Regulate Your Nervous System, Reframe Your Reflection: A Guide to Somatic Body Image Healing

I've been through a similar trajectory that so many have in food and body image recovery. 

In my twenties, I got to a place where food was less of a concern. I wasn't skipping meals anymore and I was balancing those meals and eating all macronutrients. I felt much more grounded and regulated. 

But, the body image struggles continued to hang around. I felt good in my body but I still hated the way my body looked. So, I tried every mainstream approach. I tried the stronger over skinny approach where I lifted a lot of heavy weights and gained a lot of muscle. Yet still, it felt like it was never enough. So, I tried the unconditional body love approach and tried to love my body as it was. No matter how much I tried to challenge my internalized beliefs about my body, nothing would budge.

I still looked in the mirror every day and internally said ick. 

When I started somatic therapy, it wasn't with the intention of trying to heal my body image. I was focused on healing from a trauma response. What I wasn't expecting was that I would find myself caring less and less about how my body looked the safer I felt. 

It is not like I never worry about how my body looks anymore, but when these concerns arise, I shift the internal story away from it being about my body and toward getting curious about the state of my nervous system and potential past wounds coming up. 

In a 2024 study called Body image alterations in eating disorder patients, the researchers did a review of neuroimaging studies to discover the brain areas associated with body image distortions that occur in eating disorders. In anorexia, they found alterations in the amygdala, insula, and anterior cingulate cortex, which connect to dysfunctions in emotional response, body perception, and cognitive processes. In bulimia, they found alterations in the prefrontal cortex, insula, and anterior cingulate cortex, which could point to struggles in decision-making, impulse control, body perception, and emotional regulation. They found across the board of all eating disorders, there were alterations in the brain associated with the subjective self, ego, and perceptual processes.

This isn't a body image issue. This points to how you're processing your body image rather than your body itself. 

One of the key brain alteration areas I want to highlight is the insula. This is the part of your brain associated with interoception or knowing the felt sense of your body. This is the part of the brain that is altered as a response to past trauma. The insula has been connected to a sense of body ownership and agency. What this may point to is that if you want to stop worrying about how your body looks, this isn't about trying to do mirror work or love your body more. The way your brain is functioning needs some updating along with your nervous system. 

From a nervous system perspective, when your sympathetic nervous system gets activated, you will perceive the world, other people, and yourself differently. Because your body is now primed to look out for danger, everything is seen as dangerous and that can include your own body. You may have heard me say the example before of why is it that you can look in the mirror one day and think, "Ya know what, I look pretty good today," and then the next day think, "Ugh, everything about my body needs to change." Your body didn't change in one day, but your nervous system state did. 

Now, if you're stuck living in the sympathetic nervous system, you're going to be constantly looking out for danger and this can increase consistent body image criticism because when you can't find a threat external to you, you're going to find one inside of you. 

Hating your body actually gives it a legitimate reason to feel as unsafe as you may feel.

Without the body judgment and criticism, you may feel the overwhelm of being in a fight or flight response. 

Here's where I want to offer some hope though. All of this can change. The way your brain and nervous system function, the patterns they've habituated to can all be altered. It is time ​for the field of body image recovery ​to be updated. We need to start seeing body image concerns as somatic communication from your nervous system. I’ve seen more progress with those I work with around their body image struggles when they ​shift focus ​away from this​ being an appearance problem and focus more on a nervous system that doesn’t feel safe and an inner child that is looking to feel seen.

Your younger self also learned that they would get the attention and attunement they desired if they looked a certain way or had a problem. Sometimes, the only way you may have gotten attention was when something was wrong, and so body image concerns became a way for something to always be wrong. And, perhaps when you did lose weight, you got so much praise that of course an association was created that you will get the love you need if you take up less space. 

Addressing body image concerns from a somatic, nervous system, and attachment perspective needs to include increasing interoception, regulating the nervous system, and attuning to your inner child.

Somatic and nervous system approaches that have helped to increase interoceptive awareness have been things like mindfulness and embodiment practices like yoga, meditation, dance, and any physical movement that connects you with your body, cold exposure, breathwork, intentional body scans, and regularly describing your sensations. When it comes to inner child work, your inner younger parts of you need to start to see that you are going to pay attention to them no matter what. This can look like regular check ins with them throughout a day where you say hi, how are you doing, what's up, how are you feeling, and do you need anything? You get to be the parent they always needed. 

Some of you may be wondering though will this all lead to a weight change? For some of you, maybe. I never like to say 100% yes to anything because I don't live in your body and I don't know what is meant for it. If the body is meant to change, it can only do so in a relaxation response. So sometimes you have to stop focusing on changing your body, and start getting comfortable and joyful and happy living in it. I get that it will feel counterintuitive when maybe you've heard the internal dialogue that says you can only feel safe in your body when your body changes. But, when your body feels held, heard, seen, soothed, and safe, that is when a body change can occur as you increase showing up for a scared nervous system, understanding the felt sense of your body, and attuning to its needs.  

If there is one thing you take away from this episode today, start practicing getting curious when a body image concern arises.

Meet it with the question, what if you were trying to tell me something that has nothing to do with how I look?

Curiosity breaks up habitual patterns. The experience of "what if" invites you to take on a different perspective and that is where change can occur. 

I'll keep sharing a different perspective on body image more often here because I'm sensing it is needed now with everything going on in the world of body image. Email me at support@stephaniemara.com with any insights you had from today and I hope you all have a satiating and safety producing rest of the day. Bye!