Yoga & eating disorders: Changing policy

James Downs is using yoga teaching to raise awareness of mental health, and to rethink the approach to the treatment of eating disorders.

By Olivia Gillman

James Downs’ childhood hero is Harry Potter. He says this is because they have the same birthday and he had a bit of an identity crisis, where he was convinced he would get his own letter from Hogwarts. However, if James was ever unsure of identity in his childhood, this is a world away from the accomplished individual I meet today. James Downs isn’t your average twenty something. Working as a mental health campaigner, he has represented a wide range of charities participated on various NHS committees, lectured on Cardiff University courses, and is a central member of the Cross-Party Group for Eating Disorders at the Welsh Assembly. Additionally, he writes for The Huffington Post and has made numerous television appearances. His biography provides an impressive backdrop to a current project he runs: using yoga teaching (James is a freelance yoga instructor and Cambridge University Masters student) to raise awareness of mental health. He speaks to me today en route to Prague, where he’s touring with the university’s Musical Society Symphony Orchestra.

Olivia Gillman: Thanks for talking to WorldLabs today, James… and with everything amazing you do, it will be hard to focus only on one area of your work. You’ve just mentioned to me that music is a great release for you – but who is your favourite musician?

James Downs: This is too difficult, especially because I am a classical musician as well as a lover of lots of genres of music. Amy [Winehouse] is close to my heart though because of the difficulties she went through but the strength and beauty that shone through in her art. Also, the Amy Winehouse Foundation has provided a lot of funding and support for eating disorders charities in recent years.

OG: It strikes me that you also provide a notable amount of support to eating disorder charities. Where have your interests in mental health stemmed from?

JD: My dedication to my work as a mental health campaigner comes from my own personal experience, really. I am especially interested in campaigning for better awareness and support for eating disorders (particularly amongst men) because, when I was a teen, I developed serious mental health problems which ultimately manifested as a severe eating disorder. I’ve had a wealth of experience – good and bad – of trying to access support for anorexia and bulimia, and, in total, I had to wait over 6 years for specialist eating disorder treatment. This is something, I believe, nobody should have to endure. And I work as hard as I can to prevent others having the same experience of getting support and treatment. 

“I am especially interested in campaigning for better awareness and support for eating disorders, particularly amongst men.”

OG: …And, despite what you were going through, it seems like you engaged in philanthropy even as a teen?

JD: Yes. I’ve always been a very emotional person, and I used to get so angry and upset about injustices in the world and the suffering of others, even at a very young age! I think that harnessing this into positive action is one of the things I learnt as a teen, when I started to become involved in lots of different charity projects. I looked to use my talents to help others. For example, I did work experience with the Welsh National Opera Outreach Department working with children in deprived areas in the South Wales valleys, setting their poetry to music.

OG: Yours are such impressive achievements. What’s the current yoga and mental health project you are working on?

JD: The project will involve working at the specialist eating disorders service where I was a patient, based in Cardiff. I have been lucky to have the support of the team there to try teaching yoga classes on an individual basis to patients who are already able to engage in mindfulness practice.

OG: And why yoga?

JD:  Yoga is something I encountered for the first time when I was in the depths of anorexia. I was almost addicted to exercise, especially running – at one point running over 50 miles a week whilst extremely underweight.  I found I was quite good at yoga, mostly because there was little muscle or tissue in the way of moving my joints, but I quickly used it as something else to beat myself up with. It can be easy to self-punish with yoga. I didn’t do yoga for many years until more recently in Cambridge. Now that I have developed the skill to treat things in life with a sense of balance, it has been really good for my mental and physical health. I knew back then, when I first discovered yoga, that it could be good for me, but I wasn’t in a place to embrace the benefits. Now that I have trained as a yoga teacher, I am keen to share my balanced and compassionate approach with others. 

“I see yoga as a practice of ‘mindful movement’- a body-based mindfulness practice which encourages awareness and acceptance of the mind and our thoughts but also of our bodily sensations and the body in action.”

OG: Yes, I’d noticed the NHS published a series of articles round March this year citing Yoga as an activity that can alleviate symptoms of depression. I know it’s starting to be prescribed as an alternative to medicines. Yoga seems more popular at the moment than ever before.

JD: It is. Recently, There has been such a boom in mindfulness-based therapies (the ‘fourth wave’ of psychological therapies) and this has filtered down to the self-help market and public consciousness in general, which is great to see. There is a scientific basis to the benefits of mindfulness, which fascinates me. I see yoga as a practice of “mindful movement”- a body-based mindfulness practice which encourages awareness and acceptance of the mind and our thoughts but also of our bodily sensations and the body in action.

OG: What are your plans for the future of the project?

JD: I really hope that the project will yield some positive and interesting results, and at least contribute to the conversation about the need to address the embodied nature of eating disorders. Research into eating disorders has been historically lacking, so anything that contributes to the field and starts discussions about what might be helpful to promote recovery is of great value. I will be talking about the project at a national conference in November, and hopefully continuing from these early beginnings with more work using yoga in mental health settings in the future. 

“I am thrilled that, by being on WorldLabs, more people can learn about the project and the need for research in this area – so anything from sharing, liking and starting conversations about the subject is great.”

OG: How can WorldLabs’users best interact with your work? 

JD: My project is of course about therapeutic intervention on an individual basis, but more than this, it is also about raising awareness of the work we still need to do in finding what works for treatment in eating disorders, and that they are complicated, biopsychosocial conditions. I am thrilled that, working in collaboration with WorldLabs, more people can learn about the project and the need for research in this area – so anything such as sharing, liking and starting conversations about the subject is great. I am also raising funds for the specific service where I will be running the project. Like many mental health services, is underfunded – so contributions to that would be welcome too! 

As a central member of the Cross-Party Group for Eating Disorders at the Welsh Assembly, James’ involvement was key in calling for a review of the Eating Disorders Framework for Wales. This resulted in an increase in funding of over 50% per annum for specialist services in Wales. In collaboration with NHS England, he’s worked with leading experts in the field to write curricula and specifications for child and adolescent eating disorders services. In 2015, James was the ‘Voice of Mind’ in the Welsh General Election. He is currently active on the ground as Co-chair of the Clinical Network for Eating Disorders for the South East of England. To support his work, please see James’ project card below.