Attunement with Exercise (AWE)

Abstract

This chapter draws from the authors’ clinical work with women with eating disorders, as well as theories of embodiment and mindfulness, to reveal the attunement with exercise (AWE) construct. AWE represents physical activities that shift away from dysfunctional forms of exercise to cultivate more positively embodied physical experiences, such as mindful attention, self-compassion, self-acceptance, joyful movement, body connection, and reliance on internal cues to determine when, what, where, why, and how to exercise. The chapter reviews the conceptual model of AWE, which entails exercising from a foundation of safety, focusing on the process of exercise rather than any outcome, and experiencing joy from exercise. Next, the chapter introduces the AWE Scale, which has been shown to yield reliable and valid scores in community and college samples of women and men. The chapter ends with a discussion of how to cultivate AWE as an embodied practice, with yoga provided as an illustration.