Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is the process of unpacking your mood, behavior, thoughts, and feelings for the purpose of bettering parts of your life. The techniques and specific modalities used in psychotherapy are exceptionally broad, and vary in therapeutic techniques that may focus on any or all of the above experiences.
Disordered eating and eating disorders are intertwined with psychology, as your body and mind coexist and overlap with each other. Finding, exploring, processing, and resolving underlying emotions, needs and trauma are a few of the ways psychotherapy can be helpful for the treatment of disordered eating and eating disorders.
Reiki
Reiki, originating in Japan, is a gentle form of energy healing that can be done in person or at a distance. Some of the benefits include decreased anxiety, physical healing and decreased physical pain. Reiki helps with removing “energy blocks” and areas of the body that hold what are called “chakras”, which are located over certain organs and nervous systems in the human body. People who experience a reiki session often report feeling a light and warm energy. Reiki can also be helpful in healing inner child work that we are unable to process on our own.
Reiki can be exceptionally helpful with disordered eating and eating disorders because it provides solutions by engaging directly with the wounded self instead of prompting excessive cerebral conversation that sometimes limits true healing. Often, words are not enough to heal wounds and thinking about what we are struggling with does not solve problems. Reiki allows the practitioner to do the work and healing. The work of the client is to accept this healing.
Shamanism
The word shaman comes from the ancient Tungus tribe of Siberia, which means “one who sees in the dark”. Shamanism, an ancient indiginieous wisdom, is the process of using an individual’s spirit guides and teachers. Some of these guides and teachers may be individuals who are no longer alive or specific spirit animals that are paired up with the individual. The shaman connects with these spirits or guides and asks them how to help the individual with their specific issues. The shaman will then be provided with specific tools, wisdom and directives that can be helpful in helping an individual get unstuck. Our shadows are brought to the light. Shamanism allows someone to go deeper, deeper than their mind allows, as deep as your heart goes and as deep as the universe’s heart.
Yoga
Yoga is a 5000 year old practice originating in India. Yoga practices teach connection – to the body, the mind, and the spirit and ultimately to an understanding that these parts of yourself are inseparable. In fact, the sanskrit word yoga means “union”. When working constructively together, all of these parts of you recognize that healing is your birthright. Through physical movement, conscious breath and focused meditation, you can strengthen your connection to self and find inner support to become strong and nourished. On a practical level, yoga can significantly help with digestion, mood and a way to learn how to be comfortable within your own skin.
Kundalini Yoga
Kundalini yoga is considered the most sacred form of yoga and has been passed down for thousands of years from master to student up until only recently (1960’s) being transmitted to the public by Master Yogi Bahjan. In Sanskrit, the word “kundalini” literally means “coiled snake”. Kundalini yoga allows you to access your own dormant internal energy, which is symbolized as the “rising of a coiled snake from the base of your spine”. From a scientific standpoint, the human nervous system runs through this same area and is engaged throughout most kundalini practices. Every emotion, memory, and sensation that humans go through is carried through this nervous system. Research shows us that stimulating this nervous system appropriately promotes an increased sense of wellbeing and positive mood, decreased anxiety and a significant decrease in post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.
In particular for eating disorders and disordered eating, Kundalini yoga is helpful because it throws you off your guard, hence off your ego and strict rigid ways of thinking. If yoga is the road to a different state of being, Kundalini yoga is the rocket ship that allows you to experience a completely different state of consciousness.
Career Counseling
The career counselor guides you on a journey to discover your strengths, learning style, and preferences regarding lifestyle, social interactions, and working conditions and then helps you use this knowledge to explore career clusters that most closely fit who you are.
Career counseling can be integral to healing because it puts recovery in action. Our wounds and passions are intertwined. Finding a place to put our passions often lets us heal in ways that we could only experience when we put who we are and what we learn into long-term and sustainable action
Meal Support
Eating is one of the most beautiful experiences that we humans get to have. It’s our time to nourish our bodies so that we can have energy to experience the many things life has to offer. When we eat with others, we figuratively and physically break bread together, giving us the opportunity to connect, get to know and deepen relationships with others. Unfortunately, for many of us, eating has become a source of anxiety and fear. The sacredness of a meal has been overcome by these strong emotions which block us from enjoying ourselves.
Meal support can aid in helping you reduce your anxiety at mealtimes and teach you to open up to receiving nourishment; not just from the food but from the experience of eating as well. Your coach will be supportive and attentive to your needs during the meal and will do their best to help you create a more positive experience during mealtime.
Astrology
Astrology is the study of the influence of cosmic objects, such as stars and planets, on human lives. The position of these cosmic objects at the time of our birth shape our personalities and dispositions. Astrology and its insights are a tool – a map to our patterns, loops, and cycles and a lens that sharpens our view of ourselves. Looking at health through an astrological lens can give insight into current challenges with food and eating as well as a vast number of solutions – from creating a sustainable routine around food and lifestyle to unpacking personal and generational trauma. Through astrology we can understand from a more objective perspective where our challenges and limiting beliefs may be holding us back and form a path forward towards healing and wholeness.
Coaching
Coaching can be an essential strategy for helping those individuals with eating disorders or disordered eating progress towards their journey to full recovery. A coach is very forward focusing, helping the client stay committed to their goals while offering them valuable tools to troubleshoot obstacles and move past fear. The coach focuses on the here, now and future thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and the how of recovery rather than the psychological issues or diagnosis which is done by the work of a therapist.
The coach will help you; develop a positive body image, utilize specific tools to help cope with difficult emotions, challenge the eating disorder thoughts, cultivate a strong authentic healthy voice, and let go of dieting behaviors. During the coaching process, focus will be on restoring menses, improving digestion, deepening sleep, rewiring food fears, navigating triggers, and nutritionally rehabilitating the body. You will feel empowered to better take care of yourself and understand the importance of balance in all things related to health and wellness so that you can THRIVE!
Nutrition Coaching
Nutrition coaching aids individuals in learning how to nourish their body correctly. Nutrition coaching will look different for each individual client and may include using a meal plan, helping the client learn how to tune into hunger and fullness cues, explore self-sabotaging behavior related to disordered eating recovery and reasons a person may use food or “a diet” to soothe non-food related issues. Nutrition coaching uses a team approach where the client is responsible for helping the dietitian come up with goals that feel comfortable & realistic for them, rather than the dietitian simply telling the client what to do.
