The Body Check-In

Photo by Luza return to nature

Are you in the practice of listening to your body?

  Of hearing it’s “voice”, it’s messages, it’s language?  For years, I had no idea that this was a necessary tool to staying healthy and balanced.  It was never taught to me.  In fact, it took a completely different way of thinking about my body before I even realized that it had a language of its own. 

Answer these two questions:

1.  Do you believe that your body was intentionally and intelligently created?

2.  Do you believe your body was made for health or disease?

Your truthful answer to these questions will give you insight in how you likely view health and wellness in your life.  When I came to trust that my body was wonderfully and marvelously made and that it was created and designed for a purpose…I finally began to listen to my body with different ears.  In truth, I began to learn the language of my body because I trusted that it had a wisdom set in it from its inception that was intended to help me keep myself healthy. 

Looking through the lens that my body was designed for a purpose and meant for wellness and not disease I began to:

listen when I would feel pain or discomfort,

observe my body’s rhythms and changes,

take notice when things felt out of balance,

and consider my cravings as clues not weaknesses.

How do we begin to learn the language of our body? 

We begin by paying attention to it. 

Consider writing down the following four areas in a notebook.  Every day take a few minutes to jot some notes down observing what was happening that day.  Use the questions simply as guides to help you make notes.  You may notice that once you begin to take notes–  you pay more attention throughout your day, which will give you more of a connection to how your body responds and communicates.

1.  Aches/Pains/Tightness

• Do I have aches and pains?  Where?  When?  What is the quality of the discomfort? (Is it a tightness, burning, shooting or sharp pain, ect).
• How is my digestion?  Do I have cramping, soreness, bloating or excessive gas through the day?
• Do I have headaches?
• Do I have congestion or pressure in my sinuses?
• Do my muscles become tense or tight at any point in the day?  When does this happen?  Do I tend to clench my jaws often, tighten my shoulders, stiffen my neck?

2.  Energy

• Am I waking up refreshed and alert or tired and dragging?
• Are there times in the day I need a “pick me up”? 
• Are my evenings exhausted?
• Do I drop into bed spent from the day?
• What kinds of things give me more energy?
• What kinds of things drain me of energy?
• What is happening in my mind when my body is tired?

3.  Mood

• Am I steady and balanced with my moods?
• Am I able to respond to difficult situations well?
• Do I find myself having highs and lows?
• Do I lash out in anger or rage?
• How can I expain my moods in more detail than a “bad” mood–dig a little.
• When do I feel high, light, joyful or happy?

4.  Cravings

• What does my body crave?  When do I crave these things?
• If I give in do I feel satisfied?  Do I crave more?  Do I crave something different?
• Are there triggers to these cravings- times of the day, stress, boredom?
• Am I well hydrated when I crave these things?

At first the practice of hearing your body’s messages can feel overwhelming.  It may feel hard to figure out what it is saying.  You may feel there is no rhyme or reason, no pattern discernable.  Be gentle.  Give yourself grace.  No one learns a new language overnight, it starts by simply hearing the newness of the sounds, the cadence, the movement, the context and emphasis in the words.  Over a bit of time, you will begin to identify the patterns.  You will hear a clear message where you once felt confused.  And you will begin to reconnect to the intuitive part of yourself and trust yourself more and more…and this is when it gets really fun and freeing!

Are you used to listening to your body’s language or is this something new for you?