the tremendous grief she experiences as a result. In learning to acknowledge her own grief, Barri reaches out to other caretakers and family members, offering validation that their grief is also real and deserves time and space to heal.

Guest contributor Taylor Bowman loved to move as a child. From bopping her head or tapping her toe or shaking her hips, movement was a natural part of her. But this all changed when critical comments about her maturing and changing body caused Taylor to begin judging her body, which resulted in an eating disorder. In this blog post, Taylor shares her pain of feeling unworthy to move or exist in her body, and her triumph of reconnecting with her body through dance, yoga, and other forms of movement on her healing path to self-acceptance.

The health nut identity is far too common in our culture. It's often actually an eating disorder in disguise: orthorexia, an obsession with "healthy" eating. Caroline Young, MS, RD, LD, RYT, reflects on her years suffering from orthorexia and shares how she reclaimed her worth by letting go of her “health nut” mask.

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.