In Gratitude For Those Who Have Trained and Inspired me in Bringing Yoga to the Eating Disorders Community

Early in my career, I owned and operated one of the first private nutrition practices in the country. As I began to treat more and more patients diagnosed with eating disorders, in collaboration with mental health therapists and physicians, I felt there was a missing link in our treatment approaches. When I sold my private practice, I embarked on a regular yoga practice and enrolled in the 200-hour yoga teacher training program with the nationally renowned Jonny Kest. As part of the training, we were assigned a special project, that spoke to us, to present to our training class. 

I chose yoga and eating disorders after reading Gretchen Newmark, MA RDN’s article in the Yoga Journal. In reading the article and completing my project, I realized that the missing link in eating disorders treatment was yoga! When I completed the yoga teacher training program in late 2003, with the required feedback sessions with Jason Hulshoff I knew what I needed to do…re-enter private practice with integrating yoga with eating disorders treatment. And that is exactly what I did, creating a systematic eating disorders treatment program integrating yoga with traditional therapies for patients first as groups, then intensive weeks, and finally a licensed and accredited comprehensive eating disorders treatment facility, the Inner Door Center.

When I brought yoga to the eating disorders community in 2003, I was inspired to offer an adjunct to eating disorders treatment based on the premise of, “conversation is a barrier to intimacy…you can talk your way out of feeling.” By incorporating yoga therapy into the eating disorders treatment program, Inner Door Center that I formerly owned and operated, offered patients the opportunity to get out of their heads and begin to feel their bodies and express their feelings, along with open their hearts and become more aware of the purpose that their eating disorder served. Yoga is a mindful practice that helps to create awareness. The first step to change is awareness. In the Reconnect with Food® yoga therapy system that I created for the treatment of eating disorders at the Inner Door Center, boasting wonderful testimonials, we were able to generate outcome data that showed significant improvement in the EAT-26 pre and post-treatment along with significant improvement in quality-of-life indicators.

Because so many eating disorders professionals around the country, and internationally, were intrigued by what we were doing, they too wanted to learn our method of incorporating yoga therapy in the treatment of eating disorders. I created and offered mindfulness yoga therapy training in eating disorders for professionals both locally, nationally, and internationally boasting many graduates of this program.

I have also written articles for Yoga Therapy Today, a publication of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, Behavioral Health Nutrition, Sports, Cardiovascular and Wellness Dietitians, along with Dietitians in Integrative and Functional Medicine Dietetic Practice Group (DPG) that you can find in this blog and enjoy reading. In addition, I am a contributor to Matthew Taylor, Ph.D.’s book, Fostering Creativity in Rehabilitation, and have written articles for Michael Lee's Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy publications who has also given my program the opportunity to offer hours toward PRYT's fully accredited yoga therapy training program. One of my most memorable creations is Reconnect with Food…Unplugged DVD featuring a yoga and discussion group of individuals who struggle with eating disorders, highlighting my method and produced by Jim Saliba and Jeremy Taylor of Burke Video Company.

I sold the Inner Door Center® in late 2016 but retained the rights to the yoga therapy training program in eating disorders for professionals. After leaving the Inner Door Center shortly after its sale, which closed under new management in early 2018, I have continued to offer my mindfulness yoga therapy training in eating disorders certificate program for professionals, along with a mentoring program in yoga and eating disorders. This program is now available for continuing education credit for a variety of professionals by a wide body of accredited organizations.

I am grateful for all of the teachers, professionals, and mentors that I have mentioned in this article. They have inspired me and supported me in creating this wonderful healing system for patients and professionals to incorporate into their work in eating disorders treatment.