The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast
348: Yoga for Eating Disorder Recovery with Abbey Morris
Eating disorders are a group of serious health conditions that affect about 70 million people worldwide. Yoga can be a helpful tool for people dealing with eating disorders or in recovery from them. Abbey Morris shares her personal journey and how yoga can support people in eating disorder recovery.
Abbey is a Mindfulness & Meditation Instructor, Sound Healer, and Ayurvedic Yoga specialist. At her studio, she hosts unique public yoga and meditation classes, educational workshops and retreats and works 1:1 with clients on their healing journey through these various modalities. Abbey’s speciality is in working with folks on the journey to recovery from eating disorders/disordered eating and working on a more loving relationship with oneself.
In this episode, Abbey shares the details of her own journey with disordered eating, as well as how yoga and Ayurveda have been a supportive, healing, and nurturing space for her through her recovery. She also highlights how she now works with others in recovery from eating disorders, including offering a series of yoga classes without any movement practice! Abbey explains the ways yoga teachers can support their students through recovery or dealing with an eating disorder through their cues, language, and more.
[1:58] Shannon shares what sparked inspiration for this episode.
[4:50] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Abbey Morris.
[7:36] What does Abbey do and who does she do it for?
[12:40] How did yoga help Abbey in recovering from her eating disorder?
[23:01] Abbey talks about her journey of being reintroduced to Ayurveda.
[33:05] Shannon pops in with a message about a 5-day website boot camp hosted by OfferingTree.
[34:14] Did Abbey's yoga teachers or yoga teacher trainers know that she was dealing with an eating disorder?
[37:37] Having an awareness that our students may be dealing with an eating disorder or in recovery from it is important! What are some things yoga teachers may be doing that are not helpful to this population?
[46:29] Abbey has a yoga offering that does not involve any movement. She shares more about that.
[56:04] Where can yoga teachers learn more about supporting students who are dealing with eating disorders or in recovery.
[62:05] Shannon reflects on her key takeaways from this conversation.
Yoga for Eating Disorders Program: Everything Yoga Without The Mat
Previous Episodes about Eating Disorders & Diet Culture
338: Eating Disorder Informed Yoga with Jennifer Kreatsoulas
048: Eating Disorder Education for Yoga Teachers with Tabitha Farrar
292: Taking Diet Culture out of Yoga with Jessica Grosman & Elyssa Toomey
307: Taking Diet-Culture Out of Ayurveda with Diane Finlayson
Yoga for Endo and Pelvic Pain 7-Week Online Series with Sarah Garden
Gratitude to our Sponsors, OfferingTree and Pelvic Health Professionals.
"I finally let go of the pressure and the perfectionist attitude and the pushing and the going deeper or going harder or, you know, staying just a little bit longer. All of that was replaced with gratitude for just being in a body that could move."
"I was reminded that I am no different than all of these other moving parts around me in nature."
"Rather than it being so complicated as navigating digestion and nutrition can feel, it all became quite simple. And I realized that we are the ones that make it so complicated. Diet culture is the one that makes it so complicated."
"Ayurveda gave me a lot of agency and it transformed the way that I view nourishment and my body altogether."
"Nourishment is so much more than calories and what a disgrace it is to think that that's all it is."
"This goes to the idea of yoga being a practice and not a performance."
"If we only show up on our mats, when we're feeling like a million percent, then how is yoga supposed to help us through life?"
"Everyone's recovery is very different and yoga in your recovery can also look very different as well depending on what you're ready for and what resonates with you."