Language of the Body
Communicating without a Voice
When you have a headache, how do you deal with it?
What is the first thing you would do?
Do you go directly to a painkiller?
Have you ever thought about why you are getting the headache in the first place?
Sometimes people get a headache when they are de-hydrated.
Too much screen time can also give you a headache when you fixate your eyes on the screen for too long.
Or when you are stressed about the task at hand or work you have to do, you may also get a headache.
Maybe you didn’t sleep enough.
Try to close your eyes and do some eye exercises, or drink more water, or go outside to get some fresh air, or do a 5-minute relaxation meditation or breathing exercise, or some qigong or yoga stretches, or even have a quick snooze (if you can) and see how your body responds, before going for that medication.
Of course, medication has its place when none of the above helped.
Your communication with your body will get better as you listen to it more attentively and provide feedback by giving it what it needs.
Signal Interpretation
Think about how you communicate with a crying baby who can’t talk yet.
Do you have a checklist to see why the baby is crying?
Is their diaper needing to be changed?
Are they hungry or thirsty or too hot or too cold?
They may simply want to be touched and held.
You don’t tell the baby to stop crying or cover their mouth.
You work with the baby.
We also need to work with our body, rather than suppress or ignore the signals it’s sending us.
Our body is one of the most amazing and intricately built biological mechanisms out there.
There is still so much that science does not know about our body.
It is the vessel that enables us to have the multi-sensory human experience that we can have when we’re alive.
It is there to support us from the moment as a fetus in the womb to the moment we take our last breath.
Being able to understand and know what it needs directly impacts and enhances our human experience.
Consequence of Ignoring the Messages
What happens when we suppress or ignore the signals from our body?
What happens when you ignore the signals from your car?
You see the yellow light on for the engine oil and ignore it.
Soon, you can’t start the car, even with a full tank.
You see the gas gauge getting close to empty and you ignore it.
Eventually the car will stop running.
Our body, too, is always sending us signals to fulfill a need it requires, like hunger, pain, hydration, or sleep/recovery, until it just can’t function anymore.
None of the bio-chemical reactions in our body are isolated.
There are always a cascade of reactions and pathways from one to the next, in a circular loop back to the start of the trigger when that reaction first takes place.
Using medications may seem like a quick solution but they don’t allow the receiving, understanding, interpreting of the signals, and then allow the body to give the appropriate response.
This is crucial for our body to maintain homeostasis.
That is why all medications have side-effects.
They only target one particular molecule or reaction in the interconnected pathways.
Body Relationship & Social Relationship
Our relationship with our body also reflects our relationship with others.
Do you treat your relationship with your body like a partnership or more of a dictatorship?
Do you will your body to do what you think it should do, without taking into the consideration that it has certain limitations?
It is not a sustainable relationship when you force your body to your will.
That’s how yo-yo diets happen and exercise regimes stop and go.
Each one of us is unique, as you probably have heard that over and over.
You are you and there’s no one else like you.
Even twins can be wired differently in their cognition and temperament.
Our body is the same.
Each of us has a unique bio-individuality.
That is why some people have certain allergies & intolerances, and we come in different body shapes & sizes.
There is no one-size-fits-all drug either.
Being able to decipher the signals from your body and give your body what it needs will nurture this partnership to learn and grow together during the changes and challenges at distinct stages of your life.
Isn’t that the kind of relationship we want to have with our life partners, or our best friends, or family?
Through accepting our body’s limitations and giving it what it needs to fully express itself, things in life will come more naturally and intuitively, without force.
What signals have you received from your body that have helped you to change the way you eat, live, work, exercise, and build relationships for the better?
Don’t forget to post your comments below, and subscribe & share if it resonates with you. 🙂
True words of wisdom Nancy, we’re in a lifelong relationship and partnership with our body, so it should be listened to and treated as our best friend.
For sure. We rely on our body for pretty much everything that we do. The more we listen & give, the more we receive in return. Thank you so much for liking my post, Nada. 🙂