What is your body trying to tell you?
Our body is sending us messages all the time. What is it trying to tell us? Are we listening? Tuning in to what it is saying is crucial and is often the first step in the healing process.
We are constantly getting information from our body letting us know when it feels good or out of balance and needs some attention. We often ignore the messages it is giving us, sometimes because we don’t know what they mean or that it is even trying to tell us something, and sometimes perhaps we are choosing to ignore them due to stress or overwhelm. Maybe we don’t even make the connection that how we feel or what we are experiencing is a message. Or perhaps we pick up on the messages and don’t know how to respond or react.
Checking in
What is your body telling you right now? Take a minute, close your eyes, and take a deep breath. How do you feel? What immediately comes to mind?
Are you exhausted? Have brain fog? IBS? Feel anxious? Have acne or chronic breakouts? Joint pain or swelling? Headaches? Experience the 3 pm energy crash? Irritable? These are all messages from our body letting us know that there are things out of balance.
On the flip side, are you feeling energized? Full of joy? Relaxed? No mood swings or irritability? Do you wake up feeling refreshed and have energy that lasts throughout the day? Clear skin? No bloating? Feeling resilient and able to handle stress? Have regular bowel movements? No rashes or eczema? Feeling hopeful? These are also messages from our bodies telling us that we are likely in a well-balanced state.
Take note of the messages
Our bodies let us know when it feels out of balance and when we are in a nice flow. It’s important to observe both experiences. When our bodies feel out of balance, take note of diet and lifestyle choices, and stress levels during this time. Our bodies are struggling and understanding what tends to flare us up or swing us out of balance can help prevent this from happening as well as predict when it might happen again. For example, when I am going through a stressful time, am not sleeping very well, I can predict my body will start showing me signs that it is feeling out of balance. For me, that looks like swollen joints, achy muscles, extreme fatigue, irritability, and digestion issues.
On the other hand, when our bodies feel good, it is also helpful to notice what is going on in our lives and with our nutrition and lifestyle choices. Our body is letting us know this is working well for us. As we learn what makes us feel our best, we can begin to build a wellness toolbox that we can lean on when we start to feel out of balance.
How I learned to tune in
Listening to my body wasn’t something that I was particularly in tune with prior to struggling with infertility and being diagnosed with Celiac Disease. The more I learned about autoimmune disease, inflammation, and leaky gut signs and symptoms, the more I questioned how I was feeling and why. As I continued down my healing journey and explored various strategies, I was able to learn more about what worked for me and what didn’t. Tuning into my body gave me the answers I needed to move forward.
Several months after my Celiac diagnosis I began going to acupuncture weekly. My Acupuncturist started off each visit asking me how I was feeling, and I shared how my body felt in that moment and what I experienced since the last time I saw her. She asked me questions about my energy, digestion, or how I was sleeping. Over time, through this practice, I noticed the changes and symptoms my body was going through and to be more in tune with how I was feeling, both good and bad. This was such a blessing to my healing; one I wasn’t fully aware of at the time.
Through an elimination diet, I learned what foods tend to flare up inflammation and autoimmune symptoms for me and which nutrition choices made me feel my best. I explored various lifestyle choices like meditation, gentle body movement, writing in a gratitude journal, taking time for myself, and ways to improve my sleep. I observed how different my body felt when I made certain choices over others.
As a result of listening to the messages my body was giving me, I began to understand myself better. This was crucial for short- and long-term healing. Because I have an autoimmune disease, I am more likely to have flare-ups. Now, I can recognize the signs. If I am feeling run down, I know I can nurture my body by slowing down and resting if I can. If my digestion is off, I know to remove certain foods and add in others. I really spent time getting to know my body and what it likes and doesn’t like. Over time, I was able to create a customized healing diet and lifestyle plan that works for my body.
Why tuning in is crucial for healing
When we start to notice something is off, we often reach for a quick fix like coffee, acne medication, a supplement designed to give us more energy, medication or supplements to treat our recurrent headaches or joint pain. These efforts often provide some relief, and it is often short-term. If we aren’t getting to the root of the cause, it likely won’t go away, can get worse, and even trigger additional symptoms and conditions.
Each of our bodies is unique. We all have different genetics, biological risks for various illnesses and diseases, react differently to foods, can handle varying amounts of stress, and our nervous system responds differently to all the input it takes in throughout the day. We are all different, therefore, there isn’t one method, diet, strategy, or medication that will work for all of us. The key is to figure out what is going to work the best for us.
How do we do that? We listen. Tune in. Pay attention to the signs indicating things are out of balance and when I am in a good flow and feel good. It often requires some trial and error to figure out what is going to work best for us. Through this process of exploring healing strategies and tuning in to how our body feels, we can learn what works for us and what doesn’t.
5 Questions to tune in to our body
- How do I feel right now? Find a quiet moment to be still, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and ask yourself how you feel. What comes to mind? How is your energy level and mood? Are you experiencing any symptoms such as achy or swollen joints or muscles, headaches, acne or skin reactions, digestive distress, or brain fog? How are you sleeping? What messages has your body been sending you recently and today?
- What do I know makes me feel good? Think back to times when your body felt good. What were some of your nutrition and lifestyle choices at that time?
- What do I know makes me feel not my best? What comes to mind for you? For me, it is almost always not enough sleep, body movement, or when I am not taking time for myself.
- What does it feel like my body needs most? This might look different for all of us from day to day and may be determined by the types of messages I am receiving or by the severity of my symptoms. It could be contacting my practitioner to come in for an appointment to check-in on my symptoms or to run lab work (like thyroid, blood sugar, or inflammatory markers). It could also be getting more sleep or rest, asking for help so I can have a break or time by myself, going for walks, or removing sugar.
- What is one thing I could do that would have the most impact? Overtime, we will get to know our bodies well and what makes us feel good and not so good. With that discovery, we learn what we can lean on when we don’t feel good. For me, I tend to get a lot out of sleeping and rest. While I am figuring out what my body is trying to tell me or how to respond, I most always start with sleep and rest.
Tips for tuning in
Start a food and symptom journal. This is a great method to start with if we are new to this practice. In our journal, we can write down what we are eating and drinking each day, how much sleep we are getting, and any symptoms we are experiencing. Look for clues and patterns over time. This is also a great tool to bring to an appointment with our practitioner to start a conversation about how we are feeling and when to help us get to the why.
Be still. Answers come in stillness, not chaos. When we turn inward, breathe, meditate, we can pause and ask ourselves how we feel and what we need. The answers intuitively come.
Morning check-ins. As we wake up each morning, ask ourselves how we feel. What is going well? Where are my challenges? What is in my control? Set an intention for the day.
Conclusion: Making tuning in a regular practice
Tuning into our bodies isn’t something we do just once, and we are all good. This is a practice we can do daily or even multiple times per day. Especially in the beginning when we are exploring this process, the more often I can check in with myself, the more I can understand my body and respond to the messages it is sending me. This is a practice we can lean on throughout our lifetime, long into the healing journey. Even now I still rely on checking in with how I am feeling daily. It helps guide my choices so that I am supporting my health and healing. As things start to feel off, I can help steer the ship back on course.
Where are you in this process of tuning in? What messages is your body telling you? Let me know in the comments below.
