Listening to Your Body

Body awareness & mindfulness are becoming hot topics and key words especially in athletics, medicine, health, & spirituality, to name a few.  But what does it mean to “listen to your body” or “be mindful”?  It doesn’t mean the noises one’s body makes at times, although they can be helpful nor does it mean to fill your mind with more chatter….I’m pretty sure it’s full enough (remember yesterday’s post on anxiety in America).

On days like today, it feels like all I can do is listen or respond to my body because it’s refusing to do anything except lay on the sofa.

Listening can be done through….

• performing a body scan by bring attention to each body part
• practicing yoga/breathwork/meditation with a teacher/group
• feeling sore or tired more than usual
• FORCE via screaming, loud physical symptoms that you can’t ignore

Ideally, we would check in aka listen with our bodies on a daily if not hourly basis to make sure we are in tune with our insides as much as we are our outsides and surroundings.

As much time and attention we spend externally on our looks, our workouts, our clothes, our courses, our equipment, we have abandoned or at least neglected our internal home that we carry around with us.  And the truth is that our internal home, our bodies & all that fills them, are what will make us or break us in the end.  By listening, nourishing, & responding to the signals we receive as soon as we receive them, we create fertile space for mental strength, physical performance, & emotional balance to blossom.

This pyramid of health & wellness must be equally balanced for us to live happy, healthy lives.  By constantly evaluating & observing each part, we can make manageable adjustments along the way.  If we wait until “wailing and gnashing of teeth” then well, get ready for a longer road to recovery and reframing your lifestyle.

So here I lay on my sofa, aware that the signs have been present but I’ve consciously IGNORED them.  Hopefully, after this day of mostly rest & hydration, I will re-commit & follow through in the practice of greater mindfulness through daily yoga & meditation.  All any of us can do is constantly re-evaluate and re-commit to our personal sadhanas (practices).

Namaste & good luck practicing.

REST!…Do I have to?

Why is stopping or resting so hard for some of us yet so easy for others?  My cat, Crooked (as seen above), seems to have no problem resting.  When I was depressed or physically ill/injured, rest was the only thing I could do.  Now that I’m healthy, I don’t feel right unless I’ve moved my body & sweat that day.  Recent articles in Runner’s World & Triathlon magazine emphasize how when training for long-distance runs and triathlons, greater sleep along with yoga determine how well your training sticks.  Rest, whether it’s through extra sleep or non-activity or restorative yoga, is VITAL for muscle recovery.  While our training does strengthen our muscles, it also breaks them down, especially if we don’t eat/drink properly immediately after our sessions (within the first 30 minutes: 250-500 calories of carbs & protein @ 3:1 ratio).

Intentional Resting (IR) is a useful way to practice rest or relaxation on your OFF/REST day.  IR is similar to visualization meditation & the body scan used in Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy & Kripalu Yoga, which that I practice with clients and groups.  Visit me at Awakened Living Therapeutics in Hoover to find which techniques can help maximize the effectiveness of rest & relaxation in your training program.