AN INVITATION FROM YOUR BODY

By Dr Dain Heer originally published on the Balance Blog by Deborah Hutton

​One of the questions I love asking people is, “If your body could talk, what would it say to you right now?”
People often automatically respond with statements like, “Exercise more,” or “Eat healthier food.”

But I have news for you: that is not actually your body talking – that’s you.  To be more accurate, it’s the judgments that you have of your body – about what is wrong with it (not healthy enough, not skinny enough) – and what you have decided you must do to change it. Those decisions rarely have anything to do with your own body, but it is what you have been taught you need to be doing by everyone else.

​Instead of being in conflict with your body and looking outside of you for the answers, what if there was an easier, gentler and more nurturing way of creating the changes you would like?
If you desire to change your body, you are going to have to do three things.
​Stop judging your body. No more looking in the mirror and going through the list of things that are bad, wrong and problematic. When you get up in the morning, either stop looking in the mirror, or see the big red stop sign and just STOP IT! It isn’t going to help you change anything, and it’ll just make you feel worse.  If you would rather be happy, let’s move on to number two…

1. Start being kind to your body. Be grateful for your body. Spend time connecting with your body every morning for a few minutes before you get out of bed. Be present with your body, feel your fingers and toes wiggling. Gently touch and caress your face. Connect in and say, “Hello body. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being my body.” Do that every day for at least 6 days and notice if something begins to change in the way you perceive your body.
2. Commit to creating a greater awareness of your body and what it knows. What do I mean by this?  Invite your body to contribute to you. Ask it questions about everything that concerns it, and pay attention to the subtle hints. If you doubt you can do this, let me ask you this: Has your body ever told you, “this isn’t a good place, let’s get out of here!” by raising the hairs on the back of your neck? Does your body become relaxed and energized when you go walking in the forest, or swimming in the ocean? Have you ever eaten something and it tasted really amazing? What if you could ask your body to show you more of that? Instead of just going to eat because it’s ‘lunchtime’, ask your body, “Body are you hungry?” “Are you thirsty?” “Is there anything that you actually desire to have right now?” And pay attention. There is no right or wrong answer. What if it’s more about beginning to include your body in the choices you make about your body and seeing what shows up?

​When I started asking my body about everything involving it – what it wanted to eat, wear and what movement it wanted to do – I became aware of a whole lot of things by body desired that I had never realised before. I often tell the story of the first time I tried on a linen shirt. My body just sang! I realised it was saying to me, “Hey, can we wear stuff that makes us feel like this from now on?”

Your body knows things that you don’t. When you start asking questions, it opens the door for your body to contribute that information to you, and to create a greater connection and communion with your body. When you start including your body in your life, all kinds of things can change

In contributing to a greater relationship with your body, I would like to invite you to be part of something that is occurring globally from the 17-18 December called the Body Awareness Weekend. There will be Body Awareness events occurring all over the world. To find out more at what happens at these events and to find an event near you, go to http://thebodyawarenessweekend.com/