Caring for ourselves: our relationship with our body
I have been thinking about how important our relationship is with our body. In my work as a physician, I have seen many different reactions and responses to the body and illness in the body. Many people value the tough person who essentially ignores their body and works through pain or illness, who drives themselves to the hospital when they are hurt or having a heart attack. I have seen many people who are angry or frustrated with their body when it is ill or not working the way that it functioned when they were healthier. I have seen people who fear what is happening with their body and interpret a new pain or sensation as a sign of impending problems or disease. As a society, we use language like “fighting” cancer or other diseases that puts us at odds with what is going on in our bodies.
Our bodies are so complex and amazing. They endure so much and carry us through so much in our lives. Our modern lifestyle is not especially kind to our bodies and our health. It takes extra effort for us to nourish our bodies with appropriate food and movement. In addition to the ways that we feed our body and move our body, a key component of a healthy body is our relationship with it. In the same way we have been taught or can learn to emotionally attune to ourselves, we can also learn to attune to our physical body. We can regularly check in and notice how our physical body is feeling. Take a few deep breaths, close your eyes if you can, and check in. Notice if, with your eyes closed, you are feeling your body from inside your body or if you are looking back at your body so to speak (it took me a long time to learn to feel my body from inside instead of as an observer). Where does your breath go? Is it in your chest, your belly, your sides? Where is there ease? Where is there tension or pain? How is your energy level? Do you feel well?
After checking in with your body, ask your body what it needs? Maybe it needs movement whether that is slower movement like walking or stretching or maybe more intense movement would feel good. Maybe it needs rest whether that be sleep or yoga nidra or meditation. Maybe you need food or water. I have been learning that often when I think I need to snack, I’m really just starting to get dehydrated and need to focus on rehydrating. When possible, honor the answer or message that you receive from your body. If your body asks for rest and you don’t feel like that is possible, acknowledge that you are pushing your body and that it wants rest and see if there is a way that you can create a little bit of rest or a little bit of space today and how you can give it more rest in the coming days.
Growing up, I learned to frequently ignore my body, to keep playing through pain, to keep going even when it was hard, to finish whatever I started. Later as I learned more about the body, I started to worry about that pain meant I was doing damage to my body so I learned to back off when something was uncomfortable, to prioritize sleep (4 years of MIT and then medical school and residency made me really hate being tired). Now, I’m learning to balance when I can or need to push through discomfort (to get stronger or to get healthier or to honor a goal) and when I need to stop, to rest, to slow down or do something different. Perhaps most importantly, I am learning to have gratitude for my body and for all that it has carried me through. I understand that the painful places and restrictions I have in my body were created over years and will take time to ease. I am learning to treat this body with compassion and gratitude.
I invite you to take a few minutes, check in with what your body needs, give it gratitude. Beginning to do this regularly will change your relationship with your body and move you closer to healing.
With gratitude and blessings…thank you for being here.
