Listening To Your Body

“Also, go inside and listen to your body, because your body will never lie to you. Your mind will play tricks, but the way you feel in your heart, in your guts, is the truth.”
– Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements

Listening To Your Body

Listening to your body: does that idea seem strange to you? Or is it something that resonates but sometimes feels difficult to do? Maybe it’s perfectly natural for you, or you’ve practiced it enough to easily tap in. Whatever the case, know this:

Your body is always communicating its needs to you.

Some of the basic necessities are impossible to ignore: you’re cold, hot, hungry, thirsty, sleepy, or perhaps you just need to use the toilet!

But the signals are so much finer tuned than that and sometimes it can be difficult to hear them, or pay attention to them, due to stress, busyness or other distractions (or your trick-playing mind!).

Part of my Flourish program delves into finding out what food, exercise and mindfulness activities work for you, and under which circumstances. This involves observing and paying attention to how you feel before and afterwards, and remembering those feelings for future reference.

For example, in my personal experience, yoga makes me feel blissed out, flexible and balanced, whereas walking makes me feel grounded, calm and energized. When I really tap into my needs and ask myself how I want to feel, this can help in choosing my activity.

My Body & My Schedule

Being in lockdown in France for the last two months, my life hasn’t changed too much. I work from home, so I was already living a home-based lifestyle. But something in the air – a shared low-level anxiety or a stuck feeling shared by so many that you can read about in this interesting article – made getting to work somewhat of a challenge.

I was feeling less inspired to get working. Once I managed to eventually get going, I found it difficult to focus. It was easy to look something up and then go down the rabbit hole of YouTube videos, blogs or podcasts. Or just stare off into space.

Making lists wasn’t helping; I’d just look at those lists and rebel against them. As the sun started coming up earlier and earlier, I started sleeping in later and later. As with many things that feel good in the moment, sleeping in didn’t feel great later in the day as I was scrambling to make up for lost time.

One thing that remained steady was my daily Creative Walking Tour. I would usually wait until the end of the day to go walking, but then I found myself struggling in the choice between getting outside for a walk or getting more work done. There was a distinct lack of space and time in my day!

My body was telling me it was time for a change. Maybe even an uncomfortable one.

Setting The Alarm

My body was urging me to get up earlier, even though I’m not what you would describe as a morning person. I wanted to get some exercise in every day and not feel like it was impeding my workday. I wanted to have breakfast with my husband, who IS a morning person.

I wanted this.

According to Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies quiz, I’m an obliger, meaning I have an easier time meeting outer expectations than inner expectations.

I knew that if I wanted to stick to getting up earlier – yes, even though I wanted this – having an accountability partner would make things easier. Back in Burgundy, I used to get up early and run with a friend every other day, rain or shine (or snow, or hail).

I know for a FACT that I would never have run in the rain first thing in the morning on my own. My commitment to my friend was the reason I made it out.

So I asked my husband if he was interested in going for early morning walks with me. He said “yes!” and so I set my alarm for 6:45am and set out my clothes. Gulp.

Fast forward over three weeks. We’ve been successfully getting up and heading outside for a walk – usually for an hour – every weekday. Have we missed a couple of days? Sometimes, but then we make sure to not miss two days in a row, because that means the start of  a new habit. A missed morning walk is not the end of the world. For the moment, I’m enjoying them so much that I want to make sure to do them. This, too, may change.

A New Habit

Every day when we head out for our walk, we try to take a new route. The French countryside is filled with interconnected hiking trails and farming pathways, making for an endless number of possibilities. From the higher plains, to the wooded valleys, and the quaint, pastoral rolling hills, it’s a feast for the senses at every turn.
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I feel like getting outside in the morning has made the familiar new again, just through the changes in the quality of the light. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some evening goldenhour light, but the morning equivalent is equally as enticing. Perhaps it’s lighter, cooler and more pastel, but it’s got that lovely, understated wabi sabi feeling about it. It’s almost melancholic, but beautifully so.

Even though it’s only been a few weeks, I’ve already noticed that I start my days feeling calmer. More centered. I’ve been loving the morning sun and its special quality of light, the peacefulness of the day just starting, and the energy that the exercise gives me for the day.

And I’ll admit it, even the rainy mornings have been lovely (raincoat, rubber boots and all!). As a Danish friend of mine says, “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing!”

What’s YOUR Body Telling You?

Our lives are filled with so many shoulds; they can feel deflating and can set us up for disappointment. Yes we should do so much… but do we really need to? Maybe it would be more restorative to deeply feel what we are craving and do that instead.

In my case, I was longing for space in my day, a moment in nature, and a special time together with my husband. That was enough reason to set my alarm for 6:45am.

If somebody had said, “you really should get up early every day,” I would likely feel guilty for not already doing so, maybe set my alarm early once, press snooze, and carry on feeling guilty. It was different this time because the “why” was coming from my body.

I wanted this. And I knew what support I would need to follow through.

12 Tools To Facilitate Listening To Your Body

Listening to your body takes time, observation and perspective. It takes getting quiet, and asking yourself how you want to feel, and what’s working or not working. Here are some tools that I use to get into the right space. Maybe they can help you, too!

1. Get out for a walk (try a Creative Walking Tour!)
2. Listen to a guided meditation or visualization. Try a body scan meditation to start.
3. Do some at-home yoga, even if it’s just a few stretches. Start with something easy, like this short practice by Yoga with Adriene.
4. Write freestyle in a journal.
5. Make a new recipe.
6. Do something kind for somebody else (like maybe deliver the results of your new recipe to some neighbours or friends!).
7. Spend some time in the garden.
8. Go to the local pool for a swim, jacuzzi and sauna (although not during COVID!).
9. Just close your eyes and allowing yourself to sit or lie with no expectations or intentions. Just BE.
10. Create something with your hands.
11. Make a mandala. Draw a circle on a piece of paper, using a plate or bowl as a guide, then get out your felt pens, pencil crayons, pastels or paints and start creating shapes and colours. Just go with what is appealing to you at the moment.
12. Practice asking the body about any decision or choice that may be coming up. See what comes up!

For me, it’s mostly about getting time alone, but it can also be in the company of others, provided it’s not too noisy or stressful. Above all else, it’s takes practice. That means actually stopping to ask yourself what you need in this moment or what your body is craving.

There is wisdom in our bodies and I firmly believe that it is aimed at creating harmony, balance and wellbeing. Our bodies want things to work optimally!

Know that your body is giving you answers and guiding you in the right direction. Spend time connecting with yourself. Listen. What’s it saying?

Show kindness to your body in your words, thoughts and actions. Celebrate your beauty, energy, and strength. Your body is really amazing, if you think about it!

When you start listening to your body and show it kindness, you begin to have confidence in your body’s ability to heal itself. You’ll naturally make changes according to its needs.

Think of me – a decidedly non-morning person! – wanting to set my alarm early and actually following through. I’m able to do it because I knew it’s what my body wanted. I was craving it.

(Ok, let’s be honest, I also realised enough about my tendencies to put training wheels in the form of an accountablity partner in place. Sometimes we need help to follow through, and it’s ok to ask.)

Want to give this a try? Listen to this simple body scan meditation and then see if you notice anything when you simply ask: “How do I want to feel? What do I need in this moment? What do I need to let go of in this moment?”

Let me know in the comments below if you try this and hear something!