Eating disorders, whether officially diagnosed or not, affect people of all ages, sizes, shapes and genders – up to 24 million people in the US alone, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. The stats are staggering. Our inner dialogue tends to have an awful lot to say about food, body image and how we should feel about ourselves. But yoga can be a powerful tool to counter those negative voices.
Yoga teacher and blogger Chelsea Roff knows this firsthand, and she’s teamed up with the Give Back Yoga Foundation to raise $50,000 to bring her program, Yoga for Eating Disorders, to treatment centers across the country as a free service as well as to conduct an evidence-based study on its effectiveness. She’s asking for your support.
More about Chelsea, her struggle with anorexia and how, eventually, yoga helped her thrive:
When I was 15 years old, I nearly died from a stroke caused by severe anorexia. I was 58 pounds, severely depressed, and had given up on my life. Two weeks before my 16th birthday, I was removed from my parents’ custody and placed under the custodianship of the hospital. I lived there for nearly 18 months.
When I got out of the hospital, my therapist encouraged me to try yoga. I was still significantly underweight and terrified of people, but I went… only to discover a practice (and community) that changed my life. I went from surviving to thriving; from living half a life to experiencing joy and freedom I never imagined possible. Over the past six years, I’ve developed a program called Yoga for Eating Disorders based on my experience. I offer it in hopes that others, too, can recover their lives from this disease.
Right now it’s a three-day program and every $5,000 will allow Chelsea to bring it to one facility. We’re hoping it will expand to a regular service or, in the very least, inspire these treatment centers to incorporate more yoga into their bill of recovery therapies.
The money will also allow Chelsea to visit and speak at local high schools and colleges about eating disorders and prevention. If you’re moved to make a donation head over to the Indiegogo campaign page and show your support. We did.
Here’s Chelsea’s campaign video:
image via www.cornwallfoundationtrust.nhs.uk
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Earlier…
Hi Chelsea!
My name is Jen Lyons and I’m an attorney about to open a Yoga/Pilates studio in downtown Boston! We are currently under construction but at 5, 289 sqft (we have 2 yoga studios, Pilates equipment studio and 2 massage rooms) we will be one of the largest studios around! We are slated to open late September…
The name of the studio is ProConditioning and we would love to partner/donate w/u and have you conduct one of your workshops at our studio.
Please let me know how you would like to proceed with next steps!
Kind Regards,
Jen
Thank you sooo much Chelsea for sharing your story 🙂
It completely resonates with me as I suffered from bulimia for most of my life. I am now in my early 50s and so recently discovered yoga and see the amazing changes that have already unfolded.
I am currently going through a yoga teaching certification with the hopes of sharing this remarkable gift! Listening to your video touches my heart in remembering the incredible pain and darkness that I went through and how now there is so much more joy and hope in my life.
I would love to keep in touch with you. I have a feeling I may want to target the eating disorder population also to share with them the benefits of this wonderful, wonderful practice.
May peace continue to be with you. Namaste.
Donna
I
Please email my daughter, Alexis your info. She is a 15yr old high school student. She is about to begin her sophomore year and has been accepted to the science research program and wants to study eating disorders. She is a big fan of yoga- been practicing since she was 8. She is hoping to tie this all together somehow in her research project.
roses4life14@aol.com
Thanks,
Susan
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