Somatic Awareness- Trusting Your Body’s Knowledge

There are moments in our lives when pivots are needed- a change in course or direction. I've been aware of these times in my own life by getting sensations or signs in my body- often by feeling physically, mentally, or emotionally unwell- like something is “off”. I call these moments “wake up calls”- where I just know that something is misaligned for me in my life that needs attention. I’m grateful to have this direct access to my knowing, but it  wasn’t always this easy to be tuned in.

We're all juggling a lot in our lives these days- whether with work, family, relationship responsibilities, etc. and sometimes this busyness can also interfere with our ability to really listen to our body’s wisdom. But so can social norms, learned behavior from our early childhood years, or past traumas. This disowning of our bodies can look like disassociation or lack of interoception and can lead to missing essential cues of what we need in the moment.

When we miss cues of the body (whether mental, physical or emotional- or even energetic), its kind of like ignoring the dashboard alerts on a car- and we know that never goes well! And while it’s true we can’t always tend to every little sign that arises that feels misaligned for us, especially at the pace at which life flows these days, regular ignoring of the large and small cues of our bodies wisdom, can only lead to further problems down the road.

I had my own wake-up call a few months ago, when I realized I needed to make a pivot- to shift some habits, uplevel my own vibration, and to just simply rest. Although always a humbling experience to recognize signs of being out of balance, I'm also grateful to have fine-tuned this connection to myself and to be able to recognize my own cues- and, more importantly, be able to act on these inner messages fairly quickly.

But this has taken time and practice.

The truth is be-friending the body can take time. Many who have had trauma in their lives might distrust sensations from or awareness of the body entirely. Over-active thinking patterns can derail us from making positive choices in our lives. And stored and stuck emotional energies can trap us into repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

For others, we might just simply not take the time to listen in to our bodies cues. As we all know, sometimes these "wake up calls" can come at inopportune times- like who has the time to breathe, now- right?

But it’s so important for us to listen whenever the cues arise in our bodies and to build this trust of our own innate wisdom. Self-attunement is what makes it possible for us to keep making the positive shifts in our lives so we can experience more grace and ease.

How do we build this trust within ourselves to truly listen to our inner knowing? The journey begins with a single breath. But it lasts by both attuning to our intuition and also acting on it.

When we breathe together, especially when using the more therapeutic nature of conscious, connected breathing, we are, in essence, creating a space and time to better attune to the cues of our body. As we learn to breathe through various sensations, memories, experiences we begin to find safety and build trust in our body.

Sometimes, simply having the space and time to just breathe and be in a Breathwork Session— away from the responsibilities and pressures of our day to day lives, and towards the comfort of our own thoughts and feelings can also support greater connection to our inner world in meaningful ways. Other times, we might need the more cathartic nature of Breathwork to shift some of the underlying patterns within us that make us want to disassociate or afraid to trust our intuition.

There is no doubt that the journey home to ourselves is one of an epic kind. But when we learn to befriend this “home of the soul”, our body, we also learn how to trust the signs when it’s time to pivot in order to be more aligned in our one precious life.

Breath has always been an ally for us for millennia- showing us just where we are in time and space- but our breath, and especially Breathwork, also helps us find our way back to the unique essence that we are and begin to trust ourselves.

I look forward to seeing/supporting you on this incredible journey of self discovery and healing. Until then-  honoring the journey within for us all!