My Own Journey with Body Confidence and Positivity
Galia Georgieva
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy. Clinical Hypnotherapy. BrainWorking Recursive Therapy. Mindfulness
Hello, I am Galia. Since a child I’ve been suffering from dyspraxia. Dyspraxia is a hidden disability in neurodiverse spectrum, which affects body functioning such as eye-hand coordination, balance, posture, orientation and short-term procedural memory. Due to my dyspraxia I have never been good at physical activities. I have never learnt how to ride bicycle. I was unable to participate in ball games and I was behind everyone when it comes to sport. Phrases as “feel connected to your body” made me feel ever more disconnected and anxious. I started improving my relationship with my body when I took my first hypnotherapy course back in 2010 and applied hypnosis to build positive body image.
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy has taught me of the importance of going out of my “comfort zone”. I was progressing slowly with baby steps, most of them were far away from perfect and with time my balance has improved and my movements got more flawless. I committed to understand how human brain works and how we can improve our body perception based on conditioning and building new neuro-connections. Meditation and mindfulness learnt me how to take full responsibility for “here and now”. With time my relationship with my body transformed into healthy and compassionate.
In 2018 I created my first company Good Health Global with main focus supporting people suffering poor mental health. Seeing the damaging impact of the negative body image over my clients’ confidence and psychological wellbeing and understanding from first hand experience the difficulties to accept your own diversity, I came up with the idea to create a safe space for everyone who would like to improve their relationship with how they look.
Qualifications: My journey started thirteen years ago with Insighting Centre of Psychotherapy and continued with PRLA-London, National College of Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy, UK College of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy, Kings College London, Heartwood College of Counselling and Psychotherapy and Institute of BrainWorking Recursive Therapy.
I am proficient in working in suicidal prevention and helping people with substance misuse and dual diagnosis (mental health complexity), people suffering traumatic past experiences, negative body image, depressive and anxiety disorders.
Accreditations:
I have full professional liability insurance and I am a professional member of the British Neuroscience Association, Complementary and Natural Healthcare Centre, General Hypnotherapy Register and American Hypnosis Association.
Maybe nobody has ever told you that you don’t need to be in perfect shape and condition to feel beautiful and confident. The imperfection of our bodies is as charming as the imperfection of our personalities, they makes us human, colourific and diverse.
How to recognise that you have problem with your body image:
Body concerns often appear in our behaviour – please check if any of the statements below is valid for you: Checking or inspecting certain parts of the body; checking mirrors repeatedly; comparing your appearance to others’s appearance (in person, in picture, in social media); spending significant amount of money to improve your appearance (plastic surgery, cosmetic surgery); exercising excessively; using substances to change your body shape (steroids, weight loss pills); avoiding social situations (parties, dating); avoiding intimate or close physical contact (sexual activity, dancing); cluttering your wardrobe with clothes don’t fit; feeling overwhelming anxiety every time when you need to get dressed; dislike most of clothes you wear; using food as a comfort; approaching others with the belief that you will be treated differently because of physical defects; binge drinking and binge eating; self-harm (cutting, nail biting); food restrictions; self-neglect; believing if you learn to accept yourself you will lose your motivation to look better.
How can I help with this?
I know that your journey with body concerns might differ from mine but I will be happy to listen to it. As a therapist I integrated clinical hypnotherapy with CBT, BrainWorking Recursive Therapy and Mindfulness to support adults and young people who suffer with negative body image to embrace who they are and to make changes from the position of self-love and not from a place of deficiency.