Body Wisdom
Many years ago, I had a friend who often complained about feeling exhausted and depleted. She was going through a messy divorce and was overwhelmed with extra duties at work. I watched her body begin to show signs of a steady decline in energy, strength, and stamina. She said she had little time to think about symptoms, though her family and friends suspected that her stress was being absorbed by her body in telltale distress signs of: increasing headaches, stiffness in her joints, sleepless nights, and digestive irregularities. My friend hoped that by ignoring her symptoms they would eventually go away; something she regretted later.
Energy Flow
After almost two years of not listening to the wisdom of her body, she began experiencing tremendous pain in her left jaw, which was diagnosed as TMJ. While not a life-threatening problem, the pain at times was excruciating. After seeing two different doctors, and hearing from both that the root cause of the jaw tension was stress, she finally got the message. As she began to accept the intimacy that exists between the mind and body, she dedicated more time to the new practice of listening to her body. Moving her attention inward a few times a day, she was able to soften the TMJ before it became overwhelming. On occasion the TMJ struck with renewed energy when she fell away from her mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual “time-outs” (which can take as little as 3-4 minutes). This true story indicates that unless we learn to check our mind, emotions, and body during the day, the body will energetically hold the building tension for us, which doesn’t end well.
Paying Attention
We often fear appearing lazy by taking time for ourselves. This is a misconception. By moving inward briefly throughout the day, we do not fall prey to the over-reactive build-up of negative emotions that cause symptoms. We can learn to listen to and honor our bodies’ intuitive language that is intended to keep us healthy and vibrant. By choosing to pay attention to the bodymind information arising from within, we expand the bodies' immune system and strengthen its healing capabilities.
“Every symptom, large or small, has something important to say. Therefore it behooves us to listen, listen, listen.”