Listening to the Wisdom of the Body

Our body is not just a machine taking orders from us, it is full of wisdom and compassion.

One of the easiest ways in which we can listen to the wisdom of the body is by shifting our attention in a very conscious manner, intentional manner, from our mind, to the body.

Over the last few centuries, as a society, we have shifted from paying attention to our body, listening to the wisdom of the body, being in tune with our body, to living in our minds, living in our thoughts, most of the time. Today, we are experiencing huge challenges with mental health issues, panic, anxiety, and all of that, if we start tracing back, we will realize that is because most of us are living in our thoughts and in our minds most of the time.

The antidote to all of this are practices like meditation, mindfulness, yoga, tai chi, some form of breathwork, all of these have one thing in common. They are training us to shift our attention from the mind to the body. All of them will tell us that when attention shifts, when thoughts wander, all we need to do is to gently bring the attention back to the body. Back to whatever is the focus of that modality. Yoga and Tai Chi, focus on the awareness of the body as it moves. Breathwork focuses on awareness of the breath. Meditation, again, focuses on awareness of the breath. When we look at mindfulness, it is focused on whatever it is that we are doing at that point in time, if we are seeing something seed entirely, if we are listening to the sounds, just stay with that awareness of the sounds around us. Similarly, if you’re eating something, just stay with the awareness of that particular item, the taste of that item, even chocolate and ice cream can be had meditatively and mindfully, and bring about a huge shift in our own sense of wellbeing.

All of these factors are focused on bringing our attention from the mind to the body. It is in this context, I want to share a story that gripped the entire world sometime back, this happened in Thailand. I’m sure all of you know much more details about this story, where a teacher and his students finished a game of football, and then went on to explore some of the caves nearby. Their plan was to explore the caves for an hour, and then come back because one of them was celebrating his birthday. He was needed home to cut the cake. But they never came back to his home at that time. Because the cave got very quickly flooded and their way out was blocked. The only thing that these people could do was to start climbing inside the huge network of caves, trying to find drier grounds. This went on for a period of two weeks, two gripping weeks where people outside had no clue as to how these boys and the teacher were. The people inside had no contact with anybody in the outside world. They only could hope that people were looking for them.

When you look back into how they were going through this entire experience, they had nothing to eat. No safe space to stay put for a period of time because they were constantly moving, and rising above the water, they only had water to drink, and nothing else. The only thing that I feel saved them was the fact that the teacher knew meditation, he was a monk. He taught all his students meditative practices. Practices focused on being aware of the breath, and also to lie still. That was crucial because lying still meant that they could conserve their body’s energy. They’re not eaten for two weeks, so they could conserve their body’s energy. They could also conserve the amount of air that they were breathing in because that was also not available in plentiful of supply. When they were rescued, after two gripping weeks, everybody heaved a sigh of relief. For me, this story will remain with me forever, as a powerful example of what can be achieved when we tune in to the wisdom, the power, and the strength of the body.

Paying Attention to the Messages

Pain, Discomfort, Dis-ease of the Body

Another way in which I can tune in and listen to the wisdom of the body is by paying attention to the messages that are being given by the body, especially the pain and the discomfort or the dis-ease of the body.

Our first choice of action mostly is to take a painkiller in such situations. If the pain persists, then we try and find ways to fix the pain of the physical body. Sometimes we just ignore the pain for as long as possible.

The pain, the discomfort, the dis-ease of the body, has often another level of messages coming through it. That is the wisdom of the body. This pain or discomfort is actually asking us to explore our inner world and try to focus our inner attention on some other aspects that need our attention.

For example, every part of the body has a certain consciousness that is attached to it. We understand this in many different modalities. BodyTalk is one of that. Louise Hay has an entire chart of relationship between body parts and their consciousness, or the messages coming through from that part of the body.

Knee-Pain

For example, when we look at our knee, the consciousness of the knee is one of flexibility and taking us forward in life. When you look at the physical functions of the knee bending and allowing us to move forward or backward, then you realize how that consciousness is logical and makes sense. If I have a knee problem, yes, I need to look at it physically and address the pain. But I can also use it as a way in which I start exploring my inner world to see where is it in my life, that I’m being inflexible? Or where in my life do I need to move forward, and I am feeling stuck and not taking the necessary actions that will take me forward?

Often we find that a combination of the shift in our internal thinking and external action of addressing the physical pain combined together to heal us of that knee pain much faster than if he took just the one method either a physical method or internal research or evaluation method.

Backache

I have seen these countless times in my practice, people come with backaches, and underlying that backache is this feeling of not being supported. And the moment we are able to open our eyes and start exploring the different ways in which I am being supported. I’m not being attentive to that support. But yes, I am being supported. Once I start understanding that, and also finding ways to ask for and receive support, somehow, that backache seems to have reduced magically and there have been times when people have come off the session with a drastic reduction in their pain. Knowing that the body is trying to catch our attention with this pain and discomfort and say, “Hey look, there is another issue here that needs your attention.” Maybe if I had been in tune with my body, I would have picked that up much earlier. But right now the body has no choice, but to get your attention in a very visible forcible way. Taking this opportunity, I can then start to do my inner work, work on the clues that are being given by the body, and then move forward in life.

Those of us who have been exploring A Map of Self-Care over the last one year, you’ll know that we have been talking about the five dimensions of self-care which is Physical, Energetic, Emotional, Intellectual, and Spiritual. Access to all the five dimensions is only through the physical body. Through the physical body, through actions taken by the physical body, I can bring about changes in all the five dimensions. At the same time, when I tune in to listen to the wisdom of the body, I have access to not just the wisdom of the physical body, but through the body, I have access to the wisdom of all the five dimensions, my entire self. With practice, I also have access to the universal wisdom.

Tuning in to the wisdom of the body. Listening to the wisdom of the body is a beautiful step in self-care.