To Trust Your Body Is To Trust Yourself
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I talk and teach a lot about trusting your body. Sounds nice. But the truth is, given how we have been conditioned over the last decades to do anything but trust our bodies, this can be a hard sell. In a world encouraging the abdication of this sacred connection, we have come to put more faith in technologies and experts than in these bodies of ours.
This is problematic on many levels. But perhaps the most problematic of all is if we don’t trust our very own body, we will not be able to trust ourselves. We will not be able to trust life itself. Without a steady mooring in what we are experiencing and knowing through our own body, we will be adrift in terms of how to navigate the changing waters of the world. This becomes even more problematic when we realize that our very connection to Source itself runs through our experience of being in a body, and without a trusting connection to what it is we are experiencing, we will miss out on higher guidance. This, by the way, is the very guidance we most need right now in an often incredibly confusing and body-denying world.
It’s so strange to be talking about trusting your body, as if we have to be reminded of what is innate in ourselves, and forms the very basis of who we are. We are mammals, and there is not a mammal out there, other than us, that does not exist without complete and utter trust in what it is experiencing, and what it means to be in a body. The good news is that just by turning your attention to what is inherent and most basic about being in a body is the way back to trusting your body, yourself, and all of life.
It is, quite literally, as close to you as your next breath, or sensation of thirst, hunger or exhaustion. Like a newborn, this is an authentic and powerful place to go to re-learn where to take your cues from. Becoming reacquainted with your body’s most basic and non-negotiable needs, those things you could not do without and still survive, highlights the very needs modern life has taught us to ignore and put on the back burner.
It’s not your cell phone, Netflix or social media. It’s not a new pair of shoes, a fancy trip or a new car. It is quite literally your breath and your ability to feed and soothe yourself. I know most of us would say we already know how to do this. But do we?
Do we actually quench our thirst with life-giving water when the body signals thirst or do we reach for another coffee or soda? Do we feed ourselves by preparing ingredients our body really needs to be well or do we consume processed, fake, and ever more bizarre substances masquerading as food? Do we get the rest we need or are we more interested in staying up late to watch the latest bit of noise coming out of a screen?
Breathing is the easiest way to get into the body and out of the mind. Pause and take a full deep breath in. Feel whatever sensation is in your body. This includes anything from hunger to exhaustion to pain to ease and everything in between. Then ask yourself, “What do I need right now?” When you connect to a sensation in your body through the breath, you are now in a greater position to decipher what it is that you actually need. This is in contrast to all the things we do each day that aren’t actually necessary or beneficial, information which we are unaware of because we are not connected to the body’s sensations.
Not to worry if you draw a blank when you first begin to pose that potent question to yourself. The more you return to your breath, while providing some space for yourself, the clearer your needs become, and the stronger will grow a fundamental trust with your body. This then powerfully translates into how well you can trust yourself, and even life itself.
Susan McNamara is a woman who cares deeply about how we are living and how it is that we treat ourselves, each other, and the planet. She is the founder of “The Healer Within: A Unique Online Health & Healing Community for Women” and the author of the book, Trusting Your Body: The Embodied Journey of Claiming Sacred Responsibility for Your Health & Well-Being. She can be reached at RememberingWhatMattersMost.com
