One of the questions we often hear from women considering our program is, “What does ‘Ai Pono mean, and how does it relate to eating disorder recovery?” Today, we’re going to dive deeper not only into the meaning of our program’s name, but also explain how the concept of ‘ai pono has shaped our eating disorder treatment approach and helped countless women find long-term healing and complete recovery from their eating disorders.
What Does ‘Ai Pono Mean?
“‘Ai pono” is a Hawaiian phrase that carries deep meaning for our lives, both during recovery and beyond. “Ai” means “to eat or nourish,” and “Pono” means “with balance, harmony, ease, and in perfect wholeness.”
In Hawaii, this concept of living in “pono” is taught to children from an early age and is a guiding force in their lives. The goal of living in “pono” is to be in a state of harmony, wholeness, and balance with yourself and the world around you. Fused together with “‘ai,” you get “ai pono,” which is all about eating and nurturing oneself in a way that brings balance, harmony, and wholeness to the mind, body, and soul. ‘Ai pono is all about finding balance in recovery, and it differs from other eating disorder treatment methods because it addresses not only eating and movement behaviors, but also gets to the heart of the disorder and allows women to restore wholeness, harmony, and balance back into their lives.
Why have we built our eating disorder treatment approach around this Hawaiian phrase? Here at ‘Ai Pono Eating Disorder Treatment Program, we believe that eating disorder recovery is possible for everyone, but sadly, so many people still struggle and fall back into ED behaviors after treatment. Why is this so? We believe that one of the main reasons many people struggle to achieve full recovery is because their treatment approach fails to bring true balance and harmony to their mind, body, and soul.
It’s not enough to simply address eating disorder behaviors and fix the food and eating problems. Rather, to experience a full recovery, we must learn to nourish ourselves emotionally as well as physically, address the underlying social and psychological stressors that prompted the ED, and ultimately restore a sense of balance and harmony to our lives. In short, our goal is to help the individuals in our treatment centers practice ‘ai pono, and eat and live in a way that nourishes their minds, bodies, and souls with balance and harmony.
Why is Finding Balance in Recovery Important?
Think back to a time when you were in tune with your needs and enjoyed a balanced and harmonious relationship with your mind, body, and soul. Maybe it was when you were very young. When you felt hungry, you would eat. When you were tired, you would sleep. When you felt sad, you cried and found solace with a hug and a kiss from your parent. When you had extra energy, you went and played and ran it off. These are all examples of how our mind and body instinctively seeks to restore harmony and balance to our lives when something is disrupted or out of balance.
Unfortunately, as we grow older, we often lose touch with our inner wisdom that once guided us. We lose touch with the power and gift of our intuition and sensitivity. So instead of using natural, healthy ways to restore balance and harmony to our lives, we sometimes resort to harmful and extreme behaviors in an attempt to cope with stress and bring back wholeness in some way. It is important to realize that when those with eating disorders first began down the path of disordered eating, it was in an attempt to feel better somehow, or to avoid feeling bad. Then of course, such is the nature of eating disorders, they develop and take on a life of their own and the ED or “Ed” creates further disorder and imbalance.
Individuals with eating disorders lose their sense of balance and harmony. They are, as the name implies, living in a state of dis-order (which is the opposite of order, harmony, balance). They ignore their body’s hunger or fullness cues, reside on the extreme edges of eating (severe restriction or excessive bingeing), and get so focused on one or two small aspects of their lives (usually eating and body image) that they neglect everything else. In short, they have lost the balance that once existed between their mind, body, and soul.
At ‘Ai Pono Eating Disorder Treatment Program, we believe these imbalanced and extreme behaviors point to a bigger issue than simply food, weight, or body image concerns. Rather, we recognize that eating disorders (though caused by a complex blend of environmental, emotional, and biochemical components), are often a way to cope with psychological and social stress. Simply put, individuals with eating disorders have often experienced something that disrupts the balance of their lives, and in an effort to restore some sense of harmony and wholeness, they turn to ED behaviors.
This is why the ‘Ai Pono approach is so important. Not only do we help women bring balance, ease, and harmony back to their eating and movement behaviors, but we also work to uncover the stressors that initially caused them to lose their wholeness and harmony in the first place. As our founder, Dr. Anita Johnston says,
“Eating disorders are like a weed. If you just cut it off at the top, given the right circumstances, it can come back. But if you dig deep and eradicate the roots, you can eliminate it altogether.”
How The ‘Ai Pono Approach Brings True Recovery
We know that for many women seeking to recover from an eating disorder, the stressors of everyday life can hinder their recovery process and keep them from discovering and addressing the deeper meaning hidden within their eating disorder. Our residential programs give women the chance to reconnect with themselves, focus solely on recovery, and have the support system they need to achieve full recovery. We provide a serene, nurturing experience that guides women not only towards eating disorder recovery but also takes them on a journey of self-awareness. The ultimate destination of this ‘Ai Pono journey is two-fold: to reach a place of full recovery from the eating disorder, and also achieve a new-found sense of balance and harmony with oneself and the world around.
We of course also offer outpatient and partial-hospitalization programs, all of which focus on the psychological side of recovery as well as the behavioral and eating components. Through therapy sessions, life skill workshops, counseling groups, and much more, we help women gain the tools they need to overcome their eating disorders, restore balance and harmony to their bodies and minds, and transition back to normal life with ease and confidence.
At ‘Ai Pono Hawaii we have seen countless women completely eliminate their eating disorders and go on to live beautiful, happy, fully-recovered lives. The same is possible for you or your loved one. Take the first step today and talk to someone about recovery, or simply learn more about the recovery programs we offer. From intensive residential, partial hospitalization, and outpatient programs, we are here to support women throughout all levels of the recovery process.
