Mind the Body Podcast

Yvette Vuaran
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  • MENTAL HEALTH

Mind the Body is a podcast about the space between how we think, feel, and live in our bodies — and how trauma, culture, and relationships shape the way we experience the world. Hosted by psychodynamic psychotherapist and EMDR therapist Yvette Vuaran, the show unpacks how the body remembers, how the mind protects, and how understanding that connection can change the way we live and love.

  1. 5D AGO

    The Constructed Self, The Disconnected Self - On feeling lost, hidden, and finding your way back : Episode 13

    🎧 Episode 13: The Constructed Self, The Disconnected Self - On feeling lost, hidden, and finding your way back Something feels off, but it’s hard to name. In this episode of Mind the Body, I explore two experiences I hear often: “I don’t know who I am anymore” and “I just feel lost.” While they sound similar, they speak to different kinds of disconnection - one psychological, one deeply embodied. Here, I look at how the self we present to the world can slowly take over, until it’s the only place we know how to live from. Drawing on psychoanalytic thinking, clinical experience, and the impact of social media, I explore how the gap between who we are and who we show can quietly widen over time. We also move into what happens when parts of the self go into hiding, how early relationships and shame shape what feels safe to express, and how the body holds what cannot be spoken. And finally, what it means to find your way back, through real connection. In This Episode: The difference between feeling lost and losing contact with who you are, and how these experiences take shape over timeHow the “constructed self” develops, and why it can begin to replace something more realWhat happens when parts of the self go into hiding, and how that disconnection is felt in the bodyWhy being seen is not the same as being known, and what actually allows the self to returnA Question to Sit With: What moments in your life make you feel out of touch with who you are? Take a breath, stay curious, and explore what it truly means to Mind The Body. Join the Community Subscribe or follow the show so you never miss an episode.Share this episode with a friend who’s exploring body image healing, the mind–body connection, emotional healing, and the patterns that shape how we see ourselves.Connect or learn more: www.yvettevuaran.com Sign up for my Mind The Body NewsletterFollow @mindthebodypodcast @yvettevuaran

    24 min

  2. APR 24

    The Changing Body - Perimenopause, Identity and What We're Really Carrying : Episode 12

    🎧 Episode 12: The Changing Body - Perimenopause, Identity and What We're Really Carrying Something is happening that remains largely unspoken, yet deeply felt. In this episode of Mind The Body, I explore the psychological and relational experience of perimenopause - a biological transition that also reshapes identity, visibility, and self-perception. This conversation moves beyond symptoms to examine what it means to inhabit a changing body in a culture that equates a woman’s worth with youth. Drawing on clinical experience, psychoanalytic thinking, and research on body image, I look at how this transition can surface long-held questions about worth, desirability, and belonging, and why, for some women, it can feel less like a passage and more like a quiet unravelling. We also explore the emotional context behind the rising use of GLP-1 medications in midlife women, asking what might sit beneath the desire to change the body at this particular moment in time. In This Episode: How perimenopause reshapes a woman’s relationship to her body and sense of selfWhy this transition can activate deeper questions of worth, identity, and attachmentThe difference between true acceptance and a quiet withdrawal from the bodyWhat may sit beneath the urge to “fix” the body, and why it often isn’t about the body at allThe emotional and cultural context behind increasing GLP-1 use in midlifeA Question to Sit With: What is this moment in your body bringing up for you? References: Szymona-Pałkowska, K., Adamczuk, J., Sapalska, M., Gorbaniuk, O., Robak, J. M., & Kraczkowski, J. J. (2019). Body image in perimenopausal women. Menopause Review, 18(4), 210–216. Murphy, M. B., Lane, A., Cuskelly, G., & Heavey, P. M. (2025). Experiences of weight and body shape changes during perimenopause. Women & Health, 65(10), 861–870. Kolod, S. (2022). I’m not myself today: Dialogues with Philip Bromberg. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 58(2–3), 321–334. eMarketer (2025). Twice as many US consumers now using GLP-1s. Retrieved from https://www.emarketer.com/content/twice-many-us-consumers-now-using-glp-1s Take a breath, stay curious, and explore what it truly means to Mind The Body. Join the Community Subscribe or follow the show so you never miss an episode.Share this episode with a friend who’s exploring body image healing, the mind–body connection, emotional healing, and the patterns that shape how we see ourselves.Connect or learn more: www.yvettevuaran.com Sign up for my Mind The Body NewsletterFollow @mindthebodypodcast @yvettevuaran

    20 min

  3. APR 17

    The Hunger That Isn't Just Hunger - On “Skinny Jabs” and What Goes Quiet Within : Episode 11

    🎧 Episode 11: The Hunger That Isn't Just Hunger - On “Skinny Jabs” and What Goes Quiet Within What happens when hunger disappears, and what else might go quiet alongside it? In this episode of Mind The Body, I explore the psychological and relational meaning of hunger in the context of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro. While these drugs are often discussed in terms of weight loss and appetite suppression, this conversation looks at what hunger represents beyond biology. I build on psychoanalytic thinking, including the work of Susie Orbach, alongside attachment theory and my clinical work, to explore how hunger is one of our earliest forms of communication - shaped by our relationships, our histories, and our sense of whether it is safe to need. I also explore what happens when the body changes faster than the psyche can follow, and whether the silencing of hunger can, for some, echo earlier experiences of having to suppress need in order to feel acceptable or safe. In This Episode: Why hunger has never been just about food, but about need, longing, and early attachmentHow GLP-1 medications may interrupt a deeper psychological conversation with the bodyWhat happens when physical transformation outpaces psychological integrationWhy rapid body change can surface anxiety, grief, or a loss of identityThe difference between symptom relief and deeper psychological healingA Question to Sit With: What would it mean to listen to your hunger, rather than silence it? Invitation: If you’d like to go deeper, you can join the Mind the Body newsletter here. Take a breath, stay curious, and explore what it truly means to Mind The Body. Join the Community Subscribe or follow the show so you never miss an episode.Share this episode with a friend who’s exploring body image healing, the mind–body connection, emotional healing, and the patterns that shape how we see ourselves.Connect or learn more: www.yvettevuaran.com Sign up for my Mind The Body NewsletterFollow @mindthebodypodcast @yvettevuaran

    21 min

  4. APR 10

    Pretty Hurts - What Cosmetic Surgery Tells Us About Childhood Trauma : Episode 10

    🎧 Episode 10: Pretty Hurts – What Cosmetic Surgery Tells Us About Childhood Trauma What drives the desire to change the body, and why can it feel so urgent? In this episode of Mind The Body, I explore the link between cosmetic surgery, childhood trauma, and body image. While cultural pressures like beauty standards and social media are real, research suggests something deeper may also be at work. A 2024 study found that women seeking cosmetic procedures reported significantly higher levels of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including abuse and neglect, and higher rates of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem than matched controls. Drawing on the work of psychoanalyst Alessandra Lemma, I explore how the body can become a way of communicating experiences that were never put into words, and why altering the body may not resolve what sits beneath it. In This Episode: What research shows about the link between cosmetic surgery and childhood trauma (ACEs)Why the desire to change the body may be carrying experiences that don’t yet have languageHow early relationships shape body image, self-worth, and the sense of being “enough”Why changing the body doesn’t necessarily change how you feel internally or in relationshipsA Question to Sit With: When the urge to change the body feels urgent, it may be carrying something deeper, something that hasn’t yet been put into words. Mentioned in This Episode: Lemma, A. (2010). Under the skin: A psychoanalytic study of body modification. Routledge.Faezi, F., & Amiri, S. (2024). Adverse childhood experiences and mental health issues in patients seeking cosmetic surgery: A case-control study. JPRAS Open.  Content Note This episode discusses childhood trauma and adverse experiences. Please listen with care. Take a breath, stay curious, and explore what it truly means to Mind The Body. Join the Community Subscribe or follow the show so you never miss an episode.Share this episode with a friend who’s exploring body image healing, the mind–body connection, emotional healing, and the patterns that shape how we see ourselves.Connect or learn more: www.yvettevuaran.com Sign up for my Mind The Body NewsletterFollow @mindthebodypodcast @yvettevuaran

    18 min

  5. APR 3

    The Virtual Body - Gaming, Chronic Illness & Escape : Episode 9

    🎧 Episode 9: The Virtual Body: Gaming, Chronic Illness & Escape When the body becomes a source of pain, unpredictability, or shame - where does the self go? In this episode of Mind The Body, I explore gaming, chronic illness, and body image, and why virtual worlds can feel like relief when the body feels difficult to live in. For some, the virtual body offers a return to a self interrupted by chronic illness - something echoed in Gabrielle Zevin’s novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, where gaming becomes a space of identity beyond limitation. For others, it might resemble what psychoanalyst Esther Bick described as a ‘second skin’ - a way of holding the self together when an internal sense of containment feels fragile or underdeveloped. Drawing on Winnicott’s idea of transitional space, I explore how virtual worlds can offer both refuge and restoration. Gaming can function in this way, but only when it allows movement between the virtual self and the lived body, rather than replacing one with the other. In this episode, we explore: Why gaming can feel like a safe place to go when your body feels painful, unpredictable, or hard to be inHow virtual worlds can act as a kind of ‘holding space’ when you don’t feel fully held within yourself (Esther Bick’s ‘second skin’)How gaming can become a bridge between identity, chronic illness, and the self you feel you’ve lost or can’t accessWhat your avatar choices might reveal about identity, grief, and body imageKey Question: When you step into a virtual body… What are you stepping toward, and what are you setting down? Take a breath, stay curious, and explore what it truly means to Mind The Body. Join the Community Subscribe or follow the show so you never miss an episode.Share this episode with a friend who’s exploring body image healing, the mind–body connection, emotional healing, and the patterns that shape how we see ourselves.Connect or learn more: www.yvettevuaran.com Sign up for my Mind The Body NewsletterFollow @mindthebodypodcast @yvettevuaran

    27 min

  6. MAR 27

    The Body as Stage - Chronic Illness, Body Image & Body Grief : Episode 8

    🎧 Episode 8: The Body as Stage - Chronic Illness, Body Image & Body Grief What happens when your body changes in ways you didn’t choose, and you no longer recognise yourself within it? Over the past seven episodes, we’ve explored how body image is shaped by culture, trauma, attachment, and neurodiversity. In this episode, we turn toward chronic illness and the psychological rupture that can occur when the body itself becomes unfamiliar, unpredictable, or altered. Drawing on psychoanalytic thinkers including Joyce McDougall, Donald Winnicott, and Wilfred Bion, alongside the work of Gabor Maté and writer Sophie Strand, this episode explores a central idea: Illness doesn’t just affect the body. It can become a stage on which something older, unspoken, and unresolved is finally given form. If you’ve ever felt estranged from your body, or like your body is holding something you can’t quite name, this episode offers a way to begin thinking about that experience. In this episode, we explore: How chronic illness can rupture the relationship between psyche and somaWhy body grief emerges in the gap between who you were and the body you now inhabitHow the body in breakdown can come to be experienced as a “bad object”Why medical encounters can sometimes deepen disconnection rather than hold itHow the body can carry what was never able to be spoken or knownWhy body image disturbance in illness is often not new, but newly visibleThe difference between grieving what illness has taken vs. something older and unmetabolisedWhat it means to create the conditions in which the body’s story can finally be knownKey Insight: The body is extraordinarily faithful. It holds what the mind cannot. Healing is not only about grieving what illness has taken, it is about creating the conditions in which what the body has been carrying can finally begin to be known. This episode is for you if: You are living with chronic illness or ongoing health changesYou feel disconnected, alienated, or at odds with your bodyYou’re navigating shifts in identity, appearance, or capacityYou’re interested in psychoanalytic or depth-oriented understandings of the bodyYou sense there is more to your experience than what can be medically explainedTake a breath, stay curious, and explore what it truly means to Mind The Body. Join the Community Subscribe or follow the show so you never miss an episode.Share this episode with a friend who’s exploring body image healing, the mind–body connection, emotional healing, and the patterns that shape how we see ourselves.Connect or learn more: www.yvettevuaran.com Sign up for my Mind The Body NewsletterFollow @mindthebodypodcast @yvettevuaran

    23 min

  7. MAR 20

    Why Your Body Feels Different - Neurodiversity, Sensory Overload & Belonging: Episode 7

    🎧 Episode 7: Why Your Body Feels Different: Neurodiversity, Sensory Overload & Belonging Over the past six episodes, we’ve explored how body image is shaped by culture, trauma, and attachment. In this episode, we explore the missing piece: neurodiversity and how differences in sensory processing, interoception, and regulation shape how the body actually feels, not just how it is perceived. Drawing on the work of neuroscientist Mark Solms, Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory, Damian Milton’s concept of the double empathy problem, and Christopher Bollas’ idea of the unthought known, we explore how internal experience, nervous system states, and relational understanding intersect. In this episode, we explore: How neurodiversity shapes the internal experience of the bodyWhy sensory discomfort is often mistaken for body image issuesWhat interoception is and how it affects emotion, hunger, and self-awarenessThe impact of masking and the concept of the “false body”The physical cost of suppressing natural regulation and needsHow neurodivergence shows up in intimacy and relationshipsThe mismatch between neurotypical expectations and neurodivergent needsThe “double empathy problem” and relational misunderstandingsWhy honouring sensory needs is key to connection and body trustKey insight: What is often labelled as a body image problem may actually be a mismatch between your nervous system and the environment you're trying to function in. Free Resource If you’re ready to begin gently rebuilding trust with your body, download the 7 Day Body Trust Reset - a series of short daily audio practices designed to help you reconnect with safety and compassion. Take a breath, stay curious, and explore what it truly means to Mind The Body. Join the Community Subscribe or follow the show so you never miss an episode.Share this episode with a friend who’s exploring body image healing, the mind–body connection, emotional healing, and the patterns that shape how we see ourselves.Connect or learn more: www.yvettevuaran.com Sign up for my Mind The Body NewsletterFollow @mindthebodypodcast @yvettevuaran

    24 min

  8. MAR 13

    Bridget Jones - Attachment, Body Image, and the Anxious-Avoidant Pattern : Episode 6

    🎧 Episode 6: Bridget Jones - Attachment, Body Image, and the Anxious–Avoidant Pattern Over the past five episodes, we’ve explored how body image is shaped by culture, early relationships, trauma, and attachment. In this episode, we use the character of Bridget Jones from Bridget Jones’s Diary as a lens to explore these patterns. While often framed as romantic comedy, Bridget’s struggles with body image, insecurity, and emotionally unavailable partners reflect deeper attachment patterns. Drawing on attachment research from Allan Schore, alongside relationship dynamics described in Levine & Heller’s Attached and Julie Menanno’s Secure Love, we explore how body image can become the place where attachment wounds are expressed. In this episode, we explore: How early relational experiences shape body imageThe link between maternal messaging, worth, and appearanceAnxious attachment and body hypervigilanceWhy Bridget is drawn to emotional inconsistency (the anxious–avoidant trap)How body anxiety intensifies in insecure relationshipsThe difference between attachment style and nervous system regulationWhat earned security looks like for someone carrying these patternsWhy healing requires grief, embodiment, and secure relationshipsKey insight: Bridget’s body was never the problem. Her body became the place where an attachment wound was expressed. Healing begins not with changing the body, but with understanding the attachment blueprint beneath it and building experiences of relational safety and earned security. Take a breath, stay curious, and explore what it truly means to Mind The Body. Join the Community Subscribe or follow the show so you never miss an episode.Share this episode with a friend who’s exploring body image healing, the mind–body connection, emotional healing, and the patterns that shape how we see ourselves.Connect or learn more: www.yvettevuaran.com Sign up for my Mind The Body NewsletterFollow @mindthebodypodcast @yvettevuaran

    29 min
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About

Mind the Body is a podcast about the space between how we think, feel, and live in our bodies — and how trauma, culture, and relationships shape the way we experience the world. Hosted by psychodynamic psychotherapist and EMDR therapist Yvette Vuaran, the show unpacks how the body remembers, how the mind protects, and how understanding that connection can change the way we live and love.

Information

  • Creator
    Yvette Vuaran
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    14
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Mind the Body Podcast
  • Show Website
    Mind the Body Podcast