Listening to your Body's HELL YES through your “interoception”
The wisdom of your body communicates with you through the sensations in your body. These sensations give you vital information about your internal terrain. The neurological word for this is “interoception.” The more we learn how to work with our bodies and intuit what our needs are, the better we can make honoring decisions for ourselves that will feel better in the long run.
So, do you know how to discern a FULL BODY YES from a HELL NAH? Each of these responses will feel differently in the body.
Firstly, it takes practice to tune into our bodies’ communication mechanisms because it’s not commonly taught in our society. In fact, in many cases, we’re taught to do the opposite! We’re taught to push through discomfort that we know isn’t honoring our needs in order to meet deadlines and achieve external goals.
This denial of our bodies’ needs conditions us not to listen and causes us to miss a lot of important information that our bodies are communicating. The flip side of this is that by tuning into our needs, there could be so much more richness in our lives that we may not even be aware is accessible!
In particular, the need that we all have to rest and slow down is commonly overlooked and undervalued. It’s a part of the cycles all of nature (and us, as a part of that) go through. Yet, in a society that overvalues productivity, we forget to ensure we’re resourced before “doing” all the things.
Here are a few ways you can get in touch with your HELL YES:
Learn what a HELL YES feels like in your body. This will be individual to each of us.
You can try repeating a statement in your head that you know to be true (for instance “My name is [your name]” )
Then try repeating an untrue statement, like “My name is [someone else’s name].”
What did you notice in your body after each statement? There may have been a subtle sway forward, back, left or right. There also may have been an internal sensation in your gut, heart, big toe, right shoulder, or anywhere else! Learn to recognize these sensations in your day to day.
2. Slow down to feel more
Start to slow your breathing and do a full body scan. Do this multiple times throughout your day as you start to get acquainted with the ways your body typically feels.
Notice how you feel in the morning vs the evening. How you feel after eating, after exercising, etc. And commit these feelings to memory to get acquainted with your natural rhythms.
3. Enhance “Interoception” with Chiropractic Care
Regular chiropractic care stimulates your Nervous System to more efficiently convey these messages. Your Nervous System is the mediator of information from brain to body and body to brain. The better it works, the more “aware” you’ll be of your internal landscape.
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