What if your negative body image isn't the villain in your story but actually a messenger trying to help you?

In today’s episode, Aimee sits down with Deb Schachter, one of Boston's leading clinicians in body image and eating disorder recovery, to explore a revolutionary approach to working with body image that goes far beyond body positivity.

Deb takes us through:

- How body image is multi-dimensional; it holds our entire story, past experiences, and present moment feelings

- The "rotary" effect: How we quickly jump into "fix-it" mode without addressing what triggered the spike

- Shape-shifting patterns: How early family dynamics shape our patterns of emotional and physical adaptation

- Why negative body image may be trying to protect or guide us

- Three core muscles to develop: Mindful awareness, curiosity, and compassion toward our body image experiences

And so much more!

Deb is recognized as one of Boston’s leading clinicians in the areas of body image and eating disorder recovery. She has dedicated her 30-year career to helping people unpack their body’s story and the wisdom it has to offer. She brings authenticity, curiosity, and compassion to her work and emphasizes the profound power that connection has in the healing process.

She integrates playfulness and mindfulness into her workshops, individual and group work, and is inspired by how unique the growth process is for each of us. She believes wholeheartedly that we all have the ability to find our inner alignment and has seen how her confidence in her clients translates into change. Blending together her East Coast sensibility and her West Coast spirit, Deb has developed a language and an approach that is accessible to all.

Connect with Deb:

Instagram: @bodyimageinsideout

https://bodyimageinsideout.com/

Get the book!

Body Image Inside Out: https://debschachterlicsw.com/

Connect with Aimee:

Instagram: @aimeetakaya

Facebook: Aimee Takaya

Learn more about Aimee Takaya, Hanna Somatic Education, and The Radiance Program at⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.freeyoursoma.com⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠

What happens when a Southern Baptist single mom trades perfectionism for Maya wisdom?

Jan Capps discovered that the secret to a fulfilling life isn't found in climbing to the top; it's woven into the beautiful tapestry of community, creation, and embracing our gloriously imperfect humanity.

In this week's episode, Jan shares her transformative journey from small-town North Carolina to the highlands of Guatemala, where she spent decades working in healthcare and learning from Mayan culture.

Jan takes us through:

- How collaborative, imperfect gods gave Jan permission to embrace mistakes

- Why Maya women weave multiple roles, businesses, and dreams into one integrated life

- How the concept of "Susto" (soul loss) offers profound insights into healing

- A revolutionary approach to values-based living

- Why "everyone has a roof" in Guatemala and what Americans can learn about true interconnectedness

And so much more!

Jan Capps has been a public health advocate for immigrants, farmworkers, domestic violence victims, and people of color in the US, Guatemala, and Mexico for over thirty years, focusing on building local capacity and health equity.

During her two stints living in Guatemala, she organized and trained community health workers and midwives, managed a medical clinic, and studied the Maya Tz’utujil language. She has presented, trained, and written for national audiences.

Her greatest joy and most humbling experiences have been being a mother and watching her glorious daughter grow and launch into the world. Jan splits her time between Seattle, Washington, and North Carolina.

Connect with Jan:

Website: www.jancapps.com

Check out her memoir: Bird's Eye View: A Tapestry of Maya Mythology, Motherhood, and Making Life Anew

Connect with Aimee:

Instagram: @aimeetakaya

Facebook: Aimee Takaya

Learn more about Aimee Takaya, Hanna Somatic Education, and The Radiance Program at⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.freeyoursoma.com⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠

What if shame isn’t a flaw, but a signal that something essential in you has been pushed away? In this week’s episode, Aimee sits with David Bedrick, therapist, author of The Unshaming Way, and a passionate advocate for psychological truth-telling.

They explore how shame disconnects us from our experience, distorts our emotions, and shapes our identities from the inside out. Through somatic awareness, storytelling, and radical compassion, David invites us into the process of unshaming—not fixing ourselves, but fully witnessing and embracing the parts we've exiled.

David takes us through:

- Why shame cuts us off from empathy, truth, and genuine accountability

- How trauma and unacknowledged pain become embedded in the body

- The power of somatic language to access “unshamed experience”

- What it means to witness, rather than fix, someone in pain

- Why reclaiming emotion, desire, and personal narrative is essential to healing

- How unshaming returns us to wholeness and expands our capacity to love, feel, and act

And so much more!

David Bedrick, JD, Dipl. PW, is a teacher, counselor, and attorney. He grew up in a family marked by violence. While his father’s brutality was physical and verbal, his mother’s denial and gaslighting had its own covert power. This formative context introduced David early to the etiology of shame and instilled an urge to unshame.

Professionally, he was on the faculty for the University of Phoenix and the Process Work Institute in the U.S. and Poland, and is the founder of the Santa Fe Institute for Shame-based Studies, where he trains therapists, coaches, and healers and offers workshops for individuals to further their own personal development.

David writes for Psychology Today and is the author of three books: Talking Back to Dr. Phil: Alternatives to Mainstream Psychology and Revisioning Activism: Bringing Depth, Dialogue, and Diversity to Individual and Social Change. His new book is You Can’t Judge a Body by Its Cover: 17 Women’s Stories of Hunger, Body Shame and Redemption.

His new book, The Unshaming Way, was published by North Atlantic books in November 2024.

Connect with David:

Website: https://www.davidbedrick.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david.bedrick/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DBedrick

Order The Unshaming Way: https://a.co/d/dYTwNa7

Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/contributors/david-bedrick-jd-dipl-pw

Connect with Aimee:

Instagram: @aimeetakaya

Facebook: Aimee Takaya

Learn more about Aimee Takaya, Hanna Somatic Education, and The Radiance Program at⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.freeyoursoma.com⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠