>>When you picture your body, do you think about your heart, your brain, your kidneys? Probably not. More than likely, you think about your thighs, your hair, your stomach.

Because our society places so much emphasis on appearance, and so little on our inner selves, the balance between the two has been thrown off. Have you ever had an upset stomach, a rash, or a giant zit because you were stressed? Has your heart literally hurt when you experienced emotional pain? We forget that our bodies are simply the canvasses upon which our internal conditions express themselves.

Judy Stone, a bioenergetic therapist in Ann Arbor, Michigan, teaches women how to reunite their minds and bodies through a program called Feeding Your Whole Self. People with eating disorders and body image issues, she says, feel like their bodies have betrayed them because they can't sculpt themselves into some ideal form.

For many women, controlling our appetites or looks gives us a false sense of control over our lives. As long as we can focus on "fixing" ourselves, we can avoid thinking about the fact that we're unhappy, or that we have unmet needs we're afraid to address. "People tell me that they're scared to stop dieting because they'll 'eat themselves huge,'" says Stone. "But what they're really afraid of is the tremendous amount of feeling that would come up."

Feelings are made up of energy, Stone explains, which flows through our bodies. Compulsive eating and dieting blocks that flow, repressing the feelings we don't want to deal with. Stone's solution is to engage the mind and body in a conversation.

The places where we feel heavy, she explains, are often where we hold in feelings. Instead of doing 200 sit-ups when your stomach seems to be "sticking out," Stone advises that you look to your stomach and ask yourself what it's telling you. "A heavy feeling may mean there's a buildup of energy or feelings there," says Stone. "Instead of dieting to 'fix' it, try to understand what the energy means, or how it's serving you."

When you think negative thoughts about your body, Stone advises doing something to feel more in touch with it. Talk a walk, write down your feelings, breath, sing. "Getting energy moving restores the flow," she says. "Even if it leaves us crying and raging, we have to get it out and let life happen. The more the culture gets obsessed with denial, the more we overeat and indulge."

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