What is Somatic Eating™?
Have you ever found yourself at the bottom of a pint of ice cream wondering where all that food went? Have you ever felt so stressed out and panicked that all you could think to do was to eat? How many times have you looked in the mirror and judged what you saw, then barely ate the rest of the day?
Two decades ago, this was exactly where I was.
On and off diets, binge eating, emotionally eating, overexercising, and doing anything I could to run away from my body. My body was the place that was holding on to trauma and food was the answer to feeling regulated and safe.
On my journey to healing my relationship with food and body, I explored yoga, multiple different therapeutic modalities, and experimented with various ways to eat to deepen into relationship and understanding of my body. Along the way, I received my Master’s Degree in Somatic Psychotherapy and have now been working for over a decade to support others worldwide to find a safe, secure, and satiated relationship with food.
A common theme I’ve found over the years is that almost every single person I’ve worked with - who was looking to decrease patterns of chronic dieting, binge and emotional eating, eating disorder behaviors, and body image concerns - had some kind of trauma in their past.
After a traumatic event, many people find themselves playing out disordered eating or eating disorder behavior. Mitchell et al. in 2012 found that “the vast majority of women and men with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge eating disorder (BED) reported a history of interpersonal trauma.” Rates of eating disorders were generally higher in people who experienced trauma and PTSD. Disordered eating and eating disorder behavior are all unconscious attempts to regulate a dysregulated nervous system and re-establish a sense of safety. These food and body behaviors never work long-term and they tend to end up leaving you feeling more out of control, dysregulated, unsafe, and disconnected.
I have seen gaps in the approach to supporting others to heal their relationship with their food and body, which fueled me to explore what is actually going to guide others into a safe and regulating relationship with food. And this is how over the years Somatic Eating™ was created through all my clinical and educational experiences.
Somatic Eating™ is a body-oriented, sensation-focused therapeutic approach to eating that facilitates a decrease in disordered eating behavior through somatic tools that help regulate the nervous system and heal us from trauma.
It guides you on how to interpret what your food patterns are telling you about the state of your body and helps you to experience the wisdom in your behaviors.
The Somatic Eating™ approach teaches how to regulate your nervous system and observe bodily sensations to discover what satiates your unique body physically and emotionally. Eating experiences become opportunities to self-regulate and feel safe, secure, and satiated in life.
Food is then released from the responsibility of supporting you in regulating as you feel safer in your body and discover other ways to feel cared for and comforted.
By exploring the three ingredients to Somatic Eating™, Eating, Needing, and Sensing, I have seen others restore themselves to an empowered, safety-producing relationship with their food and bodies and in the process learn to regulate their nervous system. The Eating ingredient helps you to enhance interoceptive awareness aka learn the felt sense of your body. The Needing ingredient teaches how to regulate in food and non-food ways. The Sensing ingredient teaches how to track the nervous system and digest emotions. When all three ingredients are practiced together, it can support you in feeling calm and connected where you can shift your attention away from food and body image to explore how you want to be fed by your life. The more connected we feel in our bodies moment by moment, the more regulated and safer we can feel in the world knowing we can navigate anything that comes our way. This naturally leads to a more alive, vibrant, and Satiated Life.
Somatic Eating™ has been my life’s work. Since childhood, I’ve been surrounded by friends, family, and now clients struggling to be in their bodies and find a joyous, life giving relationship with food. This struggle needs to change. I know from personal experience how isolating and lonely this healing journey can be. I’ve had session after session with people revealing how they’ve never told anyone about their eating challenges, not even their own family, partners, friends, and those they live with. I never want anyone to feel like they have to navigate this path all by themselves.
I'm here for you on this healing adventure. My Somatic Eating™ Program begins on November 4th and I'm currently offering 2 free spots in the program for those who can't afford it and want to participate for free. To enter to receive one of these free spots here's what you need to do.
1. Go to the show notes and go to any of my social media channels and click follow.
2. Go to Apple Podcasts, search for the Satiated Podcast and leave a review for my podcast.
You can find it here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/satiated-podcast/id1494607245
3. Take a screenshot of your review and email it to support@stephaniemara.com
4. You have until Tuesday, November 1st to enter. I will announce the two winners on Wednesday, November 2nd.
Anddddd you may also get something special just for entering....
As someone who used to be trapped in the binge-restrict cycle as a response to my own past trauma, I want you to know things can change. Healing is possible. It can take time and practice and one day you will look back and see how far you've come. If you have any questions or are looking for more individualized one on one support and are ready to go deep into your food and body healing, email me at support@stephaniemara.com anytime.