Yoga teacher, writer & mental health advocate who battled an eating disorder as a teenager, CALIFORNIA
Maris Degener, 22, is a California-based yoga teacher, writer, and mental health advocate.
A passionate student, Maris recently graduated with Honors from the University of California in Santa Cruz, having studied psychology with a focus on its applications in promoting social justice. While at university, Maris gained experience as a public speaker, raising awareness of the importance of mental health and wellbeing, including the delivery of a keynote presentation at the UC Irvine’s 2018 Mental Health Conference.
From a young age, Maris grappled with anxiety, which later developed into panic attacks during middle school. During her freshman year of high school, Maris’ parents discovered she was self-harming and purging her food, and following a subsequent doctor visit, learned she had been starving herself.
Informed her blood pressure was so low that she could die in her sleep, Maris was consequently admitted to hospital and formally diagnosed with anorexia nervosa at the age of 14.
“I woke up each day with the immense pressure to be perfect weighing on me, and I carried that weight to the point of exhaustion. I was a slave to the demands of my eating disorder, which allowed no room for flexibility, freedom or intuition,” said Maris.
After being discharged from hospital however, Maris’ anxiety immediately returned, which she eventually learned to manage by practicing yoga.
“After spending my life struggling with mental illness, I hit breaking point when I was hospitalized for an eating disorder during my freshman year. A year later, I began practicing yoga and was blessed by the community, support, and resources it offered. Ever since, the mindfulness and play yoga has brought to my life has become irreplaceable,” Maris said.
According to Maris, her eating disorder constantly forced her into chasing perfection and control with no end in sight.
“There was no room for flexibility, freedom, or intuition. I was a slave to the demands of the eating disorder, unable to honor my body’s needs for physical, emotional, and spiritual nourishment.
“The eating disorder demanded highly specific kinds and quantities of food and exercise, so my days were shaped around meeting these demands. Yet even when I fulfilled the eating disorder’s requirements, it was never satisfied. There was always something I didn’t take to a far enough extreme. There was always some way that I had ‘failed’. The more I restricted and purged, the less satisfied I was with my body, my self-image, and my life,” said Maris.
Maris began blogging about food and yoga at the age of 16, which led to her story being picked up by CNN. By the age of 17, Maris had become a role model for women of all ages through her blog, workshops, and mentoring program. Maris also starred in a documentary entitled ‘I Am Maris’, outlining her longstanding struggle with mental illness and a life-threatening eating disorder, and how she managed both through yoga.
After becoming a certified yoga instructor at 16 years of age, Maris’s love for the practice and her passion for sharing its many benefits, expanded into her work with non-profit organizations. She spent the ensuing six years focusing on mental health, yoga, and accessible trauma healing resources.
“I’m learning to accept my experiences recovering from an eating disorder as a part of me – one that does not define me, but has rather, given me strength and empathy,” Maris said.
Maris has found talking openly about her recovery from an eating disorder personally empowering, and emphasizes the importance for others living with a mental illness to recognize they are not alone, and need not feel ashamed.
“A life free of disordered behaviors is possible, and many of us are living that truth.
“You deserve help. You don’t have to wait until you, or someone else decides you are ‘sick enough’ to seek support. There’s no shame in struggling. There is hope,” said Maris.
Maris is a strong advocate for the Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative (EDGI) – the world’s largest genetic research study of eating disorders ever performed, that aims to identify the hundreds of genes that influence a person’s risk of developing anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, to improve treatment, and ultimately, save lives.
“While genes may not tell the whole story of why someone may develop an eating disorder, there are many contributing factors from a society tainted by diet culture and commodified beauty standards. They are a key part of the story.”
“Genes may have laid the foundation for my predisposition to developing an eating disorder, but the stress of my life circumstances at the time, and the pressures of living in a diet and culture-obsessed society, also played a role in the development of my eating disorder,” Maris said.
“Although none of my family members have been formally diagnosed with an eating disorder, some have disclosed to me that they struggled with disordered eating privately. Other immediate family members have also struggled with anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
“I think it’s very important to research these common, and serious, mental health challenges,” said Maris.
“Learning more about the genes involved in the development of eating disorders should open the door to more effective prevention, diagnosis and treatment, while hopefully challenging common misconceptions of the illnesses.”
