Listen to Your Body

In todays episode, I explore the relationship we have with our bodies. 

I have personally noticed how misaligned from my own body I have been and how much I have ignored the signs it has desperately tried to communicate to me. It is a trait that I feel many of us have experienced, and not something I criticise at all, because I think that life is simply too busy for us to take a breather and check in with ourselves. So this is the invite to BREATHE. 

Our bodies are a strong and powerful shell that allow us to experience this beautiful world. We need to remind ourselves of how lucky we are to have able, healthy bodies that support us throughout this wonderful life. We need to treat it with love and grace, even when it feels like its working against us… It’s not. It’s doing it’s best to work for you ♡ 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to a Curious Mind podcast. In today's episode, I really want to talk about becoming more in touch with our bodies and listening to our bodies when it's speaking to us and not ignoring the signs. So a couple of weeks ago I was listening to a Florence Gibbon podcast, and she shared a mantra that she is living by at the moment, and it is I only eat and drink things that love me back. I only eat and drink things that love me back. And for something that seems so simple, I found it really impactful. I thought that it was such a beautiful way of saying, like, I love my body, and I love this this vessel that I have been gifted to experience the world and experience life. I love it so much. And I am really on the way to feeling that way about my body. I'm I'm I'm really like I really want to eventually be there. By no means have I felt that way about my body, and um, and in fact, I've probably felt the opposite the majority of my life, and I'm pretty sure I speak for most people when I say that. And I just felt as though that mantra, I only eat and drink things that love me back, was so powerful because I feel as though in a world where we are really, really like starting to talk about self-love and self-care, and you know, like when it comes to relationships, choosing people that love you and respect you and treat you well, which I'm all for. I think that this is a really important thing. I think that the more people that love themselves, the more love they have to give to the rest of the world. Um, I just I felt as though it was such a beautiful way of saying, like, we are responsible for our health, um, and we we really need to like do what we can to make sure that we look after this this shell that we have been gifted, and I know that we most of us will have gone through phases in our lives where we might feel a little bit more like ourselves, um, a little bit more less. Um, you know, there are moments in my life where I've never felt so strong, um, so able, so capable, um, and then, you know, a week or so afterwards felt so weak and tired and fragile. Um, and you know, like especially as a woman, hormones play a huge part in that. Um, but it's it's something that I I don't think that it has been something that I have consciously made an effort to understand, and I think I would I've started to do that over the last couple of weeks, and I'd like to sort of share what it is that I've done. Um, because I think that it's been a really, really helpful thing for me to just understand myself a little bit more. Um it's just kind of like turn off the noise that my life can sometimes have. Um when I go for walks, I like to have like a time of the walk where I don't listen to anything, and I'm preferably in a place where I probably won't bump into many people, if anyone. And I almost do like a self-scan. Now, a lot of people do this before they go to sleep, but I just do this on the walk. Um, and I'll do a scan of my body, and I will like really really take notice of how my feet feel and how my ankles feel, my calves, my shins, my knees, the front and back of my knees, my quadriceps, my hamstrings, like the rest of you know, my thighs, um, my pelvis, my groin, my bum, my lower belly, my mid, my core, um, you know, my chest. Funnily enough, my chest feels very, very heavy at the moment. Um that is something I wouldn't have noticed before, and um, and I think that it's really powerful to be in touch with your body and to know like what your body is trying to say to you through the physical sensations that it brings up. Um, not too long ago I discovered that garlic really doesn't suit me, it's quite sad. I really like garlic, um, but garlic does not like me. I had um a time where there was like a week or two weeks where my stomach felt as though it was going to literally explode, like it was so so inflamed, and I felt so lethargic and so sick and and nauseous all the time, and it was really frustrating because I had just started really properly cooking for myself and like meal prepping and doing things like that, and I was kind of like trying, you know, to really be a little bit more healthy, and I just felt so defeated. I was like, I don't know what's going on, like I really, really don't know. And my mum is into a specific type of medicine that I can't remember now, and she said, like, why don't you try cutting out garlic? Um, because she's always she's always smelt garlic on me as well. This is a really funny thing. Um, like just quite the side note whenever I would come home from like a meal out, a lot of places use garlic in their food, and she would just smell it on me from a mile off, like my room in the mornings. This is really disgusting. My room in the mornings would stink of garlic, like I had no idea, right? So, this is obviously my body trying to say, like, get out, like, get out, I can't deal with you. Um, and ever since I have cut diet uh garlic out of my diet, it has made an a huge huge difference to my energy levels. Again, like I'm not nearly close to where I would like to be, of course, but my energy levels are so much better. I feel as though I digest food in a much much healthier and better way. Um, I'm not as lethargic after my meals, and this is just through me having to really really ignore, ignore, ignore, ignore, ignore for years my body trying to tell me like this is not working until it got to a point where maybe I haven't I've actually developed a deficiency to it, and now like it's like I can't do this anymore, and I think about you know, like especially the state of our healthcare system in the UK and how difficult it is, like how overworked the nurses and doctors are, and how difficult it is to get a good service. And I really really don't want to put myself in a position where I have ignored my body's signs for years, and I'm now really really stuck, and I need that service. So get in touch with your body. Notice how when you engage in a certain type of exercise, like what that does to you, like your brain, like how does it make you feel during? How does it make you feel afterwards? Um, you know, when you move your body in a certain way, like how does that make you feel? How tired do you feel? Are you pushing yourself too much? Are you pushing yourself not enough? Um, how do you feel after a certain meal? What kind of foods do you feel more energized from? What kind of foods do you feel more lethargic from? Um I always used to be someone that would exercise on an empty stomach. I would do these really high-intensity workout classes, which I still have a really, really big place in my heart for. I love I love the One Rebel gyms and I love their reshape classes and their ride classes, but they are very, very, very intense, and they cause the body to be like under a lot of stress for 45 minutes. Um, now mentally I am like having the best time, but I realized that physically it wasn't doing me as well as I really want to admit, and um I would do them on an empty stomach as well. The amount of strain you're putting your body under for something like that, like it needs of course, like I have fat to burn and like energy to burn, but it really needs like something from from that day, not kind of on an empty stomach, but also when I would do it after eating, I would feel so lethargic because it's just so intense. And basically the point was I I now like when I do like when I go for a run, let's say, which I would say is you know, obviously, a cardio-based exercise. Um I eat before, I would never eat before, and I feel so good on my runs, I feel amazing, I feel so strong, I feel so capable. I'm like, I've got this like like I've had like a power-up that I never felt before, I never ever felt before, and so a lot of it, a lot of it is trial and error, like that is the truth, you know. I think that you know it's it's hard, you can't you can't have a conversation with your organs and be like, what is it that you need today? What are you lacking? Um, oh, another really interesting little fact actually, um kind of to do with the what is it that you need today, and lacking point is mothers that breastfeed their children, um the the saliva, the enzymes from the saliva of the baby when it is touching the breast um sends a signal to the mother's body that show that tells the mother's body what uh like minerals, enzymes, proteins, whatever it's missing, it's lacking, and then the mother's body will produce that more of that, and then the next time it feeds, it'll give the baby that. Our bodies are amazing, that is so clever, and so it is really hard to have that conversation with your body, but make those conversations happen, like listen, take time, you know, be present, be still, and listen, and your body will thank you for it and be gracious, please, please, please be kind. You cannot love something, you cannot treat something with love if you don't love it, you cannot treat something with respect if you don't respect it. If you want to change your body in whatever way, if you want to become stronger, more able, if you want to be able to run further, if you want to be able to walk further, if you want to be able to pick up your grandchild or your child and not feel like you've just run a marathon. I applaud you for wanting those goals. You are it's amazing that you have identified that for yourself. Be gracious with your body, right? It's gotten you so far, it's gotten you until here, and it is it's doing the best it can with what you're doing with it, so you need to love it. And again, this and this this comes through trial and error, and a lot of the time we do know what suits us, it's just you kind of have to like tailor things slightly to make sure that it really works, but our bodies react, our bodies react to love, they really, really do, and also I massively believe in energy, like and and the way that you speak to yourself. I mean, I there is literally uh I speak about this a lot, but there is a study that um a research study that was done. I don't know who by, I don't know when, but I know it's true. It is true, I read it somewhere. That um these people they got two ice blocks, you know, those like things where you fill the water and then you put it in the freezer, and they shouted like really hurtful, harmful, like negative words to one of the ice blocks, waters things, trays, and then they like said like an abundance of really kind and positive and loving things to the other ice tray and put the ice in to get ice, put the water in to become ice, and the con the consistency of the ice was different because the frequency of the words, the energy of the words that was being emitted and and directed towards those trays were different. Energy is a thing. The quicker you accept that the more you you speak to yourself with love and kindness, even if you have been um indoctrinated to not be that way with yourself, you need to start practicing and and and and and and strengthening that muscle of kindness to yourself because the the more consistent you are with that, the easier it is to love yourself, the easier it is to love yourself, the easier it is to look after yourself, the easier it is to look after yourself, the easier life even life becomes easier. Life does become easier, I promise you. I know it probably sounds like a really, really I I really feel for pe I'm I will just say like if I heard this episode at the beginning of this year, I would want to throw my phone out the window and tell myself to fuck off. I really really would. Um so I mean I hope I haven't lost you if you are in that place. I probably have, but um I guess that's the point. Like at the beginning of this year, I was not in a good place. I really really really wasn't. I had no positive narrative on myself at all. I lost hope, I lost all sense of self, of motivation, of direction. I just I didn't know, I didn't know, I really, really wasn't well, and um it's really scary because you don't think that you're ever gonna get out of it, and you just you you can't seem to um rationalise the fact that um you're you're capable and you got yourself this far. And honestly, like that process is a very personal one, and what whatever it is that you need to work on, of course, like this is not gonna just be like a quick fix. Um, but when once you feel as though you're at a point where you actually can start to branch out and push yourself and you know look at yourself with a little bit more love and kindness. Um oh my god, it's amazing, it's amazing, it's the best drug, the best drug. Like um, you can't buy this stuff, you can't bottle it up, it's amazing. I I feel as though like I attract such beautiful experiences and connections now, and my life is just so much more fruitful and joyous and content, and it's really funny because not much has changed. I mean, weirdly enough, a lot has changed, but not much at the same time, and I just think that that my perspective on things have changed, and um and so yeah, it yeah, that's that's the point on the frequency. I I actually really want to end with a little I don't know if it's a poem, I guess it is a poem, it's just like a little thing that I wrote for myself. I can't remember when I didn't date it, but I I really liked it and um and I want to share it. So the title is Your Body. Using your body, its strength, its power, its agility, moving it, stretching it, looking after it, showing it off, thanking it. It is this beautiful shell that allows us to move through this wonderful world, smell the air, listen to your surroundings, hug others, challenge your body, push its physical boundaries, and prove to yourself of what you're capable of. You're capable of so much. You're capable of so much. You are I believe it. I really, really believe it. And when you begin to believe it, let others know. Make it known. Okay for your body, make some time to be in touch with it. Like I said, it's this beautiful shell that allows us to move through this wonderful world. This is it. This is the one, this is the only the only body we're gonna be given. This is the only only body we're gonna be given in our life. The only body we're gonna be given in this one life that we're living. Love it. And the quicker you begin to love it, the quicker it will love you back, and the better your life will be as a result of it. That's it. Um I love you so much. Thank you for taking the time to listen, and um, I'm really grateful that you're here. It's a privilege. Um it's a real privilege to do this, and I enjoy every single moment that I do this. So I really hope that you manage to get out of this whatever you need to. Um and save this if you might not be ready to hear it just yet, but you might want to come back to it another time. I love you so much. Take care of yourself.