There were many times prior to taking the Deeper Cravings path that I would eat as an insurance policy. Eat now, even though I am not at all hungry, to ward off the possibility of future hunger. Sound familiar? I think part of the reason I became so out of touch with my own body’s wisdom regarding nourishment was that I so rarely let myself feel hunger. Now this has me curious. What was I so afraid of? What is so big and bad and scary about feeling hunger? Sure, it not the most comfortable sensation but now I see it as part of the language of our body, simply a request, no more menacing than the request of a yawn.
One of the practices I teach in the Deeper Cravings Course is to do 1-minute body check-ins as often in the day as you can remember to do it. Simply stop, wherever you are, whatever you are doing and check-in with your whole body, ask the body how it’s doing, see if it has any requests for you and respond in kindness. For example, at this very moment my feet are cold, my shoulders feel tense and I am thirsty. So to be kind to my body I’d put on some socks, adjust my shoulders and get a drink.
Adopting a regular practice of presence helps us become really awake in our body like never before, this allows us to notice the slightest shifts that are difficult to detect if we are off lost in our thoughts and mental banter. Learning to communicate with our body is like learning a new language. You have to listen very carefully if you want to catch the nuance but when you finally begin to get the meaning in the message it is wonderful.
The body can speak very subtly at times (why I often refer to it as a whisper). In terms of hunger, I often do not hear the obvious stomach growling noises, rather for me it is a subtle empty, yet tight, sensation in my belly that tells me it is time to get some nourishment. The tricky thing is low level anxiety in me feels very similar (enter a danger zone for emotional eating). This is where mindfulness and bringing ourselves fully into our body and attuned to our emotions helps. Taking my own journey back to my body gave me the opportunity to become skilled at responding appropriately when my body speaks (eat when I need to eat and explore the anxiety, sadness, boredom when that’s what’s sitting with me).
Listen closely, and if you are still enough to hear it and you will begin to learn the nuances of the language that your body is speaking to you.
Peace and Kindness to you and your beautiful body,
Peggy
Deeper Cravings 