5 Ways To Listen To Your Body

Studies suggest that people with better body awareness feel less stressed. Paying attention to our bodies helps break the stress cycle by keeping us aware of the first signs of stress. Of course, our bodies also reflect our emotions and provide early warnings of shifts in our mood as well. 

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to being more intuitive is understanding HOW to listen to your body. This takes a little practice and patience, but the following tips can be incredibly helpful!

1. Practice Mindfulness

The first way you can start listening to your body is with mindfulness. This allows you to acknowledge and appreciate how you feel in any given moment, without pressure or stress about what you think you should be experiencing.

Mindfulness takes practice just like meditation, but it may be easier to get a handle on. When you are mindful, you are in the moment. This means sitting quietly and enjoying the present moment, understanding what you feel, and really listening to what your body or mind is trying to tell you.

Before a meal when you are deciding what you want to eat, just sit for a few minutes in silence without distractions, go through what sounds good to you right now, and take it from there.

2. Pay Attention to Cravings and Aversions

Both what you crave and what you no longer enjoy or find satisfaction in are equally important when it comes to intuitive eating. It’s also important to pay attention to how you feel after you eat certain foods. You are going to learn so much about yourself, what you actually like eating, and what you were eating because you thought you had to. You might find that you hate protein shakes, but love salads. Maybe you start eating a lot more fruit, but no longer want a snack before bed.

3. Sit Quietly and Contemplate

It is always a good idea to shut off the noise and just sit with your feelings for a bit. Even if you are not doing this for the purpose of mindfulness, and just to take a pause. Feel each part of your body, listen to what it wants, understand what you are craving, decide if you want some movement right now.

4. Write It Down

As you go through your intuitive journey, start writing things down as they come up. Write down your hunger and fullness when eating meals, write down changes you experience, workouts you try, stress-management techniques that help you feel calm, really anything you can think of.

Write as much or as little as you want to, but really try to make this part of your daily routine.

5. Just Let Things Happen Naturally

We are always so in need of control, that we forget sometimes life just happens naturally. Your body knows what to do, if you can learn to listen.

This might mean stopping a workout video 10 minutes before it’s over because you feel exhausted, or choosing a bowl of cereal over your usual eggs for breakfast because that’s what you craved when you woke up.

Choosing to live a more intuitive life instead of trying to control everything is an amazing first step to feeling healthy and balanced. Your body knows what to do and is able to guide you to what it needs at different times. It takes time but it is well worth it in the end!