ABSTRACT
Scientific knowledge and yoga practice help patients transition to Mindful Eating. Mindful Eating guides patients through an integrated progression of layering awareness onto Structured Eating. The juggling patient may try holding the back end of a small flashlight in their mouth, to free up both hands. In Structured Eating, patients may notice unwelcome noises in their body, such as hunger rumbles and gas. But in Mindful Eating, they begin to be present with their body’s needs, demands, and urges. Mindful Eating techniques and practices help patients get more intimate with the food and their bodies. Mindful Eating is hard work for people with eating disorders, because they all have different ways of understanding awareness. Therefore, clinicians must be sensitive to, and start teaching from, where the patient’s understanding is now—even if they are disconnected from their embodied experiences and sensations.
