Listening to your body

Over and over, I hear my massage therapist tell me that he wishes more people listened to their body, and knew what was going on with it.  I always thought this was ind-of strange.  It's your body.  How can you ignore it?  You are with it all of the time!  Yet sadly, it seems that we have selective hearing when it comes to ourselves.  We know it's sore after we work out, and we use that as our excuse to stop or to take a rest day.   But if we listened all of the time, what story would we hear?

Please don't sit at a computer all day, our neck is straining forward, and our eyes are weakening...

Please let me move and play, and don't become hateful when I don't perform the way I did when you were 16...

Please be careful of the shoulder.  We torqued it yesterday, and it will get worse if it isn't allowed rest...

I have different kinds of sore.  Not all of them mean stop, some of them simply are to help us remain mindful...

When is the last time you simply sat and got in touch with where your body is at and what it needs more of?  How long has it been since you really honored the wants and needs of our body?

On Friday I skipped my 6am water aerobics class because I was simply exhausted, and my body was feeling extreme fatigue.  Instead, I went to hot yoga on Sunday.  The hot yoga was plenty challenging, and was exactly what I needed.  Changing your schedule around to allow for your body's needs is perfectly ok, as long as you actually still get in the workouts you need, and you don't constantly use it as an excuse to sit on the couch eating bon bons.

But how do you get back in touch with your body?  There are a couple of ways.  The first is to spend some time in meditation.  During this meditation, the goal is to observe your body casually.  Don't try to adjust anything, or make judgements.  Just make mental notes, like:  I'm having a hard time relaxing my right shoulder.  Or, my legs are restless.  The simple act of spending a few minutes checking in will help you feel more connected throughout your day.  Another option is to not zone out during your work-outs.  It's so tempting, and easy to do.  It is far more difficult to stay present, but the results you will see from choosing to remain in the moment are far greater than if you just show up and think about something else while your body does the work.  By integrating the body and mind, not only will you be better equipped to achieve the results you've been dreaming of, you will also be less likely to injure yourself.