For those that are sick, or perhaps even those who are not – our bodies can become our worst enemy. Every time it acts up, we want to go to war with it.
I remember a good friend of mine explaining how angry she was that her body was giving out. She went into great detail. “I’m so angry with my ovaries. I was feeling fine, until they decided to get mad and punish me. Now I have to go the whole week in pain, thanks to their revolt against me. I can’t seem to ever get well. Each time I think I’m getting better, then bam my body decides otherwise.”
In my own healing journey, I remember feeling like this often.
It was me against my body, and my energy was spent around feeding this fight. My goal was to make my body submit! Sadly we are taught this, and not taught to see our bodies as our most precious gift.
In order for any healing to take place, or weight loss to occur, we have to surrender the fight against our bodies. We simply cannot progress and heal when we have all the tension in our physical bodies of the battle. Our bodies are NOT the enemy. We have to make the shift and no longer hate our bodies for being broken or less than perfect.
It is a radical act of love to befriend yourself. ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn
New Beliefs About Your Body
See your body on your own team – Instead of playing life against your body, see your body as part of your team. You are your body. Your body has an amazing capacity to heal itself and so does your brain. If you are able to work together, you can accomplish much more than you could without it. Starting working on becoming congruent with your body. Developing body awareness through breathe work and yoga is a great place to start.
Cultivate body compassion – One of the most powerful things I’ve learned, is how to speak to my body as a 3rd person. Sounds a little weird, but I was much kinder to my body when I saw it as a person. I would say things like “Body, thank you so much for keeping me alive today. I appreciate your hard work at protecting me. I realize that holding on to this fat was protecting me, and I am very thankful. I now release you from that job and ask that you focus on helping me feel alive and full of energy.” We have to be compassionate towards our bodies when they are less than perfect. Starting with gratitude will help that process.
Ask your body what it needs to heal – See your body as part of the solution. Our bodies speak to us all day – every day. Whether we have a stomach ache because of our anxiety in a certain situation, or an allergic reaction to a food that isn’t good for us – our bodies send signals to us all the time. We have to learn how to see our bodies as the key to our health and vitality. With a simple question to our body “What do you need to heal?” We will often times get a powerful gut response that we know we need. I challenge you to ask that question, and not judge the answer. Is it quitting your job, leaving a toxic relationship, or staying away from gluten? Whatever it is, your body knows the answer.
Words of Affirmation:
- My body’s potential is infinite
- Every day I’m getting healthier
- My body knows what it needs to heal and is taking care of me
- I have everything inside of me that I need to take care of myself
- It’s okay for me to trust the wisdom of my body
- I’m thankful to my (legs/heart/other part of your choosing) for (carrying me to the places I want to go/keeping me alive/other function)
- I have more important things to do than fight with my body
- My body is exactly where it needs to be
How do you see your body? Is it the enemy? How can you make peace with your body and begin to see it as the key to feeling your best self?
