Tuning Into Our Bodies

Have you ever felt a little bit off for no reason? Have you ever noticed that you’re more on edge than normal and had no idea why? If you have, you are not alone. I continually hear clients describe these kinds of feelings and the frustration and confusion that comes with not knowing why they aren’t feeling like themselves.

When we start to feel those feelings of being “off” or “on edge” or “just not like ourselves” I believe that it’s important that we tune into our bodies. When I talk about tuning into yourself, I mean sitting with some of those feelings and deciding how your body feels. Our minds and bodies are deeply connected and it’s important that we take the time to acknowledge how we’re feeling both emotionally and physically.

Take A Moment

Take a moment and tune into your body. Do you notice tension anywhere? Do you notice pain or discomfort? Are you clenching your teeth together or bouncing your leg? Does your stomach feel like it’s in knots? Sometimes when we cannot figure out how we are actually feeling, our body will tell us, we just have to listen. That knot in your stomach could be stress due to having a huge deadline coming up, or having a stressful life situation. That tension could be from the constant stress of having to make a big life decision soon. That tension that you feel in your shoulders could be the feelings of anger and sadness over a recent life event. In order for us to distinguish how we’re feeling we must first go back to the basics and connect with our bodies.

Ask Yourself Why

Our lives are so busy and full of distractions that sometimes we forget to go back to the basics, tuning into our bodies to see why we feel certain ways. If you tune into yourself and notice that you’re tense or fidgety or feeling on edge, the next question to ask yourself is why? What has been going on in the past 24 hours, or a couple of days that could be contributing to these feelings?

Generally, when we slow down and take the time to tune into ourselves and our actual physical and emotional feelings, we can determine why we feel certain ways and are better able to cope with them. If we never tune into bodies, how are we supposed to tune into those around us?