Yoga, with its tenets of peacefulness, self-compassion, mindfulness, and self- empathy, both empowers and enhances recovery from eating disorders and body image despair. Yoga promotes harmony within and strengthens the relationship with the body through physical poses (asanas), breathing exercises (pranayama), non-harmful self-care (ahimsa), and meditation,
At 10 years old, I lost my mom to cancer. My dad moved us from where we’d lived for almost five years back home to be closer to relatives who could help, since he was now a single dad. I didn’t know how to process my mom’s death or the move. I don’t think anyone expects a kid or an adult to know how to process losing a parent, and my dad did the absolute best he could. Unfortunately, as the youngest child, I got preferential treatment during the grieving process. My dad would often tell my older brother and sister to go easy on me.
The biggest lie that Tumblr ever told me was that an androgynous body is a thin body.
As a genderqueer person, someone who doesn’t strictly identify as a man or a woman, I had always craved a more “androgynous body.” I wanted to be a mish-mash of masculinity and femininity, so that when people looked at me, they could not immediately categorize me.
And so I clung to the beautiful photo sets on Tumblr, the ones with impeccably genderless bodies… which all just so happened to be thin.
As someone who engages in community-based radical mental health work, I believe in the power of narratives in the fight against mentalism. Although not everybody has the privilege, capacity, or desire to share their narrative, the narratives that are shared re-shape the social perception of psychological disorders. These narratives force those who are unaffected to view mental illness from a humanizing and empowered perspective.
