So what is Body Wisdom?
Put simply, body wisdom is what we “feel”. Our feelings are the body’s way of telling us what we need to know. Whether it is something we need to do or something we need to stop doing, our feelings are giving us important information.
Have you ever watched cats eat grass? Cats do not have the enzymes to digest grass but they still eat it. Then because they cannot digest it, they throw it back up. Have you noticed there is usually a hair ball or piece of bone or something there with the grass? Probably not as we don’t tend to study what a cat throws up! The point is that the cat instinctively knew to do this.
Similarly a dog will eat cow or horse manure – to us, yuck! But that manure is loaded with pre-digested nutrients from a plant based diet.
If a horse is getting an infestation of worms they will seek out pine tree needles and eat them – natures very own treatment for worms.
You get the picture. Animals intuitively know what to eat and they just do it. They have body wisdom and instinctively listen to it and act upon the messages or ‘feelings’.
As humans, especially in the western world, we seem to have lost this natural way of living and listening to our body’s feelings. We no longer trust the messages we get from our body. We almost consciously doubt the authenticity of our feelings.
Our feelings or intuition cannot lie. They are the truest form of information we can receive. They are separate from the mind and so are not part of conscious thought or reasoning. Feelings do not have their own hidden agenda – they can only be true.
Our body gives us messages all day, every day. When we are in tune with our body we hear these messages and can then act upon them.
These messages can be about food – you get hungry so you need to eat. You also get messages about what to eat, that is what food your body actually needs.
Or you may be thirsty, so you need to drink.
Other messages are being cold – you need to put more clothes on or find shelter.
You get tired – your body needs to rest or sleep.
Your body can start to feel stiff or it’s not functioning properly – you need exercise (or movement if you prefer that word).
But unfortunately we distrust these feelings and so often make choices based on outside influences.
It is the mind that processes information so this makes it very important for the mind and the feelings of the body to be aligned. In fact to be whole we need to allow our mind, body and spirit to be aligned. All are part of the whole but with their own knowledge and messages.
It makes sense to allow the messages and wisdom of the body to be consciously heard. For what are we missing out on if we are not tapping into this knowledge?
Our minds tend to be logical processors of information. It is far better for the information that is processed to be the body’s own information and not “stuff” that comes into the mind from all the external influencers that are in our world today.
“Stuff” we are exposed to and absorb comes from so many avenues: television, movies, magazines, social media, internet, advertising, and even our family, workmates and peers.
“Stuff” containing so many messages, often conflicting, about what we should eat, what we should look like (or not look like), what we should wear, who we should follow, where we should live, and so on.
But we can train our mind not to listen to all the outside information and to listen to our inside messages. When we allow ourselves to become conscious of our feelings and not dismiss them, then the mind will see the reason for each of our feelings. The mind will learn to understand the body’s messages and more importantly, act upon them.
This is when real health and healing begins. This is when we begin to live as our ancestors lived with our minds and bodies being true friends. We will eat well, nourish our bodies, sleep better, live better and love better. We will feel better.
So the more we listen to and respect our feelings, the more we will know ourselves and become better human beings in love with life no matter what.
“The natural force within each one of us is the greatest healer of all diseases”
– Hippocrates
