The Missing Piece
You understand what's keeping you stuck in the same loops — but still can't move past them. Because your body was never part of the conversation to begin with.
Standard body image work gives you language, reframes, psychoeducation on diet culture + food rules, self-help books, talk therapy, and journaling. You might hear words like self-love, body neutrality, and body acceptance but not really know what they mean.
These are all important parts of the work, but they keep you at the level of the mind. Your body is still waiting to be included in your healing.​​
​
"The program [Recovery Portal] has given me strategies to cope, language to better understand my journey, and encouragement to be kinder to myself. I really felt understood when I have felt alone for so long."
—Recovery Portal Client, after six months in the program
How I Bridge the Gap
Your nervous system is always scanning for signals of threat or safety. If you grew up learning about good food and bad food — seeing thin bodies held up as the ultimate goal — your nervous system learned to treat food and your changing body as a threat.
So even though you've done the work, learned the language, maybe even understand the reframes intellectually — your nervous system is still raising alarm bells. That's not a mindset problem. That's your body doing exactly what it learned to do.
Somatic work takes a body-first approach: working directly with the nervous system, sensation, emotion, and belief — not just the narrative. Over time, your nervous system starts learning something new: your relationship to food, your body, exercise (movement), and your true self isn't a threat, but a place to call home.
This doesn't mean the alarm bells disappear overnight — it means you build the capacity to notice them, move through them, and continue on with your day rather than getting stuck. Somatic work builds the flexibility to move through discomfort and triggers rather than getting stuck in the same loops. You're not eliminating the hard moments — you're rewiring how your system meets them, and learning how to support yourself through them. Allowing you to be more present in your day-to-day life!
​​​​​
"For the first time in my recovery, I have felt heard and seen. I'm finally seeing the real progress that I have wanted for years."
— Recovery Coaching Client, four months into working together
Meet Laura Shaw
Body Image Coach & Somatic Practitioner
I didn't come to this work from theory alone.
I know what it's like to feel disconnected from your own body — to do the cognitive work, say the right things, and still feel like a stranger in your own skin.
For years, I did body image work the way most of us are taught to: through reframes, education, mindset shifts, etc. It helped, but something was still missing. I could think differently about my body and still not feel different in it.
That gap is what led me to somatic work, and it's where things finally started to click. Not instead of the cognitive work, but alongside it — the piece that lets everything else actually land in the body, not just the mind.
That's the work I do now: bridging body image coaching and somatic practice, so healing isn't just something you understand, but something you feel.
​
What We Work On
Self
-
Coming back to who you are underneath the managing, the performing, and the masking — so you can say yes to owning your truth!
​
​
Food
-
Exploring your relationship with food, food rules, and where they came from — so the mental loop gets quieter.
-
Not a quick fix, not another diet, but a gradual loosening of the grip food noise has on your daily life.
​
Body
-
Not just new thoughts about your body, but a different felt experience of being in it — noticing sensation, recognizing signals, building a relationship with your body that isn't rooted in threat.
-
Dismantling diet culture and building safety in taking up space, because staying small is no longer an option you want to entertain.
​
Movement
-
What movement feels like when it isn't tied to punishment or compensation. You get to move from a place of joy and honour rest.
​
"I've struggled with bingeing and constant food noise, and Laura helped me explore new strategies to quiet those thoughts. Her genuine kindness, therapeutic insights, and actionable suggestions made a real difference in my journey."
— Recovery Coaching Client, one month into working together
This is for you if...
-
You've done the mindset work, the reframes, the education — and something still feels unresolved in your body
-
You're not in crisis, but you're not free either — you're managing, not living
-
You're curious what happens when body image work includes your nervous system, not just your thoughts
-
You want support that helps you embody the work, not just understand it
This isn't the right fit if...
-
You're currently in active treatment for an eating disorder or need a higher level of clinical care
-
You're looking for meal planning, nutrition therapy or a diet plan
-
You're looking for a replacement for therapy or medical care — this work is a complement to those, not a substitute
-
You want a quick fix rather than investing in a gradual process of unlearning and learning
Laura has been immeasurably helpful in my recovery. I have felt heard and seen — and I'm finally seeing the real progress I have wanted for years. If you are on the fence, don't be."
— Recovery Coaching Client, three months into working together