https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27723416

Yoga is being increasingly offered in eating disorder residential programs...yet we have a long way to go before yoga is offered as a matter of course to all inpatients with a diagnosis of an eating disorder. Yoga has been shown to be particularly beneficial to this population on account of increases in interoceptive awareness which, in turn, enables a deeper connection to, and assimilation of, emotions. People diagnosed with eating disorders often describe being cut off 'from the neck down'; many have spent so long ignoring physical sensations related to hunger, pain, emotion and all manner of other things that they become completely cut off from the lived experience of their bodies. Yoga can beautifully bind together these severed connections, alongside numerous other psychological, physical, emotional and spiritual benefits.

In this study, 38 individuals in a residential eating disorder treatment program were randomised to a control or yoga intervention consisting of 1 hour of yoga before dinner for 5 days. Yoga significantly reduced pre-meal negative affect compared to treatment as usual; however, the effect diminished post-meal. Researchers explained that this preliminary evidence sets the stage for larger studies examining yoga and eating disorder treatment and prevention.