When Should You NOT Trust Your Body?

If you're familiar with my work at all, you know I'm all about listening to the body's guidance & one's inner knowing.

But are there any scenarios where this is NOT the case?

Let's explore…

A couple days ago, I got on a call with my teacher and my initial check-in at the beginning of the call included a description of the panic coursing through my body.

The sensations were not so debilitating that I was overwhelmed, but they were noticeable enough that I felt unsettled and uncomfortable.

Before paying too much attention to the bodily sensations, he invited me to share what kinds of concerns were on my mind.

I named several that I had written down prior to the call:

• fear of sales eventually slowing, and thoughts of not-doing-enough in my business

• some specific relational/social concerns

• uncertainty around my future US visa options

• concern around my aging body, specifically my face (this is a rather new one!)

All morning, basically from the moment I woke up, I felt impulses to come up with new marketing strategies, to research facial beauty regimens, etc…

I was experiencing a combination of sensations that I would label as “panic.” And I experienced a variety of thoughts, stories, & impulses accompanying that panic.

The sensations were so closely tied to the thoughts & impulses, that the impulses could have easily been interpreted by those of us who value our body's wisdom as “information worth listening to."

In my case that morning, there WAS bodily information worth listening to. Just not in the most immediately obvious way.

To many people, my body's panic & impulses that morning could have been interpreted as a signal to take action on the various concerns that I named.

Yet as I shared the various concerns with my teacher, it became obvious to both of us that my sensations were NOT arising because of the concerns, but that my concerns were arising in response to the sensations.

This became obvious because it started to feel like I could keep rattling off concerns endlessly…

And as I shared the concerns, the panic sensations remained consistent.

This is a key difference to identify when it comes to discerning the body's wisdom.

The sensations that comprised the feeling of “panic” were still incredibly important for us to explore, and we spent the majority of the call doing so.

But that initial recognition at the start of the call is what I want to bring your attention to.

While in many cases, listening to the body means listening to how the body is responding to your ideas, experiences, environment, opportunities, and so on,

And then considering that bodily information as valuable insight into your relationship & alignment with those things…

In other cases, your bodily sensations are not directly related to your present circumstances at all.

Yet those sensations are patterned with certain thoughts, assumptions, concerns, & strategies that you once learned as a survival/coping mechanism.

Therefore, your sensations are accompanied by impulses and if you're not discerning between the two, those impulses can easily become interpreted as “the body's wisdom,” leading you astray into circles of action-taking that can never totally quell the sensations you began with.

In my case on Monday, when my teacher & I explored the sensations more deeply, the sensations revealed information that had nothing to do with the numerous concerns I was ruminating on all morning.

We identified that the thought patterns & impulses that arose from my sensations were learned strategies from long ago to quell the scary sensations.

Yet what actually began to bring peace to my panic was not engaging with my concerns - it was becoming present to the sensations in their pure form, separate from any story.

I hope this helps to convey the importance of journeying deeply with your body's intelligence, rather than making surface-level assumptions about what she is telling you.

And a hint: Unless you are in immediate physical danger, if you feel urgent impulses in any direction, it is likely that those impulses are arising from bodily information that is worth presencing to before taking action.