How to listen to your body?

Pain is the body’s warning signal.

They can mean that a muscle is tense or tight.

But.

They can also be a sign that you need immediate medical attention.

Similarly, feeling sleepy or tired often can be your body’s way of telling you it is not getting enough nutrients.

But

It can also be a warning sign of a mental health problem.

It is often difficult to pinpoint exactly what is causing the feeling of unwellness, pain or other symptoms.

In everyday stress, complicated situations, change and crisis, we often feel disconnected from our emotions and become sceptical about physical symptoms.

We live mainly in our minds, trying to control our lives from there.

Listening to your body provides an opportunity to reduce anxiety, depression and fatigue and to rediscover your vitality, thus leading to greater emotional stability and joy of life.

Listening to our bodies allows us to ground our experience in physical sensations, strengthening the connection between mind and body.

What does it mean to listen to your body?

Listening to your body means developing a conscious awareness of what your body needs at a given moment and meeting that need.

This intuitive practice helps you understand your body’s signals and make decisions based on them, not overloading yourself – to improve your well-being and health.

The more you are self-present and responsive to your body’s signals, the healthier you will be.

Listening to your body can also make it easier to develop positive habits around diet, exercise, body image, mental resilience and coping mechanisms for example:

1. Improve attention span and control of emotions.
2. Improve brain function.
3. Improve stress management.
4. Reduce anxiety or depression.
5. Promote self-acceptance.

In addition, when you do what feels good to your body, rather than forcing it to do something it doesn’t “understand”, you are more consistent in your actions because your body doesn’t “resist” them. This, in turn, leads to more sustainable long-term results and self-confidence.

How to listen to your body?

It all sounds great, but how can we hear and understand our body’s signals? Here are five practical ways to do it:

1 Ask questions and look for answers

Every day, take a moment to ask yourself: “How am I feeling and what do I need right now?”.

And.

Before rushing to the next task on your to-do list, do what you think your body needs. Here are some examples:

• I feel tired, so I’ll eat a snack, take a short walk and then come back to the computer refreshed and ready to work.
• I feel full of energy, so I’ll go to the gym now so I don’t have to worry about it when the kids get home from school.
• I feel tension in my neck, so I will roll my head (stretch my neck muscles) to relieve this discomfort before going to the shop.

In our fast-paced and hectic world, it is easy to neglect these basic bodily needs. The good news is that you don’t have to disrupt your daily rhythm to pay attention to your body’s needs.

And,

If you take a few minutes to stretch or take a walk, the rest of your day is likely to be much better.

2 Notice how your body reacts to certain emotions

Our emotions resonate in our body, particularly in the cardiac, respiratory, nervous and gastrointestinal systems. People often feel anxiety in their chests or stress in their heads.

You can certainly recall similar feelings.

Being aware of these emotions and tuning in to where you feel them in your body can make it easier to calm these intense reactions and regain a sense of balance more quickly.

Next time you feel a strong emotion, pay attention to where and how you feel it:

• Like a tightness in your throat?
• As warmth in your cheeks?
• As tension in the forehead?
• Do you start to sweat?
• Do you feel nauseous?
• Does the heart start beating faster?

Visualise sending love and peace to that part of your body, while breathing slowly and deeply until you begin to regain balance. You will be surprised how quickly the emotion passes compared to when you try to ignore it or push it aside.

In fact, it only takes 90 seconds to overcome any emotion – as long as you stop, identify the emotion and simply become aware of it.

In other words, instead of letting that annoying anxiety linger all day, let it go right then and there where it arises!

3 Try mindful eating

The idea is simple – slow down during your meal and go deeper into your feelings:

• What do you feel?
• What does the food taste like?
• What is the texture of the food?
• Do you hear sizzling or gnawing sounds as you eat?

By doing this practice with even one meal a day, you train yourself to slow down and listen to your body. This practice can also help you to more easily notice signals of satiety and hunger – a skill that most of us have lost.

Mindful eating can also reduce stress, promote digestive health and help to limit emotional eating.

4 Choose a workout according to your body’s needs

Your workouts are most effective when they match your current energy level, endurance and the time you have available all of which change from day to day. You may wake up one morning motivated to do a 60-minute strength workout, but the next afternoon you may want a slow 20-minute stretching session.

This is perfectly normal for women, and synchronising your exercise load with your cycle can be very helpful.

Stop and tune in before starting your workout. What type of movement do you like best at the moment? Do your legs feel strong and ready for the challenge? Or maybe today you want to take it easy on your body? Or on the contrary – you are full of energy and want to burn it off?

Ask yourself: do I have extra time to work out longer, or is there something else I need to do after my workout?

Choose your workout based on the answers.

5 Take time for yourself and connect with your body

When was the last time you thought of your body as a friend rather than as a means to get around in life? Too often we focus on getting ahead and getting things done but forget to take time for ourselves.

Whether you can spare 2 minutes or 20 minutes, make time for yourself every week, every day if possible – at least a few minutes alone with yourself.

Disconnect from social media and other external distractions and just go within – into your thoughts and body sensations. You can do this by listening to slow music, dancing, meditating or doing breathing exercises.

Key takeaways

Your body is constantly talking to you, but are you listening to it?

No matter how long it’s been since you last paid attention to those internal cues (even if you never have), take this as an invitation to start.

These five ways to listen to your body will help you start hearing its needs. As a result, your workouts will become more consistent and your well-being and health will improve.

Take one more step towards your body.

Eat delicious, eat balanced, move and – be healthy!