AuraWell Try the app

The science

Understanding comes
before change.

When body, food or movement feel tangled with pressure, another demand can feel like more of the same. AuraWell offers a place to notice the pattern, practise compassion and choose what matters to you.

Explore the thinking behind it

Our starting point

Compassion is
something to practise.

Notice what is difficult.
Meet it with understanding.
Consider what would help.

Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) was developed to work with shame and self-criticism. Its model makes room for soothing and a sense of safety, alongside our responses to threat and our drive to achieve. Gilbert, 2009

In AuraWellThat informs the first steps: breathing, grounding, and practising a more supportive inner voice. You can begin with how things feel today.

What does the CFT research say?

A review of 14 studies involving 847 adults found improvements in self-criticism and self-soothing. The studies included clinical and nonclinical populations; only half had a control group. The authors call for more randomized trials comparing CFT with other therapies.

Vidal & Soldevilla, 2023 · British Journal of Clinical Psychology

Gilbert’s earlier paper explains the therapeutic model. Neither paper evaluates AuraWell.

Understanding threat, drive and soothe

CFT describes three interacting systems as a simple way to understand emotion and motivation.

Threat helps us notice danger and protect ourselves. Fear, anger and the urge to escape can be part of this response.

Drive gives us energy to pursue resources, rewards and goals. It can also become tied to proving ourselves or avoiding failure.

Soothe supports contentment, connection and a sense of safeness, including through experiences of care.

Each has a useful role. CFT aims to help them work together, with greater access to soothing when threat or striving dominates. The goal is flexibility, rather than feeling calm all the time.

Gilbert, 2009 · Introducing compassion-focused therapy

Where that meets everyday life

Your body. Your food.
Your way of moving.

Body image

Practise a more
caring response.

In a study with adult women, three weeks of self-compassion meditation improved body appreciation and reduced body dissatisfaction compared with a waiting-list group. Albertson et al., 2015

In AuraWellExplore comparison, body stories and the critical voice, with space to practise treating yourself with respect.

Read the research note

This randomized study reported results for 228 adult women. It used self-report measures and had substantial participant dropout. A waiting-list comparison cannot establish that the practice works better than another supportive activity.

Albertson, Neff & Dill-Shackleford · Mindfulness

A later, smaller trial found no advantage for self-compassion meditation over nature-guided imagery. Outcomes depend on the practice, comparison and population.

de Wet, Lane & Mulgrew, 2020 · Body Image

Relationship with food

Make room
for curiosity.

Research following young people into adulthood linked more intuitive eating with less body dissatisfaction and fewer disordered eating behaviours eight years later. This was an association, not a treatment trial. Hazzard et al., 2020

In AuraWellNotice the rules, feelings and expectations around eating. Explore nourishment and your needs with a more compassionate perspective.

Read the research note

The EAT 2010–2018 study followed 1,491 participants from adolescence to young adulthood. Intuitive eating was measured through eating in response to hunger and fullness. The analyses adjusted for several baseline factors, but an observational study cannot show that intuitive eating caused the later outcomes.

Hazzard and colleagues · Eating and Weight Disorders

Published online in 2020; journal issue 2021. The findings do not test AuraWell’s Nutrition Space.

Movement

Reconnect with
your own reasons.

A review of exercise research found that motivation based on personal choice, value or enjoyment was consistently associated with taking part in physical activity. Teixeira et al., 2012

In AuraWellExplore what movement means to you, what feels possible, and where rest belongs. Your values help guide the conversation.

Read the research note

This review included 66 studies across different samples and settings, mostly in adults. Most studies were descriptive rather than experimental, and some findings about motivation were mixed. The review supports considering autonomous motivation; it does not prove that any particular app leads to lasting activity.

Teixeira and colleagues · International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

How that shapes the app

Build a foundation.
Then explore from there.

AuraWell’s Journey starts with soothing and values before exploring body image, food and movement in more depth.

  1. 01

    Soothe & Values

    Practise steadiness and reconnect with what matters to you.

  2. 02

    Body Image

    Explore how you see, speak to and care for your body.

  3. 03

    Nutrition & Movement

    Build on that foundation in your relationship with eating and activity.

Support for the moments in between. Supportive Spaces stays available alongside the Journey, so you can find something for how today feels.

What this evidence means for AuraWell

These papers inform the ideas behind AuraWell. The app’s sequence is a design choice, and these studies did not test AuraWell, its AI guide or its specific content. They do not establish clinical effectiveness for the app.

AuraWell offers wellbeing support. It does not replace therapy, medical advice or individual nutritional care.