Your body is your most reliable source of information and your most accurate navigation system. Being present in your body and responding to its signals keeps you
healthy, resilient and provides the inner knowing that allows you
to make the right decisions at the right time.
In our Western culture where logic, rational thinking and reason are important values,
body wisdom is not something we are taught from a young age. At least for me
it was something I needed to learn at a later stage of life.
Rapid technological developments do not help either; we are easily
in a mental overload, are more out of our bodies then we realise
and we leave more and more decisions up to systems.
📷 Cécile Collaris
It feels like an important time to deepen the relationship with our body, doesn't it?
The greater our body awareness, the more in touch we are with our authentic self,
our talents, our strength. Body wisdom can inform us in every moment about
what is good for us: our health, our needs, our boundaries, our relationships, about how we want to live and how to approach that next project.
If we pay attention, we will notice that our body communicates with us throughout the day.
That deep sigh, sudden restlessness, a feeling of tightness, that twinge of pain,
but also joy, a spontaneous smile. They are all communications.
And because every body is different, there is no one single body language that applies to all. Every body has its own composition, its own past, strengths and vulnerabilities.
It also has its own language, its own dialect. There is only 1 person who can
fully understand this language and that is you, of course.
Fortunately it is easy to comprehend, we only need to pay attention to the signals of our body: to stop, slow down and feel them. Without any judgement or opinion
about them, without wanting them to be different.
As an animal communicator, Anna Breytenbach is particularly good at body wisdom.
I can get enough of watching her video's. Anna uses het body wisdom in almost magical ways to connect with animals. In this video with master animal-tracker Jon Young,
they show us how they use it to navigate and track animals.
You and I of course, can also use body wisdom to navigate our own lives.
In terms of rough navigation-
'Do I turn left or right here?'
this is how our bodies work:
1. Light feelings,
relaxation in body parts, energy moving or tingling feeling that flows pleasantly:
These are communications that you are going in the right direction, that you are making good decisions, that you're doing things that are good for you.
2. Heavier feelings,
stiffness, aches, pains, tightness and discomfort:
These are our body's signals that something is in need of attention.
There is something we can look at, feel into, do differently, maybe something that doesn't suit us (anymore).
The heavier feelings do not always mean that you should immediately stop everything you are doing. They are, however, an important invitation to self-examine.
Slow down, be still with them, feel and find out for yourself what you need.
Maybe try other ways of doing things and feel if that works better.
But...
you already knew this.
So….
Make time,
to be present with your body and to relax in it.
Go in layer by layer and explore all the feelings and sensations.
Take them seriously, even if you don't understand them.
Learn to open to your sensitivity.
Start experiencing more of yourself.
You are your own navigation system.
Your own compass.
And with that:
Your own best friend.
📷 Fabiano Rodrigues
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