“Your body is telling you the truth.”
I heard this statement in a podcast.
And it’s been on my mind ever since.
I’ve come to believe whole-heartedly in this statement, and now it’s become the basis of what I coach on.
It’s not really about intuition, instead it’s more about awareness.
Noticing and acting on the insights from my own body.
I now understand that when you practice being aware of your body, you learn to TRUST what it says.
Even when you’re in mid-life, and your hormones are changing.
You learn that your body is always telling you the truth.
When you DON’T practice and apply this trust, you look for answers OUTSIDE yourself.
And that’s where you get confused.
So, trust, let go, and let your body do what it’s designed to do.
Before I learned to TRUST my body…
- I ate according to the clock and finished every bite that was on my plate… Children are starving in Africa, you know.
- If I had a headache, I didn’t question why it was there, I just took a Tylenol (or an Aspirin).
- If I was training for a swim competition or running event, and felt pain or even felt really tired, I just kept pushing through because I was strong (right?)
- And even though I didn’t like milk, and it made me feel gross, I drank it. I was told I needed calcium, so I mixed it with some sweetened chocolate flavored powder and just moved on.
Can you relate to any of these things?
In all these cases I just didn’t know to TRUST my body to tell me what it needed.
I just went with what was “normal”, or prescribed, or popular, and ignored the fact that my body could have been trying to tell me something.
And this way of living seems normal.
Most of us aren’t taught that our bodies are wise.
At any age.
Your body will scream if you don’t listen
When my mother was diagnosed with cancer and died at 57, she didn’t realize she was sick until things had gone too far.
Her body was “off”, but she hadn’t been paying attention.
And of course, hindsight is 20-20.
I remember her telling me weeks earlier about being abnormally bloated, and that her pants no longer fit.
And that she was often feeling sick to her stomach.
But I don’t think any alarm bells went off…
Until the symptoms got so bad, she couldn’t ignore them any longer.
Sometimes my mind wonders, if I had just encouraged her to look into things, maybe she could have caught it sooner.
Maybe…
Your body is always telling the truth
I’ve come to understand that my body, and your body, are finely tuned instruments of truth.
This body you were given, which houses your soul, is your closest ally, your ultimate protector, and it will tell you what is going on, and what it needs.
But it can only do this if you stop to listen to what it says.
As women, many of us have been fighting against our bodies for years.
Ignoring them in favor of some higher ideal.
It seems… normal.
We try to make our bodies fit, be, and do what we want, at our whim.
And then we’re disappointed when our bodies don’t do what we expected.
It feels like a betrayal.
But in fact, the betrayal is the other way around.
By not paying attention, and by forcing it to be something it’s not, you betray your body.
And your body let’s you know.
Listen and trust
My body is in its fiftieth year, and I appreciate it more than ever.
I’ve learned to listen to it more, and treat it more like a privilege than a right.
One of the things I’ve been doing regularly, during meditation, is a full body scan.
It takes about 2 minutes.
I close my eyes, and mentally scan my body from head to toe.
I notice what’s going on, like tension or pain.
But I also take note of feelings of well-being and strength.
And thanks in part to this practice, and others, I’ve become aware of many things about myself that I just failed to recognize before.
- I check in and listen for those tell-tale signals of hunger that my body reveals: Grumbling, echoing noises in my belly; a feeling of physical emptiness; and even slight nausea.
- If I have a headache or I’m overly tired or even sick, I stop for a moment and tune into those feelings. Am I not sleeping well, or enough? Am I doing too much? Am I not drinking enough water?
- It’s rare that I’ll take a pill to resolve my problem (but I’m not opposed to medication when it’s needed). I’ve learned to check in with my body first, and try to understand these things as symptoms of some bigger picture issue.
- I no longer drink milk and stay away from dairy most of the time. I feel better. And no broken bones.
- And I’ve also learned that sometimes the best thing you can do for your body is rest. Exercise is great (and necessary), but if your body is truly exhausted, it can actually hurt more than help.
I now know that strength doesn’t come from pushing through pain or exhaustion.
Strength comes from having the courage to do what you know is right for your body at any given moment.
But of course, I’m not perfect.
I do over-indulge in foods I enjoy sometimes, and I do let myself get over-stressed on occasion, and I do skip on sleep when I want to get things done.
But I hear my body when it raises its voice, and I listen.
I reel myself in, and return to the reality and the truth that is my body.
Do you TRUST your body?
If you don’t yet trust your body, don’t worry.
It can be learned through practice.
Practice requires presence, awareness, and the willingness to feel what’s going on.
Because sometimes we’re afraid to know.
Or we’d rather just press what looks like the EASY button, and take a pill, eat something, drink something, or buy something.
I get it.
I do it too, sometimes.
But when you do decide to tune in, to feel, to trust… You realize what an amazing instrument your body is.
It’s a miracle.
And when you know your body is a miracle, you begin to treat it as a miracle.
Keep moving forward,
Debbie
P.S. Do you want to learn to TRUST your body, so you can make better decisions for your health and well-ness? Let’s talk about it! Book a time to talk with me.
P.P.S. Belly Fit Yoga classes begin on Tuesday, January 11th, and I’d love to have you join me for this 12-week winter session. Classes are LIVE Tuesdays and Thursdays, but they’re all recorded for your convenience! Find out more and sign up here: https://debbie-harbec.lpages.co/belly-fit-yoga-winter-2022