How yoga can aid anorexia recovery: a woman who struggled with body image issues explains how it helped her accept her body, listen to it and respect it

As a teenager, Kate Lee hated the way she looked, ‘spent three hours in the gym every day’ and barely ate. At her lowest, she weighed 42 kilograms
She took up yoga to lose more weight – but it ‘forced me to confront my body in ways that I had not before’. Now, she wants to use it to help others

Wellness

Bhakti Mathur

Published: 3:00pm, 14 May, 2022

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Kate Lee struggled with body image issues from a young age and was once borderline anorexic. She took up yoga because she wanted to lose more weight, but found it did something else altogether – it helped her recover from the disorder.

Anorexia is an eating disorder characterised by abnormally low body weight, an intense fear of gaining weight and a distorted perception of weight.

According to the Hong Kong Eating Disorders Association, 35 per cent of the people who sought help from its hotline over the last decade suffered from anorexia.

People with anorexia usually restrict their food intake, exercise a lot and have excessive thoughts of food and their body shape, which has a detrimental impact on their physical and mental well-being.

Lee says “practising yoga forced me to confront my body in ways that I had not before”. Photo: courtesy of Kate Lee

Lee, 21, grew up in Hong Kong and is studying for a degree in communications and entrepreneurship at Northwestern University in the US state of Illinois.

“As a teenager, I hated the way I looked,” says Lee. “I felt I was overweight even though I weighed 52 kilograms [115 pounds]. I spent three hours in the gym every day doing a combination of high intensity exercises, kick-boxing and weight training, and barely ate. I lost 10 kilos over a year [and weighed] 42 kilograms at my lowest, when I was 15.

“When I would look at a banana, I would see 100 calories in it and not the nutritional value.”

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Lee turned to yoga to become even thinner, and took up daily classes.

“At first, my aim was to lose calories. Over time, I noticed a shift in myself. Practising yoga forced me to confront my body in ways that I had not before. Observing my body and breath enabled me to experience my body.

“I felt present, noticing what was happening in the moment as opposed to having thoughts about the past or the future.”

Lee in Bali. She took up yoga because she wanted to lose weight. Photo: courtesy of Kate Lee

Yoga, she says, made her think of herself in more mindful and holistic ways.

“There is something about hearing and moving with your breath that calms you. Poses such as pashchimottanasana [seated forward bend], sirsasana [headstand] and urdhva dhanurasana [upward bow pose] helped me face my fears and centred me.

“With time, I came to accept my body, listen to it and respect it. Earlier, I did not see value in myself, outside the way I looked. Yoga made me realise that I am more than my body. My sense of security and self-worth increased.”

Lee says yoga made her think of herself in more mindful and holistic ways. Photo: courtesy of Kate Lee

Lee also incorporated pranayama (breathing techniques) into her yoga practice, practising kapal bhati (“skull shining breath”, forceful exhalations and automatic inhalations at a fast pace) 100 times daily.

“Focusing on my breath allowed me to observe my thoughts and not act on them.”

Victoria Fouladi, a teacher with the Iyengar Yoga Centre of Hong Kong, says the purpose of yoga is to quieten and calm the mind.

“Through the body, and the postures, the practitioner makes connections to her mind and self,” Fouladi says. “This creates a sense of wholeness. A new sense of self develops, full of confidence and contentment.”

Many people associate yoga with the physical postures (asanas) and pranayama. These are just two of yoga’s eight “limbs” – a series of steps that guide us towards meditation and ultimately enlightenment.

The others include yamas (outward practices such as ahimsa meaning “non-violence” and satya meaning “truthfulness”), niyamas (inward observances such as santosha meaning “contentment” and tapas meaning “discipline”), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (bliss).

“As a part of my yoga practice, I was introduced to the yoga philosophy of ahimsa and satya,” shares Lee. “I learned that the practice of non-violence means practising physical, mental and emotional non-violence towards others and myself. I realised that I was being violent and untrue to myself and my body by starving it of the fuel it needed.”

Fouladi says yoga can create “a sense of wholeness”.

Seven months after taking up yoga, Lee regained the weight she had lost. “The feeling of wanting to lose weight was not there any more,” she says. She continues to practise yoga daily.

“Eating disorders are symptoms of underlying problems like depression, stress and perhaps low self-worth. The asanas are effective tools to boost confidence and improve self-esteem,” Fouladi says, noting they are powerful tools for transformation.

Energetic poses like jumping up into adho mukha vrksasana (handstand) or more calming asanas like supta baddha konasana (reclining bound angle pose) both increase confidence and boost the spirits, she adds.

Lee at a vegan street fair in Los Angeles in 2022. She became vegan after starting yoga. Photo: courtesy of Kate Lee

“Asanas also take a person’s mind off of their woes and in both the short- and long-term break unnecessary thought patterns that may lead to eating disorders and create new healthy perspectives.”

Months after starting yoga, Lee became vegetarian and then vegan. This mindfulness came to shape her career – she became the product manager of HappyCow, an online platform that lists vegan and vegetarian food options around the world.

Lee also trained to be a yoga teacher with the Yoga Room in Hong Kong and studied yoga in Bali in Indonesia, with a focus on women and their menstrual cycle.

Lee says she wants to “share what I have learned and help others” through yoga. Photo: courtesy of Kate Lee

“My menstrual cycle was affected for more than a year because of anorexia. I wanted to understand how yoga could help regulate my periods.”

Lee says that yoga helped her accept her body the way it was and to not worry about the future. Training to become a teacher has deepened her practice – and the possibility of teaching yoga excites her.

“Yoga changed my life. I want to share what I have learned and help others.”

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