What's Your Body Say?
What're you holding?
How often do you listen to what your body has to say? Are you aware of not only your habitual holding patterns that may cause stress, but how your emotions feel in your body? We hear lots about how illness and pain are signals to be heeded, but what about the subtleties?
Right now take a minute to check your body. Where do you hold on? Do you clench your jaw, or hold your shoulders in perpetual half-shrug? Do you curl your toes or crunch up your brow?
As you build a you-noticing practice, begin to check in periodically with your body. It is not only important for your physical health; reducing pain and stress. It also helps you become aware of your desires, emotional states and unconscious habits. Usually there are many subtle cues in our body sensations, but we have to become keenly aware. They are not usually as blatant as super sore shoulders from hunching over a keyboard.
Here are ways I catch myself holding on:
clenching my knee caps when my massage therapist finds a knot
holding tension in my hips and belly when I'm uptight in a conversation
habitually tightening tiny muscles in and around my neck and shoulders when I'm driving
Mindfulness, massage and Reiki have helped me become very aware of the subtle ways I hold on. Once you become aware, it's little tiny adjustments that release them, but they make a big difference in how you feel. You experience less tension, for sure. But your body learns that you are giving it positive attention.
There's more to the body story
Your body also has a lot to say about your decisions and emotions. What happens in your gut when you say yes to something you'd really rather not do? What does your brow feel like when you've got lots on your mind? What does your body say when you're nervous or bored?
Noticing these things gives you clues. Clues mean you get to be curious about what's up with you. At the same time, giving them attention can give immediate relief. Stomach in knots? If you've got a choice in the matter, take the action that causes less stress. Feel like you don't have a choice? Be with your body and find relief within the difficulty.
Breathe deeply into that tied up tummy, expanding it like a big balloon.
Exhale, deflating it slowly.
Do it again, imagining pure white light rushing in as you inhale.
The more stressed we are, the more shallowly we breathe. Flooding your body down to the root with oxygen helps you relax. You do have a choice in how you take care of your body while in the stress. In a lovely circle, when you do that, the stress feels less.
And lest we forget
Of course, I'm always about noticing the positive. So tell me this, what does it feel like in your body when you come upon something pleasurable? Are you familiar with the full, deep filling in your middle when you experience something beautiful? How often do you notice the giddy thrill through your chest when you see someone you love? Do you give yourself the feeling of deep release found when sinking into a warm bath?
Knowing how 'good' feels in your body also helps tune your compass and focus on what you want. The more stress we have, the more important it is to notice the good things in each day and create good feelings in our body.
Yes, they're always available.