Expand Your Consciousness Through Listening To Your Body - Week 42 of The Awakening Journey
We are always looking for ways to recover to bring ourselves back into homeostasis. Back into alignment, at peace, for ways to be happy. In this post, I am going to share a way that is quick, easy, free & always accessible.
Our Bodies
We have an interesting history with our bodies and our physical forms. We are attached to them in that we want to keep them young and ensure they stay healthy and don’t get sick. We “fight” diseases and fear dying because we are so attached to our bodies.
Yet, we abuse our bodies with substances, toxins, eating challenges, and some religions even recommend harming our bodies. Some folks overdo working out, dieting, and so many other ways.
Ancient sages starved their bodies of sustenance in order to transcend the body. It is said the Buddha himself sat under the bodhi tree for 40 days without food and water.
All of these examples have us at odds with our bodies. With us as the boss of our bodies and trying to push it away …. Almost like a love-hate relationship.
So What IS Important About Your Body?
Balance. Alignment. Respect. Love.
Listening to the wisdom of your body.
In a Tsunami, Listen to Your Body
Did you know that in the tsunami, very few animals perished because they fled the area before the tsunami arrived? No, they didn’t have a weather app. Animals are always in tune with their bodies, that is why they can avoid predators and natural disasters.
Am I saying you can avoid predators and natural disasters? Yes, absolutely. Not only that, but you can learn to harness the wisdom of your body so that regardless of what is happening on the outside, whether a metaphorical tsunami rolls over you at work, you are safe and untouched by the damage, the wreckage, and in fact, become a tall grounded tree that supports the world during a disaster.
Your Inner Body
Fully half of your attention should always be on your inner body. What do I mean by the inner body?
You have your physical body, the skin, bones, tissues, and organs, etc. Think of your Inner Body as the intersection of where the physical meets the energetic part of you. Whatever courses through your body to animate it.
When you close your eyes, you take a deep breath and you feel the aliveness in your hands even while they are not touching anything. Perhaps you feel fingers tingling, a vibration, or a throbbing. This is what I like to think of as our inner body.
Believe It or Not
When I connect to my inner body, I know when my kids are being naughty. When I listen to my inner body, I know what is going on with someone else, what they are feeling, or thinking.
Very often when I am working with a client, when I dial into my inner body, the messages I receive are so on point that the person I am working with is astounded.
This awareness of and being in alignment with my inner body has helped me in my business, my relationships, and my life. My body tells me when some action is in alignment with my True Self. My inner body tells me when something is true and when it is false. This has been a source of astonishment for my children, to be able to tell when they are being transparent or not!
Practice Makes Presence (Not Perfection)
It does take practice. For a very long time, I wasn’t clear what was the wisdom of my inner body and what was my inner critic coming in because that critic is so wiley!
So how do you listen to your inner body then and differentiate between it and your inner critic?
Practice and trust. Just first get in alignment with your inner body. Then listen to what it says. Act on the wisdom it gives you.
I will notice that my throat tightens up if I am holding back on saying something, my stomach will feel heavy or nauseous when I am in the drama triangle. So I will take some action to be a creator, to move toward what it is that I want to create. In this example, I would say something that is difficult to say and see what happens to connect with my body. Often, once I listen to it, it will provide me with further wisdom.
And do give yourself time and context to understand the messages.
For example, you may feel conflicted about a challenge at work and you check in with your body. It feels tight and off perhaps in your solar plexus. You interpret this as “this is bad, what is happening at work, I need to do something about it right now”.
Go focus on releasing the tightness in your solar plexus by working out, walking, meditating, or just breathing. Then check back again to see if the message is still the same.
Your Challenge For This Week
Play with checking in with your inner body 10x a day & listen for wisdom.
Here is how to do this:
Ask yourself “What am I feeling right now, what is happening inside of me?” Just listen. Don’t judge or analyze or try to fix. Just notice.
Breathe out whatever tightness or tension going on by taking a deep breath and imagining all of that floating out through your feet into the ground. Repeat this step until you can feel your inner body.
Now that the tension is gone and you are connected to your body, ask a question of your body of your choosing. And just listen.
Next, we will talk about Being The Watcher. Until then remember, the present moment is where your best life happens.
With love, presence, and gratitude,
Darla