Eating disorders suck. Food is such a social activity and we are all striving to find our community, that sense of belonging, that sense of inclusion. Food fuels and nourishes our bodies. Without it, our bodies would wither away. To practice yoga then is to practice the mindful presence of being in the body through activities such as walking, asana, and eating. Practices that invite us to be in our senses – to tap into our sensory natures require that we be in our bodies. 

• Consuming food is an utterly sensory activity. The smells, the taste, the environment, the sounds, the textures. Yummy food and having a delicious meal is a practice of being in our bodies.
• Yoga is also very sensual. Dancing to the beat of our breath in our bodies and making shapes we might not normally. The physical pleasures and sensations of stretching and lengthening and moving and strengthening our bodily tissues. The heat, the music, or the sounds.
• Kink often too is a very sensory experience, granting ourselves and others rights to sexual pleasure in the body and those feel-good sensations. The textures, tapping into what feels nice, even allowing the experience to sometimes offer us meditative feelings of physical and mental presence. Sexual pleasure lures us to occupy the space of our bodies. Pleasure is our birthright. As a society, there is a good bit of mixed messaging going on right now around both body size and the exploration of our sexual desires. Somehow, we are seemingly encouraged and still very censored in this exploration.