We hear a lot about listening to our bodies, especially in yoga and therapeutic communities. Yet I have many clients who confess to me that this concept feels foreign.
If you feel this way, you’re not alone. We’ve been encultured into societies that value us from the head up: we value logic, productivity, linear steps, problem solving, getting things done quickly. When our body tells us something, we often ignore it. When we have pain from working too much, sitting too long … we often keep sitting, because something inside us says, “Just get it done already.” (A little something called internalized capitalism.)
We stay focused on our computers, at the expense of our bodies.
We sit, knowing we have to use the bathroom, trying to get one more email answered.
At the expense of our bodies.
These may seem like trivial things—”yeah, so I hold my pee every once in a while.” But when we ignore the body’s cues repeatedly, we rupture trust, and soon, it becomes difficult to understand what our bodies are telling us. When they have wisdom or intuition, we won’t be able to listen or decipher it.
We often don’t listen to the body because it feels inconvenient: it’s counter-cultural. Listening to your body might not make you immediate money.
That’s because the body is slow. The body is cyclical. The body is full of intuitive Yeses and Noes. The body has a perfect memory—it holds onto what we might block out.
Our bodies need real care (rest, pleasure, movement, touch, sleep) that our culture tells us we can’t have, don’t deserve.
Our bodies become numb and/or experience pain when we don’t tend to these very real needs.
So how do we tend to our counter-cultural needs?
We become radical.
If you’re someone who only feels they have worth when they are productive, it’s time to examine that belief. What if you were worthy and deserving, simply because you exist? What if we’ve been fed a bunch of lies about what it takes to be a “productive member of society?”
Can you be radical and still work? Yeah, most of us have to. So how can you build in ways to meet your body’s needs and desires, when you have so many expectations to meet?
It can start in small ways:
Like using the bathroom when you’ve gotta.
Taking 5 minute dance, walk or stretch breaks every hour.
Lying down to rest instead of ingesting caffeine or sugar, or scrolling.
Self-pleasuring when you feel arousal.
We all experience a natural rhythm in our body, every 90 minutes or so. It’s a natural ebb and flow of energy. Begin to take notice during the day. When you begin to feel your energy ebb, it’s the perfect time for that walk, or lying down with your legs up the wall for just a few minutes.
The more you are in consent with your body, moment to moment, the more intuition will come online. The more you’ll experience health, gratitude, and joy.
This next week, take some time every day to ask yourself, "What is my body really asking for?" Then do your best to fulfill that need.
We’ve also been taught that our needs might be scary or overpowering—but believe me, the body doesn’t want a carton of ice cream or 20 sessions of masturbation in a row. Get still, get quiet, really listen … the answer will probably be so, so simple.