When I was in Thailand recently a very powerful thing happened to me. Bear with me as this may sound a little strange… my body started talking to me.
Many times before on holidays I have made it a routine to go running along the beach and this time was no exception. I found myself jogging, barefoot along the beach and I could suddenly hear my body talking.
“oh, this feels gooooood ” it told me, “I really needed this, I need to move through space”
It was a different sounding voice to the one I was used to. That voice said things like –
“oh, ok, were going running but not too far. Look for a marker in the distance and that’s as far was we will go and then turn back. Let’s not overdo it”.
This voice was absent.
As I ran further my body continued to talk- “let’s go further, I want to keep going, this is great” to my surprise my body was lifting me and carrying me and was so enthusiastic that I went way beyond my usual distance. Then it said ” we’re hot, let’s plunge into the water, let’s go swimming!” and so I did. And as I was swimming the voice kept encouraging me to go further. After a really decent swim I found myself back on the shoreline and was running again, back to where I started.
This whole conversation thing was such a revelation. I thought that I would deliberately engage with my body in more conversations- what did it want to eat? Did it need to rest? What else was required? Over the following days I found myself so in touch with my body- we were chatting like great mates and went and did many different things together.
When I returned to London I wanted to hold onto this new relationship, this new best friend I had got acquainted with. How to keep talking, listening and responding, how to keep this relationship alive?
And it has! Everyday I converse, everyday I hear requests or responses and it has made my day to day activities so different. I have been walking, cycling, weight training and recently started yoga. I have been dancing and resting and been massaged.
Today as I completed a workout I realised how much easier it now was that I was conversing with my body and not my head. For it was my head that was the other voice. The voice that placed restrictions on my physical activity, that said ‘so far but no further’ and too often ‘we’re not enjoying this one bit’.
So I started to realise that ultimately it is all about being conscious. I have become conscious to my body in a way I haven’t ever experienced. I have become awake to a conversation that was previously being drowned out by my head. And if I can do this with my body I can do it with all of my life. If I can be in an active conversation ( staying conscious ) about my life I will find the answers, the energy, the motivation. If I just stay in the conversation with my self I will be fine. So I’m listening. I’m really listening and I’m asking and I’m listening to the responses I get. And more than that I am acting on the responses I get to the questions I am asking. And it is wonderful. I feel so whole.
Here is a list of things that help me stay in my conversation with my self –
- Morning walks
- Open and honest conversations with friends
- Asking my body what it wants and listening to the response
- Being touched
- Meditation
- 5 rythmns dance class
- Yoga
- Weight training
- Quest workshops
- Reading about stuff that wakes me up to things I wasn’t conscious of
- Recruiting a coach to help me focus on intimate relationships
- Sitting still
- Reflecting by writing
- Reflecting by talking
- Reflecting by being quiet
- Going slowly
- Being amongst nature
- Cycling
- Immersing myself in water ( showers, baths )
- Looking in the mirror
- Singing
- Paying attention
