What’s Your Body Telling You?
Developing mindful listening to your body is a powerful self-care step that can improve your life. Your body speaks to you, warning you when things are out of balance. When you learn to hear these quieter distress signals, you can notice more quickly that you need to make changes to support your health and well-being. This requires increasing your sensitivity to your body’s messages, sensing smaller symptoms before they become full-blown. Though the body symptoms may seem relatively minor, remember, the thermostat gets turned up until you pay attention!
Warning Signs Your Body Sends When It’s Out of Balance
- How’s your energy level? Are you chronically tired?
- Do you have insomnia or anxiety?
- Is your mind racing, your breathing fast and shallow?
- Are your muscles tense, your jaw clenched?
- Are you feeling off-center, numb, raw and defenseless, irritable?
- Do you have unexplainable symptoms?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, it’s worthwhile to take a look at your lifestyle, stress level, and self-care practices. How much exercise and movement are you getting daily? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you making time for deep relaxation? Are your eating habits healthy? Are your relationships and the situations you’re in energizing or depleting? Are you getting time alone and enough space to recharge? Spending time in nature? Handling difficult emotions in a healthy way? Are you getting enough touch?
Often we use caffeine, junk food, alcohol, or drugs to bypass the feedback from our body. It’s important to re-train yourself to not push through discomfort with denial. Get out of your head and into sensual awareness, recommends Dr. Judith Orloff, so you can feel what’s happening in your body and open to intuition about what’s not working in your life as well as new directions that better support your well-being.
Bodywork at Massage Therapy Center Palo Alto gives you a valuable, quiet time-out to tune in to your body through sensual awareness. And therapeutic touch provides the deep relaxation necessary for restoring balance and supporting healing. Make it an essential component of your self-care!
(adapted from Dr. Judith Orloff’s Guide to Intuitive Healing)