How Somatic Therapy Helps Heal Body Image Issues & Disordered Eating
When Food and Body Thoughts Take Over
If you find yourself constantly thinking about your body, obsessing over food, or caught in a loop of restriction, bingeing, and guilt—you’re not broken.
These patterns aren’t really about food or willpower. They’re about the level of safety in the body.
As a Somatic Trauma Therapist in Los Angeles, I often meet high-achieving women who feel disconnected from their bodies despite years of therapy, journaling, or reading every self-help book out there. They understand the “why” intellectually, yet still feel stuck in self-criticism and control.
Somatic therapy offers a different path—one that works through the body, not around it.
What’s Beneath Disordered Eating
Disordered eating often serves as a way to manage what once felt unmanageable. It might look like emotional eating, rigid food rules, or over-exercise—but underneath, there’s usually:
Chronic anxiety or panic
Perfectionism and people-pleasing
Childhood trauma, neglect, or enmeshment
Toxic or narcissistic relationships
A desperate need for control when everything feels uncertain
You may have learned to disconnect from your body to survive. To numb. To belong. To be “good.”
And yet, your body never stopped keeping score.
Body Image and Trauma: Fight, Flight, Freeze
When you’ve lived through trauma—especially relational or developmental—your nervous system adapts to protect you. Those survival responses can later appear as:
Fight: harsh inner critic attacking your body first
Flight: constant movement, dieting, or “fixing”
Freeze: numbness, fog, or shame that keeps you stuck
Your relationship with your body didn’t start with food—it started with early messages from family, culture, or society: you’re too much, not enough, only lovable when you perform.
Healing has to go deeper than mindset; it has to involve your body.
How Somatic Therapy Restores the Mind-Body Connection
Somatic therapy invites you to notice—not analyze—how your body carries its story.
It helps you reconnect with the sensations underneath the thoughts, where fear, shame, and self-protection live.
A trauma-informed somatic approach may weave together:
Somatic Experiencing® — to release stored fight-or-flight energy
Internal Family Systems (IFS) — to meet protective parts like the perfectionist or inner critic with compassion
EMDR — to reprocess memories that shaped how you see your body
The goal isn’t to “fix” your body image overnight; it’s to rebuild trust with your nervous system so your body can finally exhale.
(For background on how trauma lives in the body, see The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk.)
Simple Somatic Practices for Reconnection
Healing body shame begins with small, compassionate moments. In therapy, we might explore:
Tracking Sensation – noticing subtle shifts like warmth, breath, or tension without judgment.
Resourcing – identifying sounds, images, or movements that bring a sense of safety.
Parts Work (IFS) – letting the part that hates your body and the part that longs for peace both have a voice.
Movement & Stillness – grounding, breath, or gentle motion to reconnect curiosity and care.
From Shame → Safety → Self-Compassion
Most clients think they have a “body image problem,” but it’s really a safety problem.
Somatic therapy helps shift the story from “There’s something wrong with me” to “I was doing my best to stay safe.”
When that shift happens—slowly, at the pace your body allows—your body becomes a place you can finally live in, not just manage.
You don’t need to love your body to start healing.
You only need a safe space to listen to it.
You Deserve to Feel at Home in Your Body Again
If you’ve been stuck in cycles of food worry, body judgment, or perfectionism, know this: it’s not your fault—and you don’t have to do it alone.
I offer in-person sessions in West LA and online therapy across California.
Book a free 20-minute consultation to explore how somatic therapy can help you reconnect with safety, compassion, and self-trust.
FAQ: Somatic Therapy and Body Image Healing
How is somatic therapy different from traditional talk therapy?
Talk therapy focuses on understanding why you feel the way you do; somatic therapy helps your body experience safety so that understanding can sink in.
Do I have to talk about my trauma in detail?
No. Somatic work moves at your body’s pace. You never have to re-tell every memory; we focus on regulating the present-moment response.
Can somatic therapy help even if I’ve done years of therapy before?
Yes. Many clients who feel “stuck in their heads” find that working through sensations and body awareness helps unlock lasting change.
Is somatic therapy suitable for eating disorders?
While I don’t specialize in eating disorder treatment, somatic therapy supports individuals navigating disordered eating patterns by addressing the underlying trauma and nervous-system dysregulation.