Body Awareness

Sometimes as humans it is difficult to connect to our own bodies. We can often withdraw from the knowing of ourselves, or find that we never had that knowing feeling to begin with. This can be caused by many things: culture, trauma, pain, injury, and many more. Can you connect to yourself? Are you able to judge your needs within your own body? For example, if you have pain can you name where it is and how it is actually feeling in your body, perhaps where it came from? Another example, can you eat a meal and actually tell whether/ when you are full or if you need more? 

We often don’t think about our body, let alone sink into it and really check in to see what we are experiencing. And that’s okay, often we are unaware that we could do this, or we have created a protective disassociation to our body from past experience or trauma(s).  Our body has incredible ways of adapting to our surroundings. Whether its compensation for a specific physical injury, or blocking out an unpleasant experience, our brain and body work together to complete these cycles and continue in its pattern of most efficiency in order to survive. In the moment, these tools and patterns can be very helpful. When we think about this from an evolutionary survival aspect, we can recognize the importance for our body to be able to stop digesting food in order to run away from a predator. But most of us are not in a situation anymore where we have to run away from predators. A more relevant example would be compensating with a limp if you sprain your ankle. Once that sprain has healed we want the body to potentially go back to our previous gait cycle, but this doesn’t always happen. Our body sometimes continues to hold onto these muscle patterns as it feels that it is being most efficient still. That’s where having body awareness and knowledge can become helpful, so we can continue to tune into the aches and pains and then remind our body that once things are healed it is safe to go back to our previous pattern, or search to find an even more effective pattern. Our brain has to be involved to consciously tell our body that it is safe to change, that it is safe to do things differently, or create and find a new pattern within ourselves.  

In my own body, I used to disassociate and use food as a coping mechanism, for me this was a mix of anorexia and binge eating and over exercising. Over the years I have had many forms of help and education to grow from this disordered behavior, and am now in a place where I can check in with my body and get an honest, clear answer. Mindfulness is one of the tools that has played a key role in helping me learn and lean into what my body actually wants to tell me, and has helped put me on a better journey with myself and my body. When pain or discomfort shows up, I am often able to know where it came from to help move through it, not just away from it. I am not afraid to sit with it and see where it is coming from or look at how it got there. I have shifted my mindset to not shy away from the discomfort, and this in turn has taught my physical body to not shy away or completely protect or disassociate from different or even painful occurrences. Tapping into this is an ongoing practice, but has been a big development on how I can create more ease within my body.  

The ability to truly feel within ourselves is not always taught or easily known. As mentioned previously, varying culture, traumas, injury, and so much more shapes how our body and brain processes and responds to stimulus. The brain and body like to operate with maximum efficiency and it takes energy to think about how we move, to re-pattern, or learn something new. But when we can reconnect with our own bodies we continue to grow and learn more. We continue to take back our own bodily autonomy, so we can further our abilities and efficiency. It takes time to cultivate this type of relationship with yourself and your body. Having the ability to lean into yourself takes a lot of courage and vulnerability to work through what has gone on previously and to sift through old stories of your body or abilities and to recognize patterns and make change is no easy feat.  

If you are on a journey of this already, give yourself a pat on the back for your efforts. If this is a new idea that you are open to, or something that you are interested in working on then give yourself a pat on the back for opening yourself up to it.