Meditation is a practice where you focus your mind to reach a state of calm, clarity, and emotional balance. Meditation has been used to help create mental well-being, reduce stress, and enhance self-awareness for thousands of years dating all the way back to 5000 BCE. This is a tool where practice, practice, practice helps to make it more effective. Mediation is not a quick fix. This practice will NOT produce instant lasting results in the beginning. It is a well established fact that it takes about 21 days for our minds to actually believe what we are trying to teach it. Remember, practice makes everything work better. So practice, practice, practice!
Using meditation is a powerful tool for ED recovery because it helps cultivate mindfulness, emotional regulation, and a healthier relationship with food and the body. Meditation helps individuals become more present in the moment, making it easier to recognize hunger and fullness cues rather than acting on automatic, disordered behaviors. It allows space to observe thoughts without judgment, reducing negative self-talk and body dissatisfaction. Eating disorders are often fueled by stress, anxiety, and perfectionism. Meditation lowers cortisol levels, promoting a sense of calm and control. It can help prevent stress-induced urges to binge, restrict, or engage in other disordered behaviors. Meditation strengthens the ability to sit with uncomfortable emotions rather than numbing them through food-related behaviors. It fosters self-compassion, helping to counter feelings of guilt or shame after eating. Mindful meditation encourages intuitive eating by improving awareness of physical and emotional hunger. It helps separate true hunger from emotional cravings, reducing impulsive eating behaviors. By strengthening impulse control, meditation can help lessen the urges to binge, purge, or overexercise. It creates a pause between thought and action, allowing for healthier choices. Many eating disorders leave us with severe low self-esteem and body dissatisfaction. Meditation fosters gratitude, acceptance, and self-love. Practices like loving-kindness meditation help redirect harsh self-judgment toward compassion.
Meditation is not nearly as difficult as you might think. Though it is a technique that needs practice. You can practice it anywhere you can find a quiet place to relax. There is no time limit on how long you need to meditate. If you only have 5 minutes or 30 minutes, you can do it. Start small. As you get more comfortable and experienced you can gradually increase the time you meditate. Try not to spend time wondering if the time you have set for yourself to meditate is soon to be up.
Begin by finding a peaceful and quiet environment where you won’t be disturbed. A quiet room, a corner in your home, or even a park is all you need. If practicing this in your own home you may want to set up a calm, clutter-free corner for meditation. Having an actual visual item can help you to focus. I love grooming horses because doing that gives me a sense of deep inner peace, so I have a horse statue I can focus on. I find that soft music with no vocals helps me to get into the mind space needed. Sit in a comfortable position. You can sit cross-legged on the floor/ground, on a cushion, or in a chair with your feet flat on the ground. If you are out in nature, sitting against a tree will work. Stay flexible, if sitting still feels challenging, try walking meditation or mindful breathing while doing daily tasks Keep your back straight but relaxed; this may take some practice to relax. If possible, try to meditate at the same time each day (like after waking up or before bed) to build it into your routine. This is not a requirement, but rather to help you to create a daily ‘go-to’ routine.
Next close your eyes. This helps reduce distractions and increase your attention towards relaxing. Focus on your breath. Breathe normally, naturally and pay attention to your breath. Notice your inhale and exhale. Feel the sensation of air entering and leaving your nose or how your chest and belly rise and fall. If it is possible, try to “belly breath” which is a technique where you breath deeply and are able to fill your belly, not just your lungs with air. If you can’t do belly reaching don’t worry, it’s okay.
It’s natural for distracting thoughts to arise. Instead of fighting them, gently acknowledge them and bring your focus back to your breath. You may have to do this repeatedly especially when just beginning to practice meditation. Don’t beat yourself up if you find you need to do this a lot. That is so very normal. Meditation takes practice, so don’t be discouraged.
When you are done, slowly open your eyes. Take time to notice how you feel before moving on with your day. If it feels good, you can wiggle your hands, feet, arms or legs.
Some of the best meditation practices for eating disorder recovery are:
Mindfulness Meditation: This form of meditation focuses on the present moment, body sensations, and breath.
Body Scan Meditation – Helps reconnect with the body in a neutral, non-judgmental way.
Loving-Kindness Meditation – Encourages self-compassion and positive affirmations.
Guided Meditations for Eating Disorders – Many apps and YouTube videos offer recovery-focused meditations.
Mantra Meditation: This method uses silently repeating a word, phrase, or sound to focus the mind. For me, who lived in consistent state of fear, the phrase “I am safe” is a phrase I found that helped lower my constant fear level from a 5 (on a scale of 1 – 5) down to a 1. I have since added other mantras to my meditation while still incorporating my original “I am safe” into my meditation occasionally throughout my mantras.
These apps offer guided meditations, courses, and timers to help you stay on track.
Headspace – Great for beginners with guided meditations, courses, and sleep aids.
Calm – Offers guided sessions, breathing exercises, and relaxing soundscapes. This is the app I use on a regular basis. It has both guided and unguided sessions with or without music tracks and many different time lengths to chose from.
Insight Timer – FREE and extensive, with thousands of guided meditations and music tracks.
Ten Percent Happier – Focuses on mindfulness and is great for skeptics.
Smiling Mind – Offers programs tailored for different age groups and stress levels.
Simple Habit – Ideal for busy people, with meditations as short as five minutes.
Other resources you may find helpful to learn or to practice meditation would be:
YouTube: Channels like The Honest Guys or Michael Sealey offer free guided meditations.
Podcasts: Check out podcasts like The Daily Meditation Podcast or Meditative Story.
Books:
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
10% Happier by Dan Harris
Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn (my dietician recommended this to me)
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I know and believe that those of us who suffer from an ED of any type can beat it. It is hard work and at times feels impossible; but I am sure it is a goal that is obtainable to all of you out there.
KEEP YOUR CHIN UP! Take baby steps towards your recovery, put one foot in front of the other and know, with a capital K, you CAN do it. Even if you can’t see it now, the world needs you!
Wings of Recovery 