Intuitive Living ~ Listen to Your Body

Hello and welcome back to a new installment of my Intuitive Living series! This series of blogs was inspired by Sonia Choquette's "Trust Your Vibes" print and audio books. I learned and grew so much as a result of following through with the steps outlined in these programs, and would love to share those lessons with you, too!

Each week I will be posting a new blog talking about my journey and how the lessons in Sonia's books applied to me as well as a weekly practice that you can do along with me. Sound exciting? I hope so!!

Click below for this week's assignment!
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Last week we talked about getting grounded and how important it is to get out of our heads and back in to our bodies. So, how did it go? What types of grounding did you do? Earthing? Meditating? Yoga? Gardening? What worked? What didn't? I'd love to hear your experiences!

If you've been following along, you have to be catching on to how important your body really is. It's not just something we ride around in for a few decades before we move on to somewhere else. It's not just something that looks good in a bathing suit or not. It's the place where our soul lives! And it's communicating with us all the time!!

Sadly, a big part of my journey has been tuning out the signals my body was sending me. I grew up fat, and as with so many other people, a big part of that was learning that my body was wrong. Ugly. Unacceptable. Because of it I was unworthy of love, unworthy of compassion, unworthy of friends. Until I could tame my body and whip it into the proper shape, I was worthless. And the first thing that had to go was listening to anything my body had to say. If my body said, "I'm hungry," my response was to starve it. If my body said, "That hurts!" my response was to ignore it. Whatever my body had to say, I didn't want to hear it. My body was the enemy. The unattractive, soft, jiggly enemy that simply refused to become what I wanted it to be.

When I look back now, this battle makes me so sad. It makes me sad that I hated and punished my body. It hurts my heart to hear the ugly things I said and thought about my body. And now that I'm learning just how closely linked my body and my soul are, I understand how hating and hurting my body didn't just destroy my metabolism, create disordered eating patterns, and a wholly unhealthy relationship with food and exercise - it damaged my very soul! It crippled and wounded my Spirit! It was the worst form of self-abuse I could ever have embarked on. There are so many moments now when this message really hits home and I just want to hug my body and tell it, "I am SO SORRY!!"

If you are struggling with body hate, the constant up and down diet cycle, and trying to have the "right" body, I want you to hear me and hear me now:

You cannot hate yourself healthy.

It just doesn't work that way. Only self-love and really good self-care can restore your body and your soul to real health. The false promises of the media and the diet industry will never, ever be able to do that. And health, my friend, is not a number on the scale.

So, let's talk about some of the signals your body can send you and how to interpret them.

One of my favorite tools for decoding my body's signals is Louise Hay's "You Can Heal Your Body." You can find it in Paperback, Kindle, Audio and an even as an App for your phone or tablet! Here are some general complaints many of us have from our bodies and what they might mean:

• Aches & Pains: Longing for love or longing to be held.
• Allergies: WHO are you allergic to? Denying your own power.
• Back (Lower): Lack of financial support.
• Blood Pressure (High): Long-standing emotional problems.
• Cholesterol (High): Clogging the channels of joy. Fear of accepting joy.

While a book might get you started, not everyone's body communicates in the same way. So, your new assignment for the coming week is to begin to make note of your body and the signals it's sending. When you wake up in the morning, do a mental scan of your body and how you feel. Are there any aches and pains? Are you tense? Lethargic? Energized? Acknowledge what you're feeling and tell your body, "I'm listening."

Throughout the day, take breaks to check in with your body. Ask it if it has anything to tell you. Reaffirm that you are now paying attention. Make a point NOT to dismiss anything you feel. Do not allow your ego to convince you to just take a couple pain killers and forget about it. Try to really get to the heart of WHY you are feeling the way you do physically. Write it down. Use the book as a guide, but also write down your own impressions, even if they seem silly or far-fetched.

Pay attention to tension, tightness, rumbles, tickles, flickers, uneasiness, pain, loss of energy or energy surges, fits of restlessness. It's all valid, and it all has a point. Also be sure to note what was going on when you first noticed the sensation. Look for patterns. Become a detective and find out what your body is telling you!

Feel free to check back in with me throughout the week using the comments section here on my blog or by contacting me through my Facebook page. I would love to hear your experiences!