ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes an integrative, non-dualistic, existential perspective to understanding embodiment with respect to conceptualizing and treating disordered eating. It begins with a brief review of the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of contemporary conceptualization of embodiment. The concept of embodiment is grounded in the existential philosophy of M. Heidegger, M. Merleau-Ponty, J. P. Sartre, and M. Foucault. Merleau-Ponty elaborated Heidegger's departure from Cartesian self-body dualism and fully developed the phenomenological understanding of embodiment. Sartre contributed to the philosophical understanding of embodiment by introducing the distinction between the lived body or lived corporeality and the physical body. Embodiment is conceptualized through several theoretical lenses: as embodied cognition, as unity of physiology and consciousness, and as developmental and sociocultural phenomenon. Existential Analysis (EA) understands embodiment as a holistic, integrated experience of the body, mind, and spirit. An EA framework provides an integrative, non-dualistic, and existential perspective for understanding and promoting embodiment.
