Meet Nazira

 
 

 Hi! I'm Nazira. I’m glad you are here!

As a Body Liberation & Embodiment Guide, I help women heal and restore their relationship with their bodies and food.

Once I began mending my relationship with my body and food, a whole new world was opened up. The freedom, flow, and ease that resulted from creating a connection with my body and my inner wisdom was completely transformative.

Now, nothing excites me more than guiding women to reclaim their body, take up space in the world, and step into their full power by creating a deep connection and love for their body. I believe this is every woman’s birthright.

How it all began…

I spent my entire adolescence and young adult life feeling self-conscious.
I kept to myself because my body made me feel like I had to.
I avoided social events because I was so uncomfortable in my own skin.

From a very young age, I developed an unhealthy relationship with food and my body. I was stuck in the binge-and-restrict cycle, and I spent my time fantasizing about what my life would be like if only I could lose the weight. I dreamt about the clothes I would wear, the perfect boyfriend I would have, and the friends I would make. So, when I was 12 years old and my aunt promised me a brand new wardrobe if I lost 40 pounds before Christmas, I was immediately intrigued. And I immediately started my first diet. 

I thought the promise of a gorgeous new closet would be enough of a motivator for me. But it wasn’t. Not long after I started it, I failed at my first diet… but I still longed to for “the perfect body.’’

Turns out that trying to fix my body wasn’t the answer to all of my problems. No matter how much weight I lost, I still felt like it wasn’t enough. After about a year, I gained all of the weight back, and began a vicious cycle of binging and restricting that lasted throughout high school years and college.

When I was in my mid-20’s, living in NYC, the Great Recession hit. Within a week, I got laid off, and my boyfriend of 7 years broke up with me. Even though I had hated my job and been miserable in my relationship, I still felt like my entire world had fallen apart. My relationship with my body was at its worst and I knew there had to be a better way.

In that moment, I remember saying out loud to the universe (without yet knowing what that even meant) "show me the way."

And the universe showed me.

I had spent years working with a life coach and going to therapy. I read a ton of spirituality and self-development books, including Breaking Free From Emotional Eating by Geneen Roth. In the book, I learned about binge eating and the binge-and-restrict cycle, and that I wasn’t the only one struggling with it. I felt less shame, and I felt less broken.

For the first time in my life, I felt hope.

  • I broke up with dieting.

  • I was introduced to intuitive eating.

  • I learned about the root of diet culture and its patriarchal roots.

  • I began to listen to my body. 

And the healing I’d been seeking finally started to happen.

 My healing journey

At the end of 2017, I left NYC, my home of 14 years, to travel throughout Southeast Asia for 4 months. This was a life-changing trip, because for the first time in my life, I felt free. It was more about who I was being and my experience rather than what my body looked like. I had never traveled by myself, and before this trip, I was the type of person who would never travel alone. But the voice inside that was telling me to travel was so loud that I had to listen.

While traveling, I was fully present. My nervous system was regulated for what felt like the first time. I was finally able to slow down enough to connect to my body and my soul, and I was able to start to trust my body and myself.

I booked a one way ticket to Thailand - and that freedom (even though it was terrifying) was exactly what I needed to be able to let go of the old me and step into the woman I so desperately wanted to be:

A woman who...

  • Was connected to her truth.

  • Trusted herself, the universe, and her body.

  • Took risks and followed her intuition.

  • Willingly left her comfort zone to create more freedom.

  • And, most importantly, a woman who didn't let her body (or thoughts about her body) stop her from living a meaningful life full of joy and adventure.

While in Thailand, I trained to be a SheDance facilitator, and the training process was when the deep healing started for me. SheDance is an invitation to connect to the softness of your feminine essence and to connect to other women in a safe and sacred space. Through SheDance, women come together in sisterhood to celebrate the blossoming of our feminine energy and nurture our true self through free-form dance and movement.

Through this practice, I was able to connect with my body in a new and intimate way. I was able to start to release the lingering shame, guilt, and sadness that was still stuck in my body, and I began to feel the truth of who I was and my essence. This work led me to pursue deeper somatic healing with Layla Martin and the Tantric Institute of Integrated Sexuality, where I learned to use pleasure practices as a form of healing trauma, transforming my nervous system, and healing from negative body image and shame and I reconnected to my sexuality and self-love.

My 4-month solo trip throughout Southeast Asia and Bali was the portal to meet myself in a deeper way. Since that trip, I’ve been devoted to my transformation by healing my childhood trauma through somatic practices, regulating my nervous system, embodying and feeling my emotions instead of using coping mechanisms to numb. I now fully trust my body, and I no longer try to control her. I meet all the parts of myself with love and compassion, and break free from the toxic cycles of diet culture through Intuitive Eating.

 
 

 Professional Experience

Throughout my journey to become a Body Liberation and Embodiment Guide, I have had so many amazing opportunities to learn from several impactful organizations and powerful teachers. I’m a certified VITA™ Women’s Empowerment Coach, I’m certified in Emotional Eating Psychology, I’m certified in Applied Positive Psychology, and a SheDance facilitator. I’ve also trained with co-creator of Intuitive Eating Eating Evelyn Tribole, Soul Medicine Academy, and the Center of Body Trust to master their BodyTrust® modality.