Embodiment as the Antidote to Negative Body Image, with Heidi Andersen

The Emotional Eating (and Everything Else) Podcast

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On this week's episode, I'm speaking with Certified Body Trust® Specialist Heidi Andersen about the topic of embodiment, something that she sees as vital to the healing of food and body issues. And in case you're not quite sure how to define embodiment, Heidi describes it as:

The ability to land safely in our body in the present moment, just how we are.

How lovely is that?? Can you image how your food and body issues would just melt away if you experienced this?

Let me back up here for a minute and introduce Heidi to you. Heidi Andersen is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Supervisor, Certified Body Trust® Specialist, Certified Safe and Sound Protocol Provider, Registered Yoga Teacher and Embodiment Specialist. During her therapist career, she has worked as a therapist in residential, PHP, IOP and outpatient levels of care with people struggling with eating disorders.

Heidi currently supports clients with Reclaiming Beauty, an outpatient group practice of body-centered psychotherapists specializing in weight inclusive treatment for the intersection of trauma, attachment wounds, and eating disorders through a body liberation lens and somatic approach.

Heidi also provides consultation, mentorship and consult groups for professionals, as well as trainings, workshops and retreats. Heidi believes embodiment heals and combines her studies of Somatic Internal Family Systems, Embodied Recovery for Eating Disorders, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and the Center for Body Trust® in her support of her clients. She is also the author of the Reclaiming Beauty Journal and Wisdom Deck, a resource created to support women in building a self-compassionate relationship with their body.

As you can see, she really knows what she's talking about!

Heidi and I cover a lot of ground in this episode, but the key takeaway is this: you must heal your relationship with your body in order to heal your relationship with food. I'll let Heidi say it herself:

“You can’t really heal what’s happening in the body unless you really bring the body to the forefront.”

Heidi discusses how previous (and unfortunately current) eating disorder treatment models don't involve the body at all--they're merely focused on the mind. This makes absolutely no sense, since eating disorders are very often a result of body shame and/or a disconnection from the body. Therefore, working on being in your body is a giant piece of the work.

On this episode, Heidi and I also talk about:

How to talk about size and weight with clients
Why anger can help us heal the shame that we’ve internalized
The fact that diet culture is a reflection white supremacy culture, colonization, and racism
How embodiment is the antidote to body image issues
Why it’s wrong to say that body image is the last part of the process of healing from an eating disorder
How to start becoming more embodied

We also talk about the three categories of protectors that Heidi tends to see disconnecting us from our bodies. Those are:

Self-Objectifying parts (those who have learned that you're an object, not a subject)
Parts who are invested in diet culture as an attachment figure
Parts who use disembodiment to avoid pain that the body is carrying related to past trauma

As you can see, we covered a lot! Take a listen!

Where to find Heidi:

https://www.reclaimingbeauty.com/